How to Brine a Turkey
Learn how to brine a turkey in just 3 easy steps: make a frugal, flavorful brining liquid, brine the turkey, and roast the turkey for a moist, juicy, tender main dish!
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 27 hours
- Yield: 1 Turkey 1x
- Category: Main Meals
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 turkey (I usually use a 14 pound turkey)
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 3–4 cups kitchen scraps (carrot peels, apple peels, celery ends and leaves, onion paper, garlic papers, etc.)
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns (or black pepper)
- 1 ½ tsp ground clove
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger (or fresh ginger)
- ½ – 2 gallons water
Instructions
- In a medium pot, place the salt, kitchen scraps (or vegetable stock), peppercorns, clove, and ginger. Add 4 cups of water if you’re not using stock.
- Cook the brine over medium heat, just long enough to dissolve the salt and spices. (The black peppercorns will not dissolve – that’s okay).
- Remove the brine from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Do not discard the solids from the brine! This is flavor and you’ll need it for the turkey.
How to Brine Turkey
- On the morning of the day before you plan to roast the turkey, place your thawed turkey inside a large Ziploc bag or stock pot or cooler.
- Pour the cooled brining liquid over the turkey.
- Add additional water in order to fully submerge the turkey.
- Seal the bag and refrigerate until the next day. (Or cover the turkey and place it in a cold location, like the garage or even outside.)
- Before roasting the turkey, remove the turkey from the brine and discard the brine. Rinse the turkey with cold water and place it on a large roasting pan.
Roast Turkey
- Preheat the oven to 500F.
- Place the oven rack on the lowest setting and roast the turkey at 500F for 30 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350F until the temperature reads 161 degrees in the thickest part of the breast. (A 14-16 pound bird requires around 2-2 ½ hours).
- Once done, let the turkey rest, covered loosely with foil, until ready to carve.
Notes
- It’s best to use a FRESH turkey for brining, rather than a frozen turkey. That means letting a frozen turkey thaw first and then brining it.
- The week leading up to the day you brine, save your kitchen scraps! You can use them instead of vegetable stock and save money!
- For best results, follow this brine the turkey recipe and keep the bird submerged for 12-24 hours. A longer brine will help get more flavor deep into the meat, but any longer than 24 hours will start to break the meat down and give you a mushy texture.
- Make turkey stock with the bones and drippings! Don’t let anything go to waste and use this chicken stock recipe to make turkey stock.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 143
Find it online: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/how-to-brine-a-turkey/
