Hosting Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving or Christmas this year? This is the method I’ve used to cook a moist turkey every holiday since 2014: brine it, roast it low and steady, and pull it at the right temperature. It’s simple enough for a first-time host, and it’s the turkey readers tell me got them asked to host again next year.
Below you’ll find the five steps, a cooking time chart by weight, exactly where to check the temperature, and answers to the questions you’ve asked me most in the comments (yes, including oven bags).
Turkey at a glance
| Brine | 12–24 hours in the fridge |
| Oven Roasting | 325°F, uncovered |
| Time | about 13–15 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey |
| Done | 165°F in the breast, thigh and wing |
| Resting Time | 20–30 minutes, tented with foil |
Why Brining Makes a Moist Turkey
A dry turkey almost always comes down to two things: lean breast meat and overcooking. Brining helps with the first. As the turkey soaks in salted liquid, the meat absorbs some of it and holds onto more moisture as it roasts. It also seasons the meat all the way through, not just the skin.
The second part is on you, and it’s easy: use a thermometer and take the turkey out as soon as it reaches 165°F. Brining buys you a little forgiveness, but it can’t save a bird that roasts an extra hour.
My two favorite wet brines are my Apple Cider Turkey Brine and my Citrus Turkey Brine. If you’d rather skip the bucket of liquid, try my Dry Brine Turkey instead. The roasting steps below work for all three. Be sure to check out our post The Best Turkey Brine Recipes: Wet or Dry and How to Choose, where we go through different types of turkey brines, and give you an option for an simple turkey brine to get started.
What You Need to Cook a Moist Turkey
Ingredients
- Whole turkey, 12–14 lb, fresh or fully thawed, giblets and neck removed
- 1 batch of turkey brine, such as my Apple Cider Turkey Brine
- Olive oil or melted butter, for a golden, crisp skin
- Dried rosemary, sage and black pepper, or your favorite poultry seasoning. Go easy on salt, since the brine already seasons the meat.
- Optional aromatics: a quartered onion, an apple or orange, and a few herb sprigs for the cavity
Tools
- A brining bag. Use a heavy-duty bag made for brining, set in a large pot or cooler so it can’t tip. I use this brining bag from Amazon, which is extra large and accomodates all sizes of turkey.
- A roasting pan. I use disposable aluminum roasting pans now. They’re easy to clean, but slide a sheet pan underneath for support.
- An instant-read thermometer. Don’t trust the pop-up timer. I use my Thermapen ONE for every turkey.
- Heavy-duty foil. For tenting the breast as it browns and keeping the turkey warm while it rests.
- Paper towels and a clean, cleared sink.
Don’t brine in an oven bag
Never use an oven bag to brine a turkey. Oven bags aren’t thick enough to hold the weight of a turkey plus gallons of brine. You’ll likely spring a leak and have brine all over your refrigerator. Use a real brining bag instead.
Thermapen ONE Instant Read Digital Thermometer
This is my go-to tool for grilling and roasting! With a Thermapen there’s no guessing if or when the meat is done. The precise temperature will provide you with meat that is perfectly cooked, juicy and delicious EVERY time!
How to Cook a Moist Turkey, Step by Step
Step 1: Thaw Your Turkey inthe fridge
Start by defrosting your turkey. If you’re making Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, you’ll likely need to take your turkey out of the freezer by Thursday before to allow for time to thaw and brine.
Depending on the weight of your bird, it will need at least 48 hours to defrost, if not more. Check the label of your turkey, along with the weight to see how long it will take to defrost.
How long does it take to thaw a turkey?
Allow 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds. If you’re math impaired, no worries – Here are some quick conversions:
| Turkey Weight | Fridge Thawing Time |
| 4–12 lb | 1-3 Days |
| 12–16 lb | 3-4 Days |
| 16–20 lb | 4-5 Days |
| 20–24 lb | 5-6 Days |
To make things easier, I like to buy my frozen turkey about a week before Thanksgiving. When I bring it home, I place it in the refrigerator to immediately begin thawing. I will then add it to a brine on Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving.
Add one more day for brining. For a Thursday Thanksgiving, I buy my turkey about a week ahead, put it straight into the fridge, and start brining Wednesday morning.
Still frozen on Tuesday? Thaw it in cold water instead. Keep it in its wrapper, submerge it in cold water, and change the water every 30 minutes. Plan on about 30 minutes per pound.
Step 2: Brine the turkey for 12–24 hours
Make your brine the day before you plan to brine. Heat it just until the salt and sugar dissolve, then let it cool completely before it touches the turkey. Warm brine brings raw poultry into an unsafe temperature range.
