Turkey is the star of Thanksgiving, and it’s pretty important to get it right – I have you covered with this simple, failproof, and mouthwatering Roast Turkey Recipe. This has a crisp, salty skin with a flavor-packed, juicy center. You’ll love my trick for a tender turkey breast every time.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Helpful Reader Review
“I have been making your turkey recipe for a couple of years now every Thanksgiving and Christmas. My family has gone from not looking forward to turkey to RAVING about how flavourful, delicious and moist this Turkey is!” – Jennifer ★★★★★
Juicy Roast Turkey Video
This turkey recipe is well-loved with hundreds of 5-star reviews over the years. It’s fantastic! You can even make this turkey recipe a day in advance (see make-ahead tips below) if it makes your life easier, and it will taste even better! Plus, Turkey Brine is optional here, saving you a day of prep.
In this video, I’ll show you how to make this turkey, step-by-step so you can feel confident making “the year’s most important dish.”
Turkey Recipe
I was so excited about this juicy roast turkey recipe every step of the way, and I think you’ll feel the same way when you try it. The first turkey I ever made was such a flop that I was discouraged for a few years to revisit it. When I set out to make this turkey recipe, I was determined to ensure you had success the first time and every time you made this recipe.
I spent days researching the best turkey recipes online and in cookbooks, with trusted advice from my Mom and you, my readers. This Turkey recipe has been gracing your holiday tables since 2014! I’ve also been perfecting it over the years, and I can confidently say this tender and delicious turkey will impress your dinner guests.
The turkey breast is so juicy and flavorful, and the skin is crisp and roasts to a beautiful golden brown. I invited all of my family over to help eat this turkey and received rave reviews from 10 adults and quite a few kiddos. I was so giddy and excited when I tasted the juicy bird. Keep the turkey drippings to make the best Turkey Gravy; it’s super delicious and will be the talk of your Thanksgiving dinner!
Roast Turkey Ingredients
- Turkey – this recipe is written for an 11-15 lb turkey. A larger turkey will work, but bake time will vary (see chart below). You’ll also need salt and pepper to season the turkey inside and out.
- Flavored Butter – unsalted butter, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper
- For the Turkey Stuffing – You can use my stuffing recipe, but I stuff the turkey cavity with onion, garlic, parsley, and a quartered lemon. I prefer to cook turkey stuffing separately from the turkey, so I stuff my turkey with aromatics instead (which makes the gravy taste awesome), but if you do stuff the turkey with traditional stuffing, make sure the stuffing reaches 165˚F in the center.
Don’t Forget to Thaw Your Turkey
Make sure you give yourself enough time to thaw and roast your turkey. A larger bird will take longer to thaw and roast, so plan according to the chart below.
Per the USDA guidelines, thaw your frozen turkey in the refrigerator 1 day for every 4 to 5 lbs of turkey. My 12 lb turkey took 3 days to thaw, while a 16 lb turkey would take 4 days. For a quick-thaw method, see my Spatchcock Turkey Recipe (you can defrost a 12 lb turkey in 6 hours).
How to Prepare Your Turkey for Roasting
- Defrost the Turkey – You should never cook a frozen or partially frozen turkey or it will cook unevenly. Follow the turkey thawing guide above, depending on the size of your turkey.
- Optional Brine Step – once the turkey is thawed, you can Brine your Turkey if you prefer (it requires 1 hour per pound), although it’s not necessary for this recipe. Also, check the turkey packaging since some turkeys are pre-brined, so you don’t need to brine again if that is the case.
- Remove turkey from fridge about 30 minutes before you start working with it. If the turkey is closer to room temperature, it will bake more evenly. *Remove the neck and bag of giblets from the turkey and set it on a roasting pan.
- Pat dry turkey with paper towels. Let turkey sit in over paper towels to soak up any excess water from the turkey.
- Fold the wings behind the turkey; if you don’t they are the quickest to scorch and dry out.
Seasoning, Stuffing, and Tying up a Turkey
- Season inside of turkey cavity generously with about 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
- Make the Flavored butter – In a medium bowl (it’s even easier in the bowl of a food processor), combine 2 sticks of softened butter, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest, 4 Tbsp lemon juice, and 3 pressed garlic cloves, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, 1/2 Tbsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. Mash/stir with a fork or process until well combined (the lemon juice doesn’t easily stir into butter, but keep mixing and it will happen after a few minutes). This mixture was adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Christmas Turkey video and it’s wonderful. Take a whiff of it; you’ll fall in love with how fresh it smells!
