if you get a small deboned turkey breast around 3-4 pds, put it in a crock pot along with 1 pkg onion soup mix and one can of whole cranberry sauce mixed together and poured on top cook on low for 4-5 hours. you will have not only a wonderfully cooked turkey breast but also a topping and a very flavorful gravy.
the other recipes above me will work well for a full turkey however if you really want a nice chunk of meat done well and as easy as possible this is the way to go.Need easy turkey recipe.?
Ingredients and Equipment
Turkey - uncooked, frozen or fresh, with or without neck and giblets, with or without broth injected - note: you can now get organic and kosher turkeys - at about double the price - but without any hormones!
Herbs: Thyme, sage, marjoram, paprika, rosemary, pepper
2 medium onions or one large onion
Turkey cooking bag
Meat thermometer
Large oven cooking pan (must be oven-safe)
Step 1- Gather the pan and cooking bags
Oven bags are the easiest way to guarantee a moist turkey, and easy clean up. I have no affiliation with the manufacturers of these or any cooking bags - I juts have used them for years and find that they really do work.
There is no pot to scrape and clean afterwards, and the juices and moisture is kept in with the turkey, so no basting is required, either! You can use a roasting pan (with a lid) instead, the bags just make cleanup easier and hold in more moisture.
Step 2 - Thaw the turkey
If you bought a frozen turkey, you must thaw it before preparing or cooking it! There are always directions for thawing on the bag, but basically, there are two methods:
- 1 to 3 days in the refrigerator or
- submerged in cold water for about 3 - 6 hours (depending on the size of the turkey). It is safer to thaw it in the fridge, since it is always kept before 40 - 45 degrees F, but sometimes, there just isn't time.
If you thaw it under water, be sure to change the water every 30 minutes or so. Make sure you keep the entire turkey under water. Parts expose to air will warm to room temperature, and bacteria can grow!THAWING TIMES FOR A TURKEY
Turkey Size (lbs.) Refrigerator (Days) Cold Water (Hours)
8-12 1-2 4-6
12-16 2-3 6-8
16-20 3-4 8-10
20-24 4-5 10-12
Step 3 - Empty and clean the turkey
Remove any neck and giblets that were stuffed inside the turkey - be sure to look in BOTH ends - often they put a gravy packet under the neck skin flap, and the giblets are inside the bird.
Thoroughly wash the turkey inside and out with cold water (nothing else) and drain it. Note: this is a good time to get the oven warming - set it for 325 F (and make sure there is nothing inside the oven first!)
Remember that uncooked poultry usually have bacteria like salmonella, so thoroughly wash your hands, and pots, tools, or surfaces that come in contact with the uncooked turkey. Use hot soapy water and rinse a lot on nonfood items (your hands, pots, etc.).
Step 4 - Gather the seasonings
The seasonings are easy:
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Sage
1/2 teaspoon Marjoram
1/4 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon dry Rosemary, or 2 sprigs fresh.
Dice the onion(s) - I do about 1/4 inch squares but anything from 1/2 inch slices or smaller is fine. Place the cooking bag in the cooking pan and line the inside of the cooking bag with the onions.
Step 5 - Stuffing the turkey?
Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to stuff the inside of the turkey with dressing - it makes it harder to ensure that the turkey is cooked completely, and the stuffing absorbs the blood and other fluids and insulates the bacteria in them from the heat. If the stuffing is not cooked and handled properly, foodborne illness could occur. I cook the stuffing in a separate covered pan and add cooked juice from the turkey to it!
If you DO stuff the turkey, undo the plastic strap that holds the legs together and LOOSELY stuff both cavities (neck and thoracic)., then replace the legs in the strap. You cook the bird with this strap in place - it is oven-safe!
More notes on stuffing from Clemson University:
Prepare Stuffing Safely: Mix the stuffing just before it goes into the turkey. Use only cooked ingredients in stuffing such as saut茅ed vegetables, cooked meats and seafood (oysters), and pasteurized egg products instead of raw eggs. If more convenient, the wet and dry ingredients can be prepared separately ahead of time and chilled. Mix the ingredients just before placing the stuffing inside the turkey or in a casserole.
