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As much as Thanksgiving turkey gets the starring role as the centerpiece of most holiday tables, let\u2019s be honest: It\u2019s rarely the culinary highlight.\u00a0When we polled readers and Allrecipes <\/em>staff members about their favorite Thanksgiving recipes, pies and casseroles, even bread and potatoes, earned far more rave reviews than turkey, which some folks view as dry, boring, and still somehow essential to the holiday meal.\n<\/p>\n When we asked a panel of eight professional chefs about their thoughts on turkey, they all agreed that it is<\/em> possible to make a stand-out bird. Not only can it look deliciously tempting, but it can also deliver serious flavor and incredibly juicy, tender bits\u2014both on Thanksgiving day and as leftovers.\n<\/p>\n \u201cA whole lot of science happens in the oven when heat meets the bird to result in a juicy, tender turkey,\u201d says Peter Som, a New York City-based culinary creator. \u201cThe proteins in the meat begin to break down, which will help trap moisture. Plus, the collagen in turkey, especially the dark meat, will break down into gelatin, which will add to the moisture factor. At the same time, the fat in the turkey will render during cooking which will then baste the meat\u2014and as we know\u2014fat means flavor and juiciness.\u201d\n<\/p>\n This all sounds great in theory, but how can you lock in that flavor and juiciness in the meat, rather than it all sinking to the bottom of the roasting pan or evaporating in steam? Read on to hear our chefs\u2019 top tips to make this year\u2019s bird your best yet.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n With seven out of eight chefs recommending it as the secret to a juicy turkey, the top tip is to brine your bird. This is also the first step for our Perfect Turkey recipe, which has more than 1,500 five-star reviews.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Sure, brining adds another step to dinner prep, but cooking the turkey is pretty hands-off after that. All you have to do is mix some seasonings, apply them to the turkey, and just let it marinate in the fridge. It’s a simple extra step, but according to Wright, it’s the key to ensuring the turkey stays juicy and packed with flavor, whether you opt to roast, grill, smoke, or fry it.\n<\/p>\n Petito Jr. confirms that brining changes turkey on a cellular level. The salt in the brine breaks down muscle proteins, allowing the turkey to retain more water as it cooks. This not only helps the meat stay juicier, but with aromatic vegetables and herbs in the mix, a brine also seasons it from the inside out, making every bite an explosion of flavor.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The chefs recommend soaking a turkey in a wet brine, which is typically made with water and salt, and sometimes sugar, vegetables, citrus, and herbs. Add your turkey to a large bowl or bucket breast-side down, submerge in the brine, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.\n<\/p>\n Dotdash Meredith Food Studios<\/p>\n <\/span> If you don\u2019t have extra room in your fridge, you could also opt for a dry brine instead. Petito Jr. suggests rubbing approximately 1 tablespoon\u00a0of salt per\u00a05 pounds\u00a0of turkey, and, of course, your preference of spices.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhether wet or dry, brining makes the biggest difference in terms of retaining moisture and enhancing flavor throughout the meat,\u201d Petito Jr. says. Both types of brining \u201cdraw out moisture at first, but then that reabsorbs the salty liquid, resulting in flavorful, tender meat.\u201d\n<\/p>\n For more inspiration and instructions, check out our step-by-step guide on how to brine a turkey, or try one of our recipes for Citrus Turkey Brine, Brined Thanksgiving Turkey, Thanksgiving Turkey Brine, or Maple Turkey Brine.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe key to a juicy turkey is all about moisture retention and even cooking,\u201d says Laguatan. In tandem with brining, here are more tips for how to help your turkey retain its juices and flavor.<\/p>\n If possible, start with a fresh turkey that hasn\u2019t been frozen. According to Stilianessis, “Frozen turkeys lose moisture during the defrosting process, which leads to dry meat. Fresh turkeys retain more moisture and have better flavor.\u201d\n<\/p>\n When stuffed in the cavity of the bird, bread or\u00a0rice stuffing\u00a0takes quite a bit of time to reach the safe minimum temperature of 165 degrees F (75 degrees C). \u201cInstead, cook stuffing separately for both food safety and better moisture retention in the turkey,” Stilianessis says.\n<\/p>\n Don’t have a stuffing recipe yet? Try our\u00a0Bread and Celery Stuffing, which fans confirm is a \u201cbig hit at our house\u201d and is \u201cpacked with flavor.\u201d Bonus: You can easily customize this recipe with vegan butter and vegetable stock and share it with any plant-based guests.\n<\/p>\n According to Wright, you should plan for about 24 hours of thawing time for every 3 to 5 pounds of meat. \u201cCooking a turkey that’s cold\u2014or even worse, partially frozen\u2014will result in uneven cooking,\u201d Som says.\n<\/p>\n The exterior will cook faster than the inside, often leading to dry breast meat since the interior will slowly be coming up to temperature while the rest has reached a safe temp, Petito Jr. adds. After thawing, make sure to remove the turkey from the fridge 30 to 60 minutes before roasting so that it comes closer to room temperature by the time you start cooking.