- Separate the skin from the turkey breast by pushing your fingers under the skin. Do this from the front and the back of the turkey, being careful not to tear the skin.
- Stuff 2/3 of the butter mixture under skin, then spread the butter around by massaging over the top of the skin. This butter keeps the turkey breast tender and juicy and provides rich flavor.
- Pat dry the skin and rub the remaining butter over the outside of the turkey (breast, legs, wings). Drizzle all over the top of the turkey with olive oil and generously season with salt and pepper; I just love a crisp, salty skin.
- Stuff the turkey cavity with a quartered onion, 4 halved garlic cloves, 1/2 bunch parsley and quartered lemon. Use kitchen string to tie the turkey base and legs together; crossing the legs to better close up the turkey cavity, plus it looks extra fancy on the table.
How to Roast a Turkey
- Prep: Pre-heat the oven to 430˚F on the bake mode. Place oven rack in the lower part of your oven (mine was on the second level from the very bottom) – this ensures that your large turkey roasts in the middle of the oven and keeps the turkey breast further from the top heating element.
- Here is a fantastic tip I picked up from Alton Brown to protect the turkey breast and keep it juicy: Fold a large square sheet of foil into a triangle. Rub one side of your triangle with olive oil and shape the foil (oil-side-down) over the turkey breast, then remove foil; it will shield your turkey breast and keep it from getting dry. You’ll apply this shield later in the roasting process.
- Insert Thermometer – Place an oven-safe meat thermometer into the bird; beneath the drumstick; deep into the dark meat. It’s ready for the oven. Start roasting uncovered at 430˚F for 20 min.
- Baste Turkey – Remove from oven; quickly baste with butter from the bottom of the dish. You can use a baster or tilt one side of the pan and collect drippings with a large spoon. Now apply prepared foil triangle to turkey breast area.
- Reduce oven to 350˚F and bake for another 2 hours 30 min for a 12 lb bird. (Once you have reduced the oven to 350˚F, you will bake about 13 min for every pound of turkey). The turkey thigh should register 170-180˚F on the temperature probe and the turkey breast at 165˚F to make sure it’s fully cooked through then remove from the oven (keep in mind the turkey temp continues to rise slightly after it’s out of the oven).
- Rest the Turkey – Transfer turkey to a serving platter and cover loosely but fully with foil. Let turkey rest for at least 1 hour. It will become more tender and easier to carve, the longer it sits. Keep drippings from roasting pan for a most delicious turkey gravy. Decorate around your turkey and make it festive. I used kale for my greens, then added small apples, sliced oranges and quartered lemons.
Make-Ahead
- To Refrigerate: You can fully prepare your turkey a day ahead – stuff, butter it up, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator one hour before baking the next day.
- To Freeze leftover turkey: Shred the meat and transfer it to freezer-safe zip-top bags or use a food saver to squeeze out as much air as possible, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator.
- To Reheat Leftovers: My secret to the best-tasting reheated turkey is our Leftover Turkey in Gravy. We make this every year on the day after Thanksgiving.
So many of you have made this roast turkey over the years, and it gives me so much joy to hear your success stories and see this turkey in photos from your Thanksgiving feasts. Also, I love this sweet photo from 2014 when we filmed this video recipe. It’s hard to believe my son is a teenager now!
I’d love to hear what is on your Thanksgiving menu this year (scroll down to see my personal menu). And I’m so curious – do you make Turkey on Thanksgiving AND Christmas? My Mom sure does and I love it! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Juicy Roast Turkey
Ingredients
For the Turkey
- 12 lb turkey, (Anything from 11-15 lbs will work, but bake time will vary), thawed*
- Salt & Pepper, for the inside and outside of the bird
For the Flavored Butter
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, (2 sticks)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, not extra virgin, plus more to drizzle top
- 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, from 1 large lemon, plus 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
- 3 large garlic cloves, pressed
- 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
- 1/2 Tbsp salt, I used sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
For the Stuffing
- 1 large onion, peeled and quartered
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- 1 lemon, quartered
Instructions
Prepping your Turkey
- Remove thawed turkey* from the fridge about 30 minutes before you start working with it. If the turkey is closer to room temperature, it will bake more evenly. Remove the neck and bag of giblets and pat dry turkey with paper towels. Let it sit in a roasting pan lined with paper towels to soak up any excess water then discard the paper towels. Fold the wings behind the turkey so they don't scorch in the oven.