Stuff The Bird Properly: Stuff both neck and body cavities. The turkey should be stuffed loosely, about three-quarters cup of stuffing per pound of turkey. This will help allow the stuffing to reach the proper 165 掳F internal temperature whether the stuffing is in the bird or in a casserole. Use a meat thermometer to be sure of the temperature. The stuffing should be moist, not dry, since heat destroys bacteria more rapidly in a moist environment.
Cook At The Proper Temperature: The stuffed turkey should be placed immediately in a preheated oven set no lower than 325 掳F. Cooking overnight in a ';slow'; oven is not recommended for stuffed or unstuffed turkey, since foodborne bacteria can form under these conditions.
Use A Meat Thermometer: Checking the stuffing temperature with a thermometer is essential. That is because even if the turkey itself has reached the proper internal temperature of 180 掳F in the innermost part of the thigh, the stuffing may not have reached the correct temperature of 165 掳F in its center. It is important to reach this temperature in all parts of the stuffing to be sure that foodborne bacteria are destroyed.
Prestuffed Poultry: Buying retail-stuffed whole poultry is not recommended because of the highly perishable nature of a previously stuffed item. Some USDA-inspected frozen stuffed poultry MUST be cooked from the frozen state to ensure a safely cooked product.
Step 6 - Season the Turkey!
Brush with oil or melted butter to prevent drying of the skin and help it to become a golden brown.
Put the turkey into the oven bag, then sprinkle the seasonings from step 4 all over the bird. Now closew the bag according to the instructions that came with it (a twist-tie around the opening and punch a small hole near it to release excess pressure.
Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the deepest part of the thigh. (If using an instant-read thermometer, it will be inserted when it is time to check for doneness.)
Step 7 - Put the turkey in the oven
Place in a preheated 325 掳F oven. Use the roasting schedule in Table 2 as a guideline; start checking for doneness a half-hour before recommended end times.
APPROXIMATE ROASTING TIMES FOR TURKEY
Size of Turkey (lbs.) Unstuffed Timing Stuffed Timing
8-12 2戮 - 3 Hours 3 - 3陆 Hours
12-14 3 - 3戮 Hours 3陆 - 4 Hours
14-18 3戮 - 4录 Hours 4 - 4录 Hours
18-20 4录 - 4陆 Hours 4录 - 4戮 Hours
20-24 4陆 - 5 Hours 4戮 - 5录 Hours
Turkey is done when the meat thermometer reaches the following temperatures:
180 to 185 掳F deep in the thigh; also, juices should be clear, not pink when thigh muscle is pierced deeply.
170 to 175 掳F in the thickest part of the breast, just above the rib bones.
160 to 165 掳F in the center of the stuffing, if turkey is stuffed.
Step 8 - remove the cooked turkey
When the skin is a golden color and the thermometer reads the right temperature from step 6, take it out of the oven!
Let turkey stand for 15 to 20 minutes before carving to allow juices to set While the turkey is setting, you can make the gravy!
Step 9 - Make the gravy
Click here for the gravy directions!
Step 10 - You're done!
Within two hours after roasting, remove stuffing from turkey and carve the meat off the bones; then store in refrigerator or freezer. Gravy, stuffing and meat need to be stored SEPARATELY from each other. Wrap turkey slices and stuffing separately. Refrigerator Storage: Use within three days.
The Perfect Roast Turkey Recipe
1 (14 lb) whole turkey
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 ounces butter
1 lemon, halved
1 bunch fresh rosemary
salt %26amp; freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425掳F Remove the giblets from the turkey. Rub oil on the outside of the bird and season well.
Place the butter, lemon and whole herbs in the cavity. Cook the bird breast-side down for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350掳F Cook for 3 1/2 hours, turning bird the right side up after 2 hours.
Test the turkey with a skewer in the leg joint. If blood comes out, give it another 20 minutes. If clear juices run out, it's cooked. Remove from the pan, wrap in foil and rest for 20 minutes while you make your gravy.
You can pick them up at your local supermarket already cooked. Go to the meat section. Follow directions on the label for heating. They are moist and good.
Good Eats Roast Turkey
1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water
For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.
A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
Preparation time: About 5 hours.
