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Simple Recipes for Every Day

Perfect Roast Turkey Recipe

best roast turkey recipe with oranges and sage butter on a serving platter with sage leaves
  • Serves:  10
  • Prep Time:  20 min
  • Cook Time:  3 hrs 30 min

Ingredients

  • 1 (15 pound) turkey, thawed
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 large white onion
  • 2 clementines
  • 4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
  • 4 large carrots, peeled, roughly chopped
  • 1 garlic head, cut in half
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped (plus extra whole leaves for garnishing)

Dry Brine

  • 1/3 cup kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoons turmeric
  • 1 tablespoons granulated garlic
  • 1 tablespoons freshly ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Method

  1. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the dry brine. Rub the bird with the mixture inside and out, and allow to sit, uncovered, overnight in your refrigerator.
  2. Rinse the dry brine off of your bird in cold, running water and pat the turkey dry with paper towels (inside and out). Let the bird rest at room temperature for one hour before cooking.
  3. Preheat oven to 450° F.
  4. In a small sauce pan over low heat, melt the butter with fresh sage. Keep warm over low heat until ready to use.
  5. Squeeze the juice from the clementines over the turkey. Stuff the cavity of the turkey with half of the carrots, half of the onion, half of the celery and the squeezed clementine rinds.
  6. Rub or brush the outside of the bird with the melted sage butter.
  7. In the bottom of a large roasting pan, arrange the remaining aromatics, (celery, carrots, onions and garlic ends) along with 1 cup of water to keep the drippings from burning.
  8. Prepare the turkey for roasting by tucking the wings and trussing the legs—see the post above for more info about how to do that—to ensure that the turkey breasts don’t dry out. Set your bird on a rack in the roasting pan.
  9. Roast the turkey at 450°F for 30 minutes.
  10. After 30 minutes, take a large piece of tin foil create a foil "tent" to cover the turkey breasts, leaving legs and thighs exposed. Reduce to 325°F and continue roasting for about three hours, or roughly 15 minutes per pound of turkey. Allow 15 minutes per lb. (about 3 hours longer). When the turkey has about 45 minutes left to roast, take the foil tent off to let the turkey breast get golden brown and the skin to crisp.
  11. The turkey is done when the internal temperature reads 160°F with an instant read thermometer. ** Rest the turkey for at least 30 minutes before carving.
  12. Garnish with leftover sage and any other herbs you have on hand.

Note: To avoid drying out the turkey, start checking the internal temperature of your bird when you have about 30 minutes of roasting time left.