\n<\/p>\n Don\u2019t be intimidated by the name. This simply means slicing out the backbone so you can flatten, or essentially butterfly the bird, so it cooks more quickly and evenly. To learn more about how to spatchcock turkey, read our guide here. If you don’t want to go the spatchoking route, you could also simply separate the legs and thighs from the breast, which is leaner.\n<\/p>\n \u201cDark meat and white meat cook differently,\u201d Hales says. By separating them, you can take the pieces out to rest once each reaches the USDA\u2019s safe minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).\n<\/p>\n Although some recipes call for rubbing the skin with butter and seasonings, Plush and Morrison both advise against this. Applied externally, butter is unable to penetrate the skin and can easily burn as the turkey cooks. Instead, mix softened butter with chopped fresh herbs, minced garlic, and lemon zest, then use clean fingers to gently separate the skin from the flesh of the bird.\n<\/p>\n Spread this butter mixture under the skin, which Som says, \u201ctraps moisture under the skin for a succulent bird.” The butter essentially bastes the turkey as it roasts, Petito Jr. explains. This also prevents the oven temperature from fluctuating, which would happen if you had to open and close the door to baste yourself.\n<\/p>\n If you\u2019re set on the idea of butter on the outside of your bird, follow Petito Jr.\u2019s lead and soak a large piece of cheesecloth in melted butter, or a mix of melted butter and broth, then drape this over the turkey before putting it in the oven. \u201cThis method helps keep moisture in and results in beautifully golden, crisp skin,” he says. “Remove the cheesecloth in the last 30 minutes of cooking to allow the skin to brown further.”\n<\/p>\n Meat is made up of proteins like collagen and muscle fibers. As the turkey cooks, these proteins start to firm up and tighten. According to Hale, cooking low and slow allows “the muscle fibers [to] shrink slightly but retain moisture, making the meat tender and juicy. If you cook at too high of a temperature the proteins tighten too much, squeezing out the juices.”\n<\/p>\n The chefs we spoke to recommend roasting around 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). <\/strong>Once the meat nears 165 degrees F (75 degrees C) and the skin isn\u2019t as golden and crisp as you like, crank up the heat to between 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for the final 20 minutes to help accelerate the crisping process.<\/p>\n If your turkey comes with a plastic pop-up thermometer, Stilianessis says don\u2019t trust it: \u201cThey’re set to go off at 185 degrees F (85 degrees C), which results in an overcooked, dry turkey.\u201d Use a real meat thermometer, like Oxo Good Grips Chef’s Precision Digital Thermometer and ThermoPro TempSpike Plus. When the thickest part of the breast reaches 165 degrees F (75 degrees C) and the thigh hits 175 degrees F (80 degrees C), Petito Jr. suggests pulling your bird from the oven.\n<\/p>\n You\u2019ve made it to the finish line and now it\u2019s time to enjoy the fruits (okay, poultry) of your labor. But the last step is a crucial one: patience.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAs the meat cools slightly, the juices that were pushed to the surface during cooking redistribute back into the meat, keeping it moist when sliced. Slicing the turkey too soon after it comes out of the oven can cause the juices to run out, leaving the meat dry,\u201d Hales says. \u201cA very juicy cutting board and a dry turkey is not exactly what we\u2019re going for,\u201d Som continues. Let the meat rest for 20 minutes after pulling it from the oven, then it\u2019s time to carve your succulent, flavorful, and perfectly-cooked turkey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As much as Thanksgiving turkey gets the starring role as the centerpiece of most holiday tables, let\u2019s be honest: It\u2019s rarely the culinary highlight.\u00a0When we polled readers and Allrecipes staff members about their favorite Thanksgiving recipes, pies and casseroles, even bread and potatoes, earned far more rave reviews than turkey, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kitchen-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Our Panel of Turkey-Savvy Chefs <\/span> <\/h2>\n
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\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The #1 Trick for a Juicer Turkey <\/span> <\/h2>\n
How to Brine a Turkey <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Tips for the Juiciest Turkey <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Opt for a Fresh Bird <\/span> <\/h3>\n
Cook the Stuffing Separately <\/span> <\/h3>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n If Using Frozen, Thaw Turkey Well <\/span> <\/h3>\n
Consider Spatchocking <\/span> <\/h3>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Rub Butter and Herbs Under the Skin <\/span> <\/h3>\n
Cover the Turkey in a Butter-Soaked Cheesecloth <\/span> <\/h3>\n
Roast Turkey Low and Slow <\/span> <\/h3>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Invest in a Reliable Meat Thermometer <\/span> <\/h3>\n
Allow the Meat to Rest <\/span> <\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"