1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs.*
Juice of a lemon
Salt and pepper
Olive oil or melted butter
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery
2 carrots
Parsley
Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme
* Need help figuring out how big a turkey to get? Butterball has a turkey calculator that helps you figure out just how many pounds you need. In general, plan for:
12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people
15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people
18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people
1 To start, if the turkey has been refrigerated, bring it to room temperature before cooking. Keep it in its plastic wrapping until you are ready to cook it. While in the refrigerator, and or while you are bringing it to room temp, have the bird resting in a pan, so that if the plastic covering leaks for any reason, you are confining the juices to the pan. If you get a frozen turkey, you will need to defrost it in the refrigerator for several days first. Allow approximately 5 hours of defrosting for every pound. So, if you have a 15 pound turkey, it will take about 75 hours to defrost it in the refrigerator, or around 3 days.
Handle a raw turkey with the same amount of caution as when you handle raw chicken - use a separate cutting board and utensils to avoid contaminating other foods. Wash you hands with soap before touching anything else in the kitchen. Use paper towels to clean up.
Remove the neck and giblets (heart, gizzard, liver). Use the heart and gizzard for making stock for the stuffing. The neck can be cooked along side the turkey or saved for turkey soup.
Note that if your turkey comes with a plastic piece holding the legs together, check the instructions on the turkey's package. Most likely you do not need to remove those plastic ties for cooking (unless you plan to cook your turkey at a very high temperature). If you remove the plastic ties, you will need to use kitchen string to tie the legs together.
2 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3 Wash out the turkey with water. Pull out any remaining feather stubs in the turkey skin. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Lather the inside of the cavity with the juice of half a lemon. Take a small handful of salt and rub all over the inside of the turkey.
4 In this method of cooking a turkey, we don't make the stuffing in the turkey because doing so adds too much to the cooking time. For flavor, put in inside the turkey a half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some tops and bottoms of celery. You may need to cap the body cavity with some aluminum foil so that the stuffing doesn't easily fall out. Close up the turkey cavity with either string (not nylon string!) or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together, held close to the body, and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close.
The neck cavity can be stuffed with parsley and tied closed with thin skewers and string.
5 Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey (or have had it soaking in salt-water brine before starting this process). Sprinkle pepper over the turkey.
6 Place turkey BREAST DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings. This is the main difference between the way mom makes turkey and everyone else. Cooking the turkey breast down means the skin over the breast will not get so brown. However, all of the juices from the cooking turkey will fall down into the breast while cooking. And the resulting bird will have the most succulent turkey breast imaginable.
Add several sprigs of fresh (if possible) thyme and rosemary to the outside of the turkey.
7 Chop up the turkey giblets (gizzard, heart, liver). Put into a small saucepan, cover with water, add salt. Bring to simmer for an hour or so to help make stock for the stuffing (see stuffing recipe).
8 Put the turkey in the oven. Check the cooking directions on the turkey packaging. Gourmet turkeys often don't take as long to cook. With the turkeys mom gets, she recommends cooking time of about 15 minutes for every pound. For the 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400 F for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 F for the next 2 hours. Then reduce the heat further to 225 F for the next hour to hour and a half.
If you want the breast to be browned as well, you can turn over the bird for the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, at an oven temp of 300掳F. (Oven must be at least 250掳F for browning to occur.) Note that if you do this, you will have a higher risk of overcooking the turkey breast. We never worry about browning the breast.
Start taking temperature readings with a meat thermometer, inserted deep into the thickest part of the turkey breast and thigh, a half hour before the turkey should be done. The dark meat in the thigh should be about 175 F. The white meat in the breast should be 160 F to 165 F. If you don't have a meat thermometer, spear the breast with a knife. The turkey juices should be clear, not pink.
9 Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Turn the turkey breast side up to carve it. (See Chow video on carving a turkey and Bon Appetit's instructions on how to carve a turkey.)
Making Turkey Gravy
Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour drippings into a smaller skillet. Ladle off excess fat with a gravy spoon and save for possible use later. In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add just enough water to dissolve the corn starch. Beat cornstarch with a spoon to remove lumps. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly. You may not end up using all of the cornstarch mixture. Only add as much as you need to get the desired thickness. Allow time for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.
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