This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
With buttery yet crispy skin and lots of juicy meat, this oven roasted turkey is the best way to welcome Thanksgiving or Christmas to your holiday table. Served with festive sides, it’s just waiting to be carved and served.
A Delicious Roasted Turkey Recipe
With two simple cheats for keeping it moist, this oven-roasted turkey is the perfect dish for your Holiday menu. Don’t worry about complicated techniques or fancy ingredients, I’m keeping things nice and easy this year. Roasted until golden brown, the skin is crispy and buttery. Hiding a juicy and herby interior, the meat is ready to fall off the bone the moment you slice into it. The secret is a cheesecloth and lots of basting. Best of all, it lets you swap out many ingredients for dried herbs and garlic powder to make things easier on yourself.
Unlike previous years, you’ll enjoy roasting the turkey this time around because the oven will do everything for you. When it’s time to divide the tasks for next year’s gathering, your hand will shoot through the air when you hear “turkey.”
Ingredients For Oven Roasted Turkey
- 14-Pound Whole turkey
- Salt and pepper
- Yellow onion – This is the best one because of its sweetness, but feel free to use white onion as well.
- Garlic – Fresh garlic always yields the best flavor. However, you can swap it for 6 teaspoons of garlic powder.
- Rosemary sprigs – Dried rosemary works too in the same amount.
- Thyme sprigs – Feel free to use dried thyme.
- Parsley sprigs – Dried parsley will also work.
- Bay leaves
- Unsalted butter – If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt in the rest of the recipe.
- Dry white wine – My favorite is Chardonnay, but Sauvignon blanc is great, as well.
How to Roast A Turkey In The Oven
Thankfully, the oven does all the work for you here, and all you have to worry about is loosening the skin and soaking the cheesecloth in melted butter.
- Prep the oven. Preheat the oven to 450˚F and place a rack in the lower third of the oven. Then place a roasting rack in a large roasting pan and set it aside.
- Prep the turkey. Remove the giblets and neck from the turkey. Use paper towels to pat the turkey dry.
- Loosen the skin. Carefully insert your fingers under the skin to loosen it. Don’t detach the skin completely. You can also use the long end of a wooden spoon for this. Then, season the turkey with salt and pepper and place onions, garlic, rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, parsley, and bay leaves inside the cavity.
- Arrange the turkey. Place the turkey on the rack in the roasting pan, breast side up. Use kitchen twine to tie the ends of the legs together. Tuck the wing tips back.
- Melt the butter. Heat the butter and wine in a small pot over medium heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is warm.
- Prepare the cheesecloth. Fold the cheesecloth in half twice (it will have 4 layers.) Use kitchen thongs to carefully lower it into the butter. Once it has soaked up the butter mixture, remove it and unfold it once.
- Cover the turkey. Place the cheesecloth on top of the turkey and smooth it out. Cover the remaining butter mixture with the pot’s lid to keep it warm.
- Roast it. Place the turkey in the oven and let it roast for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350˚F and roast for 2 hours, basting the cheesecloth and turkey with the remaining butter mixture every 30 minutes.
- Brown the skin. Remove the cheesecloth, return the turkey to the oven, and let it roast for 30 minutes or until browned. When a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest portion of the breast reads 160˚F, remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving.
Recipe Tips
- Create steam. Fill a baking dish with water and place it on the lowest rack in the oven. As the turkey cooks, the water will evaporate and create steam. This will help keep your turkey juicy.
- Turn it around. Most ovens have hot spots. To avoid one side of your turkey cooking properly and not the other, turn the roasting pan around (with the turkey) halfway through the cooking time.
- Add veggies. Chopping up baby potatoes, carrots, and other veggies will give you a 2-in-1 dinner of roasted veggies and turkey. Use them to make a bed for the turkey in the roasting pan.
- Place it in the fridge. Before roasting, let the turkey rest overnight in the fridge while being loosely covered with foil. This will help the skin dry out and become extra crispy once it’s in the oven.
- Use compound butter. Compound butter is a mixture of butter with herbs, spices, garlic, and other ingredients. This gives the turkey lots of extra flavor.
Serving Suggestions
To serve a roasted turkey, think of holiday dishes and sides. My favorites include the Classic Waldorf Salad, Roasted Artichokes, Broccoli Cheese Casserole, and Oven Roasted Vegetables. Remember the Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, too.
For something a little more creamy and comforting, I also love to serve it with soups like my Asparagus Soup and Cream of Zucchini Soup.
FAQs
Read this section to solve any doubts you may have about roasting a whole turkey, including cooking times, how to keep it moist, and whether or not to roast your turkey covered.