Seasoning, Stuffing, and Tying up a Turkey
- Season inside of turkey cavity generously with about 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
- Make Flavored Butter – In a medium bowl or in a food processor*, combine: 2 sticks softened butter, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest, 4 Tbsp lemon juice, 3 pressed garlic cloves, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, 1/2 Tbsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. Mash /stir with a fork until well combined (the lemon juice doesn't easily stir into butter but keep mixing and it will happen after a few minutes).
- Separate the skin from the turkey breast by pushing your fingers under the skin. Do this from the front and the back of the turkey; being careful not to tear the skin.
- Stuff 2/3 of the butter mixture under skin then spread the butter around by massaging over the top of the skin. This butter keeps the turkey breast tender, juicy and provides rich flavor.
- Pat skin dry and rub remaining butter over the outside of the turkey (breast, legs, wings). Drizzle all over the top of the turkey with olive oil and generously season with salt and pepper; I just love a crisp, salty skin.
- Stuff turkey cavity with quartered onion, 4 halved garlic cloves, 1/2 bunch parsley and quartered lemon. Use kitchen string to tie turkey base and legs together; crossing the legs to better close up the turkey cavity, plus it looks extra fancy on the table.
How to Roast a Turkey
- Prep – Pre-heat the oven to 430˚F on the bake mode. Place oven rack in the lower part of your oven (mine was on the second level from the very bottom).
- Make Foil Shield – to protect the turkey breast and keep it juicy: Fold a large square sheet of foil into a triangle. Rub one side of your triangle with olive oil and shape the foil (oil-side-down) over the turkey breast, then remove foil; it will shield your turkey breast and keep it from getting dry. You'll apply this shield later in the roasting process.
- Place an oven-safe meat thermometer into the bird; beneath the drum stick; deep into the dark meat. Start roasting uncovered at 430˚F for 20 min.
- Baste – Remove from oven; quickly baste with butter from the bottom of the dish. You can use a baster or tilt one side of the pan and collect drippings with a large spoon. Now apply prepared foil triangle to turkey breast area.
- Reduce oven to 350˚F and bake for another 2 hours 30 min for a 12 lb bird. (Once you have reduced the oven to 350˚F, you will bake about 13 min for every pound of turkey). The turkey thigh should register at 170˚F on the temperature probe and the breast at 160˚F to make sure it's fully cooked through then remove from the oven (keep in mind the turkey temp continues to rise slightly after it's out of the oven*).
- Rest Turkey – Transfer turkey to serving platter and cover loosely but fully with foil. Let turkey rest for at least 1 hour. It will become more tender and easier to carve, the longer it sits. Keep the drippings from roasting pan for turkey gravy. Now you can decorate around your turkey and make it festive. I used kale for my greens, then added small apples, sliced oranges and quartered lemons.
Notes
*A food processor makes it much easier to blend the lemon juice into t he flavored butter, saving time and effort.
*Final Temperature – As the turkey rests, it will continue to rise to a final temperature of 165˚F at the breast and 175-180˚F at the thigh.
*Nutrition label is a rough estimate – remember that most of the butter and oil will remain in the pan when the turkey is done roasting.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
To Cook a Larger Turkey:
Many of you have asked about using a larger turkey. One of my readers, Shannon, shares her experience with a 23-pound turkey (Thanks Shannon!):
“Used this recipe last night with a 23 lb turkey and it was superb!! I used 3 sticks of butter, 1 cup of parsley, kept the zest and juice of 2 lemons and quartered them for the stuffing. Kept 1 large onion peeled & largely sliced, used about 8 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced in half. Cooked at 430 for 20 min and then 350 for about 5 1/2 hours, basting occasionally. I used the tin foil hat and had to made a couple other tin foil accessories for the legs that started to scorch. Took the tin foil hat off when it had 10 min of cook time left to ensure a nice browned top. Had tons of drippings to make a delicious gravy with. Will use this recipe every year! So flavorful and yummy. Thank you”
Natasha’s Thanksgiving Menu
These are the classic Thanksgiving recipes that we can’t go without for our annual Thanksgiving feast. Only the best for the biggest cooking day of the year!
