Holiday Honey Brined Turkey Recipe - That Skinny Chick Can Bake (2024)

FAQs

Do you rinse a dry brined turkey before roasting? ›

Use paper towels and get the skin "as dry as possible" before doing anything else. And if you're wondering, no—you don't need to rinse the bird, whether it's been dry-brined or wet-brined, before adding more seasoning and roasting.

These are the cook times for a dry brined turkey (loosely stuffed with herbs and garlic) which cooks faster than un-brined turkey. Add an extra 15 – 20 minutes if your turkey is stuffed. This is the total roasting time, including initial 30 minutes at high temperature. It works out at around 12 minutes per 500g / 1 lb.

You should always rinse the turkey after wet or dry brining. Once rinsed, you can let the turkey air dry, uncovered, in the refrigerator for several hours, or pat it dry with a paper towel.

Wet brining will increase the turkey's moisture. That extra moisture helps ensure that the meat doesn't go dry during cooking. The salt in the brine will also flavor and tenderize the meat so that it takes less time to cook.

But a brined turkey that is not rinsed would be too salty to eat. Brining slows down the growth of bacteria but does not kill it, said Linda Harris, a microbiologist at the University of California, Davis. She and other food scientists have been trying to get Americans to stop rinsing poultry since the late 1990's.

Oven-Roasted Turkey

We recommend starting the turkey in a 425 degree oven for 30-45 minutes before tenting the pan with foil and lowering the temperature to 350 degrees until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the bird.

Essential Tips for Roasting a Dry Brined Turkey

I like to rotate my bird halfway through and baste for even cooking and browning. Keep some turkey or chicken stock handy in case your bird doesn't produce enough juices from the get-go, and use that for basting if necessary.

A: The recommended time for dry brining is at least 1 day and up to 3 days. The longer you allow the turkey to brine, the more flavorful and moist it will be. However, even just 24 hours of brining can make a significant difference. You can adjust the salt quantity based on the brining duration to avoid over-salting.

Place the turkey breast-side up in a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan and refrigerate uncovered for at least 1 day but ideally 3 days. You do not need to pat it dry before cooking — it's ready to be roasted, grilled, or deep-fried!

Remove turkey from brine and pat dry (inside and out) with paper towels. Fill turkey cavity with aromatics including fresh herbs (such as fresh thyme, rosemary, and sage), 2 large carrots, coarsely chopped, 2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped, and 1 onion, coarsely chopped. Keep packing loose.

Are Butterball turkeys brined? ›

Butterball Fresh Whole Turkey is all natural*, never frozen, gluten free, and raised without hormones on American farms. Every fresh turkey is pre-brined before packaging for meat that's always tender and juicy. *All natural means minimally processed and no artificial ingredients.

After 12 to 18 hours, remove the turkey, dry carefully with paper towels, and roast. For crisper skin, brine a couple days in advance, and let your turkey air-dry at least overnight and up to two nights, uncovered, in the refrigerator on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet.

First, brining ahead of time is one less thing to do the day before Thanksgiving. Two, letting the bird to sit (uncovered) in your fridge for at least 8 hours will allow the skin to dry out and when cooked, it will become perfectly brown and crisp.

Directions. Stir cool water, salt, and sugar together in a large, clean stockpot until salt and sugar are completely dissolved. Submerge turkey in brine; cover and refrigerate for 8 to 14 hours. Remove turkey from brine; rinse inside and out under cool running water for several minutes to remove all traces of salt.

Once the dry-brining waiting period is up, there is no need to rinse off the surface of your food. The meat will not be overly salty, and rinsing the surface with water will undo all of the surface-drying achieved by the dry-brine process. That, in turn, will prevent browning.

What to Do After the Meat Is Brined. After waiting the appropriate amount of time, remove the meat from the brine and pat it dry with a paper towel. You won't need to rinse it with fresh water unless you accidentally brined it for too long. From here, cook the meat according to your favorite recipe.

The turkey sits uncovered in the fridge while sitting in its dry brine. This can seem a little scary (raw turkey, eek!), but it really helps to dry out the skin, which in turn gives you incredibly crispy, golden-brown skin on the roasted bird.