Cooking time depends on the size of the turkey, but the average cooking time is 13 minutes per pound. For this recipe, I used a 14-pound turkey, so the total roasting time was 3 hours.
Turkeys are roasted at both 450˚F and 350˚F. It should be roasted at 450˚F for the first 30 minutes and then at 350˚F for the remaining 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Both. The initial portion of roasting should happen with your turkey covered to keep the skin from browning too quickly and burning. Once the meat is almost fully cooked, it can be uncovered to crispen the skin and brown it.
Basting is the first secret to keeping an oven-roasted turkey moist. Baste it every 30 minutes with the butter mixture and with its cooking juices to keep the turkey from drying out. The other secret is not overcooking the turkey. Use an Instant Read Meat Thermometer and pull the turkey out of the oven when its internal temperature registers at 160˚F to 165˚F.
How to Store & Reheat Leftovers
- Refrigerate any cooled and sliced leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can also cover the roasting pan with foil and refrigerate the leftover turkey whole.
- To reheat it, sprinkle it with a few teaspoons of water and then microwave it for up to 2 minutes or until warm. You can also reheat it in a pan over medium heat until heated through.
Can I Freeze A Cooked Turkey?
- Yes! However, you’ll need to slice it all first. Once you’ve done this, wrap the pieces once in foil and then in plastic wrap twice. Transfer it to a freezer-friendly bag or container and freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Move it to the fridge a day before serving it so it has enough time to thaw.
More Turkey Recipes
- Juicy Roast Turkey Recipe with Maple Gravy
- Garlic Lemon Butter Roast Turkey Breast Recipe
- Easy Roast Turkey Recipe
- Rosemary Lemon Roasted Turkey
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Oven Roasted Turkey
Ingredients
- 14 pound whole turkey, completely thawed
- 1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
- ½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 large yellow onion, quartered
- 8 cloves garlic, crushed
- 6 rosemary sprigs, or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
- 6 thyme sprigs, or 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 6 parsley sprigs, or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1½ cups unsalted butter
- 2 cups dry white wine, I use Chardonnay
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F with an oven rack placed in the lower third.
- Place a roasting rack in a large roasting pan. Set aside.
- Remove giblets and neck from turkey; reserve for later to make turkey broth or discard them. Pat dry the turkey with paper towels.
- Starting at the neck end, loosen the skin from the breast by inserting your fingers or a long stick (I use my wooden spoon) and gently pushing between the skin and the meat. Do not detach the skin completely.
- Season the turkey all over with salt and pepper; season the cavity, too. Place onions, garlic, rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, parsley, and bay leaves inside the cavity.
- Tie the ends of the legs together with kitchen twine, and tuck the wing tips behind the back. Place the turkey on the rack in the roasting pan, breast side up, and set aside.
- Add butter and white wine to a medium saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm. Remove from heat.
- Take the cheesecloth and fold it in half two times so you get 4 layers.
- Using a pair of tongs, lower the cheesecloth in the butter mixture to absorb it. Then, remove the cheesecloth and unfold it once, so you end up with two layers.
- Place the cheesecloth on top of the turkey to cover it; smooth out the cheesecloth onto the turkey’s skin.
- Cover the remaining butter mixture to keep it warm.
- Roast the turkey for 30 minutes at 450˚F.
- Then, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F, and roast for 2 hours, basting the cheesecloth and any exposed areas of the turkey every 30 minutes with the reserved butter mixture.
- Remove the roasting pan from the oven and peel away the cheesecloth, being careful not to tear the skin. Discard the cheesecloth.
- Continue to roast the turkey (and baste it) for about 30 more minutes or until the skin is browned and a thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of the breast registers at 160˚F.
- Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving and serving.
Notes
- Juicy Turkey: There are many ways to ensure your turkey does not dry out. One of them is to take the turkey out of the oven as soon as the internal temperature registers at 160˚F. Also, you can create steam by filling a baking dish with water and placing it on the lowest rack in the oven. Finally, turn the roasting pan around halfway through cooking to avoid one side of the turkey cooking properly but not the other.
- Basting the Turkey: Basting is an excellent way to moisten the turkey. Baste the turkey every 20 or 30 minutes of roasting time with the butter mixture plus the cooking juices to keep your turkey from drying out.
- Cover the Turkey: For other recipes that do not use cheesecloth, you should cover the turkey with foil to keep the skin from browning too quickly. Then, uncover it about 30 minutes before it is cooked so the skin can brown and crisp up.
- Cooking Time: This will depend on the size of the turkey, but the rule of thumb is to cook the turkey for 13 to 14 minutes per pound.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
This looks absolutely amazing! I love the flavors. You can’t beat a perfectly cooked turkey.
Thank YOU! I hope you enjoy it! ๐