Remove the neck and giblets, set the turkey in a brining bag inside a large pot or cooler, and pour the cooled brine over it. Squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and refrigerate for 12–24 hours. Turn the bag once if the turkey isn’t fully covered. If your fridge is full, a cooler packed with ice works too; keep it at 40°F or below.
My go-to recipes: Apple Cider Turkey Brine or Citrus Turkey Brine. No apple cider? Apple juice or orange juice works too.
Step 3: Brine The Turkey in a Large Brining Bag
When your brine is completely cool, you’ll pour it over your turkey into a large brining bag. (A brining bag is like a huge zip-lock plastic bag, big and thick enough to hold a turkey. I’ve got a link to buy your brining bags right from Amazon below.) From here, seal up the bag with the turkey and brine and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
Can I use an oven bag to brine a turkey?
No. Do NOT use an oven bag. These are not made for brining, and the plastic is not thick enough to hold the weight of the turkey and liquid. You’ll likely spring a leak and have brine all over your refrigerator.
Step 3: Rinse, dry and season
When you’re ready to roast, take the turkey out of the brine and discard the brine and the bag.
- Rinse it, carefully. I rinse a brined turkey to wash off surface salt, which keeps the skin and pan drippings from getting too salty. Clear the area around the sink first, rinse gently under cold water inside and out, and then wash and sanitize the sink and anything the water splashed. I lay an old towel in the sink so the turkey doesn’t slide around.
- Pat it very dry. Move the turkey to your roasting pan and pat it dry all over with paper towels. Dry skin is the secret to golden skin.
- Oil and season. Rub the skin with olive oil or melted butter. Sprinkle lightly with rosemary, sage and pepper. Skip extra salt.
- Add aromatics (optional). Tuck an onion, apple or orange and a few herb sprigs into the cavity for extra aroma. Tuck the wing tips under the bird so they don’t burn.
Step 4: Roast at 325°F, uncovered
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Roast the turkey breast side up, uncovered, on the lower rack. Check the cooking time chart for your turkey’s weight. A 12–14 lb turkey takes about 3 to 3¾ hours.
Once the breast is golden brown, usually about two-thirds of the way through, tent it loosely with foil so it doesn’t over-brown. Start checking the temperature 30 minutes before the chart says it’s done. Brined turkeys can cook a little faster.
Step 5: Rest, then carve
When the thermometer reads 165°F in the breast, thigh and wing, take the turkey out of the oven. Tent it with foil and let it rest for 20–30 minutes. Resting lets the juices settle back into the meat instead of running out onto the cutting board.
Use that time to make the gravy. Then carve: remove the legs and thighs first, then slice each breast off the bone in one piece and cut it across the grain.
Garnish the platter with rosemary, thyme or sage, plus apples, pears, oranges or grapes for color.
Turkey Cooking Time Chart (325°F, Unstuffed)
Roast an unstuffed turkey at 325°F using these times as your guide, then go by the thermometer. Times are from the USDA’s roasting chart.
| Turkey weight | Roasting time at 325°F |
| 8-12 lbs. | 2¾–3 hours |
| 12–14 lbs. | 3–3¾ hours |
| 14-18 lbs. | 3¾–4¼ hours |
| 18-20 lbs. | 4¼–4½ hours |
| 20-24 lbs. | 4½–5 hours |
Start checking 30 minutes early. Ovens vary, and brined turkeys often finish on the faster end of the range. If your turkey is done early, tent it with foil. It will stay hot for 45 minutes or more.
How to Tell When Your Turkey Is Done
Your turkey is done when it reads 165°F in three spots. Check each one with an instant-read thermometer, keeping the tip away from the bone:
- The thickest part of the breast
- The innermost part of the thigh, near where it meets the body
- The thickest part of the wing
If one spot is under 165°F, put the turkey back in and check again in 15 minutes. The temperature will climb a few more degrees while it rests.
Skip the pop-up timer. Those little plastic buttons often pop late, after the breast has already dried out. Don’t go by juice color either. A turkey can run clear before it’s safe, or look slightly pink when it’s fully cooked. The thermometer is the only reliable test, and it’s the single best tool for a moist turkey.
Should You Roast a Brined Turkey Covered or in an Oven Bag?
I roast my brined turkey uncovered, then tent just the breast with foil once it turns golden. That gives you crisp, brown skin without drying out the breast. You don’t need to add water or broth to the pan, either; the brine has already done the work.
Can you roast a brined turkey in an oven bag? Yes. This is the question I get most in the comments, and it works fine. An oven bag traps steam, so the turkey usually cooks faster and the skin turns out softer and paler. Follow the timing on the oven bag package, not the chart above, and still check for 165°F. Personally, I find oven bags an extra step that doesn’t make the meat noticeably juicier once it’s been brined, so I skip it.
