That’s a beautiful bird!
In 2006, I arrived at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving brandishing an article from the now-defunct Gourmet magazine. The article claimed that the editors had tried every conceivable way to roast a Thanksgiving turkey: brined, basted, slow-cooked, high heat, low heat, everything.
The conclusion? It turned out that the easiest way to roast a turkey was also the best way to roast a turkey. High heat, short cooking time, no basting, no brining — just blast the bird. The magazine’s editors claimed that the result was a moist turkey covered in crispy, delicious skin with almost no work. My mother was doubtful but agreed to give it a try.
Truss your turkey for best results.
Well, the editors of Gourmet were right. It was both the easiest and the best turkey that we had ever cooked. My mom couldn’t believe it. Since then, we have roasted our Thanksgiving turkey according to this same method and every time it has been delicious. We have shared the recipe with many other doubters. Everyone who tries it is convinced.
To make the turkey using our high-heat method, blast the bird at 450, rotating once halfway through the cooking time. A 16 lb. bird takes 2 1/4 hours; an 18 lb. bird, like the one we had last year, takes 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Why no basting? Opening the oven so frequently causes the temperature to fluctuate too much and that prolongs the cooking time. Just rotate once halfway through and let it rest for at least 30 minutes before carving. That’s it. I know this may sound like Thanksgiving heresy. But I know of what I speak. Follow this recipe one time and you will be converted.
One of the advantages of the high-heat method is that you do not have to tie up your oven for the whole day, which makes it easier to prepare the rest of the meal. Like many, we are working with one oven when we make Thanksgiving dinner, so adhering to a schedule is important. We bake the pies first thing in the morning. They can be reheated while we eat dinner. The dressing — not stuffing because it is cooked in a dish — can be prepared in advance until it is ready to bake and then it bakes in the oven while the turkey rests. Everything else we do on stove.
So, I dare you to give my high-heat, no basting method a try this year. I promise you will be converted.
Ingredients
- 16-18 lb turkey at room temperature, giblets removed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Sprinkle turkey cavity and skin with salt and pepper. Fold neck skin under body and secure with metal skewers, then tie drumsticks together with kitchen string and tuck wings under body.
- Put turkey on rack in roasting pan.
- Add 1 cup water to pan and roast. Rotate pan halfway through, about 1 1/4 hours after you put turkey in. Do not open oven door otherwise. If wings start to burn, cover with foil.
- Continue to roast until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of thighs registers 170 degrees, about 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 hours.
- Carefully tilt turkey so any juices from inside cavity run into roasting pan, then transfer turkey to a platter, reserving the juices in roasting pan for gravy.
- Let turkey stand, uncovered, 30 minutes before carving. Residual heat will continue to cook turkey.
- Carve and serve warm with gravy, if desired.
Hi I’m so excited to try it this way this year. Question: why does your recipe not involve any herbs or butter? I usually rub under the skin with herbs and butter. Can I do it this way with the herbs and butter?
So, butter would burn at that high temperature. You can see from the pictures — that is last year’s actual turkey – that the skin gets very crisp and brown even with no added fat. You could put herbs under the skin or in the cavity if you like.
Oh wow, that’s a huge turkey! I’m intrigued to give this a try, knowing that it is so easy to make. Yum!
Yes! We always have a big crowd at Thanksgiving. But the same method can be scaled down for a smaller bird.
So no fat on the outside right? So you don’t have to cover any part of it with foil so it doesn’t burn even at 450 the whole time? Pretty awesome!
Exactly, no fat on the outside because it would scorch. But you can see from the pictures how brown the crispy the skin gets just from the fat in it naturally. Occasionally, some part that sticks out, like the wings, will burn and we cover them with foil but that’s it.
This is so cool, Emily! I’m not in charge of the turkey this year but definitely want to try it next year. It’s great when simple actually is best. (P.S. I miss Gourmet magazine so much!)
Me too! I subscribe to Bon Appetit and Saveur but neither seems as good as Gourmet was.