Whole Roasted Turkey
This is really the best juicy whole roasted turkey. Every little piece of the turkey tastes insanely good! The key thing here is to follow my exact ingredients and directions and I guarantee your turkey will be SO tasty. It is juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside and so good! This is the best turkey I ever had!
Servings: 10 servings
Equipment
- 1 flavor injector I bought mine from the Dollar Tree
- 1 roasting bowl or large foil pan for the turkey
- 1 fine mesh sieve for sieving the marinade
Ingredients
- 1 turkey (12 pounds) thawed and at room temperature
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 10 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 ½ inch ginger root peeled
- 1 medium onion peeled and chopped into chunks
- ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 seasoning cubes (Maggi) about 4g per cube, substitute with 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon powder
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, at room temperature
Instructions
- Prepare meat: Rinse the thawed turkey thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. Place turkey in a large roaster or baking dish (I placed it in the aluminium foil baking pan I used in baking it).
- Make spice blend: Remove needles/leaves from rosemary and the leaves from the thyme. Place into a blender. Add the garlic, ginger, onion chunks, white pepper, black pepper, seasoning cubes (or bouillon powder), and about half a cup of water to the blender. Blend together to form a paste. Pass the spice blend through a fine mesh sieve and squeeze. Pour the spice liquid into one bowl and place the spice chaff in another bowl. (Note: the liquid should be about 8 oz. If it is less, rinse the chaff again to add more liquid.) Add ¼ teaspoon of salt to the spice liquid, and ¾ teaspoon of salt to the spice chaff. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the spice liquid, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the spice solids. Whisk the spice liquid well and set aside. Add butter to the spice chaffs, mix well and set aside. We will call this the butter mixture. :)
- Inject the turkey: Use the flavor injector to pull in the spice liquid. Now inject the turkey, starting with the turkey breasts (inject about 2 oz. into each breast). Then move on to the thighs and inject about 1 oz. into each thigh. Inject other meaty areas of the turkey. *Note that it is normal to notice a spillover as you pull the flavor injector out of the turkey.
- Season the meat: Rub the butter mixture all over the turkey, being careful to rub the cavity and every nook and cranny. This mixture may slide down, so make sure to place some on top of the bird.
- Marinate: Cover the turkey very well with plastic wrap. Place it in your fridge and let it marinate for at least 8 hours or overnight. (I actually marinated mine for almost 24 hours!)
- Roast: When ready to roast the turkey, take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about 40 minutes to an hour. Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃). Remove the plastic wrap from the turkey and place the roasting pan or large foil pan on the second-to-last rack to roast.
- Baste: After the first hour, remove and baste - gather some of the liquid under the turkey and pour it over the turkey using a good old spoon or a baster. After the first basting, baste the turkey every 30 minutes until it is done. So baste about four times in total. The turkey should cook for about 2 and a half to 3 hours. *Note that if your turkey starts getting too brown during the roasting process, you should cover it with foil so it doesn't get too dark on top.
- Check for doneness: After about 2 and a half to 3 hours, your turkey should be fully done. To ensure it is done, insert a digital meat thermometer into the breasts of the turkey. If it reads 165℉, it is done.
- Rest: Let the turkey rest in its juices for about 20-30 minutes before you transfer it to a serving platter or cutting board.
- Carve: Carve and enjoy this perfectly juicy whole roasted turkey!
Notes
1. Note that these ingredients will sufficiently work for a turkey that's about 11-12 pounds. If your turkey is bigger than that, increase every ingredient to suit the turkey size. Do the math. For example, a 24 pound turkey will require double of every ingredient. *If you don't adjust the ingredients your turkey won't taste as good as mine.
2. If you love your turkey to have some heat, feel free to add in one habanero/scotch bonnet pepper when blending the spices.
*I really recommend that you watch the video of this recipe on my YouTube channel. That would make following this recipe much easier for you.
Nutrition
Calories: 687kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 124g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 377mg | Sodium: 1069mg | Potassium: 1321mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 333IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 5mg