Just remember: roasting in an oven bag is fine, but brining in one isn’t.
How to Make Gravy from Brined Turkey Drippings
Gravy from a brined turkey is delicious, but the drippings are saltier than usual. Use low-sodium broth and taste before you add any salt.
- Pour the pan drippings into a fat separator or measuring cup and let the fat rise to the top.
- Spoon ¼ cup of the fat into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in ¼ cup flour and cook for 1–2 minutes, until it smells nutty.
- Slowly whisk in 2 cups of liquid: the drippings (fat removed) topped up with low-sodium chicken or turkey broth.
- Simmer, whisking, for 5 minutes until thickened. Taste, then season with pepper, and salt only if it needs it.
This makes about 2 cups. Double it for a crowd.
Moist Turkey FAQs
I do, to remove surface salt so the skin and gravy don’t turn out too salty. Rinse gently, then clean and sanitize your sink and counters afterward. Never rinse an unbrined turkey; it only spreads bacteria around your kitchen.
No. The brine keeps the meat moist, so basting isn’t necessary. Every time you open the oven door, the temperature drops and the turkey takes longer to cook.
Yes. Stick to 12–24 hours for a wet brine. Much longer than that, and the meat can taste too salty and turn soft or spongy.
It’s best not to. The brine can’t get into frozen meat, so the turkey seasons unevenly. Finish thawing it in cold water first (see Step 1), then brine.
Plan on 1 to 1½ pounds of whole turkey per person. That leaves enough for leftovers. A 12–14 lb turkey feeds about 10–12 people.
I roast at 325°F. It cooks the turkey more evenly, so the breast doesn’t dry out before the thighs are done. You can roast at 350°F, but it will cook faster, so start checking the temperature even earlier.
Refrigerate leftover turkey within 2 hours of cooking. It keeps for 3–4 days in the fridge, or you can freeze it for longer storage.
Check out some of my other holiday dinner ideas:
- Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast
- Oven Baked Snow Crab Legs
- Garlic Herb Roast Beef
- How to Bake a Spiral Ham with amazing Orange Honey Glaze
Need some awesome Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner side dishes? Check out some of my recipes here:
- Boursin Cheese Mashed Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows and Pecans
- Creamed Corn Casserole
- Healthy Green Bean Casserole
- Hasselback Sweet Potatoes
- Everything Thanksgiving Stuffing
- Cranberry Citrus Salad with Goat Cheese and Pecans
- Ruth’s Chris Copycat Sweet Potato Casserole
- Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
- Pumpkin Meringue Pie
- Coconut Cream Pie
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Video
Brined Roast Turkey
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 (12–14 lb) Whole Turkey fully thawed, neck and giblets removed
- 1 batch Apple Cider Turkey Brine fully cooled
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 onion quartered (optional)
- 1 apple or orange quartered (optional)
- A few fresh rosemary sage or thyme sprigs (optional)
Instructions
- Thaw: Thaw the turkey in the refrigerator, allowing 24 hours for every 4–5 pounds.
- Brine: Place the turkey in a brining bag set inside a large pot or cooler. Pour the completely cooled brine over it, seal, and refrigerate for 12–24 hours.
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Remove the turkey from the brine and discard the brine. Rinse the turkey gently inside and out with cold water, then sanitize the sink. Pat it completely dry and set it breast side up in a roasting pan.
- Season: Rub the skin all over with oil or butter. Sprinkle with rosemary, sage and pepper. Place the onion, fruit and herb sprigs in the cavity, if using. Tuck the wing tips under.
- Roast: Roast uncovered for about 3 to 3¾ hours for a 12–14 lb turkey. When the breast is golden, tent it loosely with foil.
- Check for doneness: Begin checking 30 minutes early. The turkey is done when an instant-read thermometer reads 165°F in the thickest part of the breast, the innermost thigh, and the wing.
- Rest and carve: Tent the turkey with foil and rest 20–30 minutes before carving.
Notes
- Here’s the link to my Apple Cider Turkey Brine – super popular at Thanksgiving, and hundreds of people come back to it every year (including myself) to make their Thanksgiving Turkey!
- Cooking times by weight (325°F, unstuffed): 8–12 lb, 2¾–3 hrs · 12–14 lb, 3–3¾ hrs · 14–18 lb, 3¾–4¼ hrs · 18–20 lb, 4¼–4½ hrs · 20–24 lb, 4½–5 hrs.
- Don’t brine in an oven bag. It isn’t strong enough and will likely leak.
- Go light on salt in the seasoning and gravy. The brine already seasons the meat.