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Mashed Potatoes
- Turkey Gravy
- Cranberry Sauce
- Apple Pie
- Pumpkin Pie (or Pumpkin Cheesecake)
- Cheesecake
- Sweet Potato Salad
- Au Gratin Potatoes
- Stuffing
Hi Natasha! First, thank you for your recipe, it looks amazing 😍. I have a silly question though, when you ask to lower the temp from 430 to 350, do we leave the turkey inside baking while the temp lowers (and count that baking time) or do we leave the turkey out of the oven and put it back in once the temp reaches 350? Thanks!!
Hi Maria, yes keep the turkey in the oven while reducing the temperature. Do not remove the turkey. I hope you love it!
This recipe looks awesome I was wondering if I could change the lemon juice and zest for orange instead or is the lemon a integral part that really pulls this recipe together? I’m giving my wife this Christmas off and really want to impress her. Thanks in advance.
Hi Mike! That’s so awesome of you! 🙂 I’ve never tried this substitution, orange might not give as much flavor as a lemon. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
I am happy to report that the Turkey turned out awesome. I replaced the lemon with orange and it worked out perfect. I sampled the drippings in the pan and the orange wasn’t over powering might be because it was a 26 pound bird so I made gravy with it and all our guests said it was the best Turkey and gravy they ever had. Thanks for making this husband look like a hero.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
I am not a chef, however my husband cooked a turkey one christmas with oranges instead od lemons and it was the best turkey I ever had.
However, the drippings did not make good falabored gravy, unless you like orange flavored gravy
This looks wonderful. I would like to cook the turkey a day or two before needing it. Should I carve it after the 1 hour of sitting time or leave it whole to carve prior to re-heating it the next day?
Hi Debbie, you can prepare the turkey but I would highly recommend roasting it the day you are going to eat it. It will always be more dry if cooked ahead and reheated turkey just doesn’t taste quite the same as fresh. I have stuffed and seasoned/rubbed the turkey 2 days ahead then refrigerated and brought it to room temp before baking and it worked well.
I am going to use this recipe for our Christmas turkey dinner however letting it set for an hour concerns me that it will not be hot?
It will still stay hot especially if it is covered! 🙂
Amazing recepie. Had delicious 8,5 kg turkey for dinner. Thank you Natasha!
Thank you for the wonderful review!
Hi Natasha,
Just wondering if you have a suggestion. I want to serve the Turkey for after church lunch. I plan on seasoning the Turkey tonight and then placing it in the oven at 430 degrees for 20 min then decreasing the heat to 350 and leaving it in the oven while we go to church. Do you think that would be ok?
That’s exactly what the recipe calls for. 🙂 So I don’t see why not. Just don’t forget the foil tent. and basting can be done before and after 🙂
Hello Natasha!
I am using your recipe this year for my Christmas Turkey. I have a question regarding the 20 mins of roasting at 430 in the beginning of cooking process. I would like to know what you would suggest, I just realized my only roasting pan says up to 400 degrees oven safe. I would hate to risk damaging my only roasting pan, but would love to try your recipe. Do you have any suggestions for altering those 20 mins to work for my situation? Greatly appreciate your feedback!
I can only think of covering that pan in foil to further protect it from direct heat but wouldn’t risk that. Sometimes stores like Costco or TJmaxx have fairly inexpensive roasting pans that can withstand higher heat.
Hi there
I am considering slow cooking the turkey overnight as it will be served for Christmas lunch (and I am not a morning person!)
Can I use the recipe and only reduce the temperature for the second part of the cooking (ie after basting?) or would you change something else? I’ve seen suggestions to cook it breast down and on a rack but I prefer the stuffing the skin method.
Looking forward to your response, thank you in advance.
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried slow roasting this overnight so I can’t provide details on that but you can stuff, rub and completely prep the turkey the night before and just bring it to room temperature again before roasting for more even roasting. I hope that helps!
Wow! I won our turkey cookoff with your recipe!!! It was so flavorful and juicy! The other turkeys were very good but yours was amazing. I presented it with kale like your picture but used starfruit and pomegranate. Thanks so much.
I’ve got my second attempt in the oven now for dinner and turkey sandwiches. ❤️
I’m so inspired reading your review. Thank you!
We are dairy free…do you think I can substitute butter with evoo??