- Oven bag roasting: follow the package timing, which is usually shorter, and still check for 165°F.
- Other brines: this method works with my Citrus Turkey Brine or Dry Brine Turkey. With a dry brine, follow the rinsing directions in that post.
Fabulous tips, Erin! Your turkey is gorgeous … and your family is in for a fantastic holiday meal. {Gorgeous photos, too. 🙂 }
Tracey @ The Kitchen is My Playground
Thanks so much, Tracey! Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Love and hugs ~ Erin
After brining, do I cook the turkey in a bag?
Hi there. About how long does it take to cook the turkey? I’m trying to figure out how long I need
Hi Taylor – The answer depends on the size/weight of your turkey. You should estimate 13 minutes per pound of turkey at 350 degrees. For example, if your turkey is 18 lbs, you’ll roast the turkey for approximately 3.5 – 4 hours. Using a meat or instant read thermometer, the turkey is done when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Good luck and have a wonderful holiday! -Erin
What a great looking turkey! Thank you for the tips 😀
The main reason a turkey is moist is not being overcooked. A lot of sources list :20 per pound and that is too much. In my experience, brining makes the meat softer. I prefer some texture to my turkey meat (not mushy).
You do the same thing I do: keep it simple. Wash it, pat it dry, rub it with oil, season liberally. I add chunks of onion, carrots, and celery (there’s a magic taste combination with poultry & celery) around and inside the bird, and make sure the inside is as liberally seasoned (I use only salt & pepper). I think fresh thyme is also a great flavor with turkey. Lastly, I pour a little of the pan juices over the sliced meat. THAT is the bomb!
That’s for the brining tip and sharing it on Sunday’s Best Linkup. I’m going to try it next week. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts.
Thanks for sharing this at the #HomeMattersParty!
This recipe is excellent. I have used it two seasons now and have been delighted by the comments on how well the turkey tastes. To put it simply, this recipe is my little secret for an incredible turkey for any occasion suitable for one. Thank you, Erin!
Great artіcⅼe.
Poultry needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 not 160. 165 is the point at which salmonella is killed.
First timer here for cooking a turkey. Had no idea what brining was, but now I will definitely try. I was wondering if one of those big aluminum plates will do or if a roasting pan is absolutely necessary? If so, I will invest in one. Also, do you recommend placing the turkey in an oven bag while it’s roasting or is that just overkill?
Thank you for giving me courage to do thand turkey this year! You made everything look so easy, I’m excited to try.
Great recipe! Will make it in a few days so I need to know if you cooked it in an oven bag?
Thanks
Thanks for this easy recipe I really look forward to trying it this Thanksgiving!
Question: Do you cover the turkey before roasting it or leave it uncovered the whole time? Also do you add any juice, broth, water to the bottom of the pan for added moisture or is this not needed because of the brining? I am so unexperienced in cooking Holiday meals!!
Hi Erin
Do you use an oven bag to roast the turkey or does it go in the oven uncovered?
This sounds yummy. I’m excited to make it!!
Thank you!!
For this recepy do i need to put my turkey in a oven bag to roast it?
I made this turkey for my in-laws and they decided I’d host Thanksgiving dinner every year. Haha. Thank you for the delicious recipe.
I found this via Pinterest just in time for last year’s Thanksgiving.. I made your brine & followed these steps, and it was so delicious! My husband (who LOVES turkey and is very particular about it) said that this was the best turkey he has ever eaten! I even loved it, and I’m not usually a huge turkey fan. So yummy, and I can’t wait to make it again this year! Thank you so much for these wonderful tips and brine recipe!
Do you bake this in a Turkey bag?
After I brine the turkey and get ready to cook it, can I still cook it in an oven bag? I’ve always used an oven bag and have never tried the brining method!
This will be my 3rd time making this Turkey with the apple cider brine and it is revolutionary! Congratulations on this amazing gift to the world 😀
Good morning! I was just wondering how you go about defrosting your turkey? We have a 20 pound turkey and I wasn’t sure if we should defrost it in the fridge or the sink? Thanks
Hi Simone – this is a great question. If you’re planning on cooking the turkey on Thursday (Thanksgiving), I highly recommend starting to thaw your 20lb turkey today (Friday.) It will take several days to thaw. For best results, simply store your frozen turkey in the refrigerator, keeping it cold, yet above freezing temp. Check on it Tuesday/Wednesday, it will likely still be internally frozen. If so, I recommend transferring it to a cooler or sink with cold water. This will help speed up the thawing process. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and holiday season. Best, Erin
Do you baste it during the roast
No, I personally don’t. The brining process gives the turkey amazing flavor and keeps the meat moist, making basting unnecessary. Enjoy your holiday season! Best, Erin