Hi Rachel, I haven’t experimented with oil, but here are my thoughts on that: a light olive oil might work well but EVOO has a low smoke point so it might get smoky in the oven at the higher temperatures.
Hello!!
Two things I think you should change please for safety:
You shouldn’t rinse the turkey, it’s impossible to rinse away germs and you are only spreading them all over your sink / counter doing this.
Secondly, you said to put the meat thermometer in. I thought, oh, that’s cool, I didn’t know you could put that in, it’ll be easier to check the temperature if it’s already in!
I also couldn’t find the giblets. So when I got the smell of burning plastic along with turkey, I thought I had missed the giblets. Picture me for 20 minutes flipping and emptying and trying my best to find the giblets in this turkey. Finally giving up. Putting it back in. Checking the thermometer…. oh, it’s melted plastic face. The thermometer melted. I’m not even a newbie, I’ve cooked at least 10 turkeys, but you should specify some thermometers must be oven safe and others not. Now I have 3 and hours or so to go get a new thermometer for this turkey!! Arghhh LoL
I won’t take any stars off for this as I know your blog supports you but if you could leave some simple warnings I don’t want anyone else going through this!! Thank you!
Hi Carol, thank you for sharing your tips. I updated the portion about washing the bird and specified that it should be an oven-safe thermometer. There are various kinds of thermometers and usually the instant-read ones are plastic and are not safe to leave in the oven. The ones that are safe to leave in the bird are made of all metal with a glass plate for viewing the gauge.
Hello Natasha, this turkey looks amazing! I am cooking it tomorrow and I have a lot of pressure to make my first turkey great. I was wondering about the basting. I saw in a comment that you did it when you turned the temp down but cautioned that opening the oven a lot would make it cook longer. Then I saw a different comment about you basting every 30 to 40 min. Im probably stressing about this more then I should haha. But how much basting should I do?
I recommend basting quickly to eliminate the amount of time that oven door is open. The oven will cool down quickly if open for a long time.
This recipe is amazing. We made it for a family reunion in summer and have been designated ‘Turkey’ cookers from then on!
Two turkeys being cooked today!
The moist turkey and wonderful taste is the best anyone in our large family (of big healthy eaters) has ever had.
Cheers!
Hi Matt, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
I used this recipe for my turkey and totally fell in love with it. The turkey was so delicious and moist. I will definitely do this again but am planning on using the flavored butter on other things, It’s amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
I (mostly) followed this recipe and it turned out great. The salty buttered crust turned out crispy crunchy and the white meat was beyond moist… it was downright juicy! This one’s going into the family cookbook! Thanks for posting!
FYI: In the video, you mentioned “knot” knowing if the craft twine you used was cooking safe. You could always soak it beforehand like with skewers.
Thank you for sharing that with us!!
Thanks for posting this awesome recipe. It turned out great, even though I had only dried parsley, not fresh, and I failed to properly truss the bird. The basic instructions – brown at higher temp, butter massage and tin foil hat, plus the hint of fresh lemon – resulted in a tasty turkey. Gravy made from the pan drippings and some chicken broth was excellent.
Next year I’m going to make sure I have all ingredients on hand and do it by the book. My niece says she is already counting the days till Thanksgiving 2019!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
Hey , when we lower to 350 do we cover the turkey or leave uncovered ?
Besides the breast triangle tent we did not cover the turkey.
Can i use dried parsley? All i have out here in the sticks.
Hi Tessa! Dried parsley will work! I haven’t tried that myself but one of my readers has an enjoyed that!
I found your recipe last year. It couldn’t have been easier, and the flavor of the gravy was the best I’ve ever had! Thank you for sharing it!!
My pleasure! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
This is the first review I ever left on a receipe because this is the first receipe I ever used that turn out spectacular!!! I messed up my first turkey a few days ago because I used a brine and if end up to be too salty. This receipe was perfect ! It really complimented the turkey a lot! It was also super duper moist! Omg 🤤. I just add 2 more cups of chicken broth to the pan so more gravy sauce yummmm. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome receipe! My family was so amaze that this one turn out execellent! They said that this was the first moist turkey they ever tasted!!!
Wow! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My first attempt at cooking a turkey and it came out wonderful. The nerves were definantly there but this recipe was easy to understand with simple ingredients . and the FLAVOR was excellent. Thanksgiving 2018 was a success! !!!!!!😀
That’s just awesome, Alice!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