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+ servings

How to Cook a Turkey

The BEST recipe for how to cook a tureky, resulting in a juicy and moist turkey with seasoned garlic butter and stuffed then cooked in the oven. This is the BEST Thanksgiving Turkey.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 35 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Author: Valentina

Ingredients

turkey-

butter-

seasoning-

stuffing-

  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 large lemon, quartered
  • 1 large lime, quartered
  • 1 garlic head, halved
  • small bunch of cilantro or parsley

Instructions

Prep Turkey-

  • Adjust the oven rack to low. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • In a small bowl, combine all the seasonings. Combine butter, oil and minced garlic. Add half the seasoning to the butter and mix.
  • Remove bird from packaging and discard giblets and neck from inside the turkey. Completely pat dry the bird.
    Loosen and lift the skin on top of the turkey and rub some of the butter mixture underneath the skin.
  • Rub the rest of the butter mixture over the entire bird. Season the turkey with the seasoning mixture and tuck in the wings of the bird underneath the neck.
  • Stuff the turkey with the onion, garlic, lemon, and lime (and a small bunch of fresh herbs if you have them). Tie the turkey legs with kitchen twine.

How to Cook a Turkey-

  • Place foil on the bottom of an 11x15 roasting pan. Add broth, oil, parsley and lemon slices into the roasting pan.
  • Add the rack into the pan. Place the turkey onto the rack. Roast turkey for 30 minutes at 400°F.
  • Remove the turkey from the oven and baste the turkey. Fold foil in half and cover breast of turkey. 
  • Reduce oven to 325°F, cook the turkey an additional 3-4 hours until the thickest part of bird has an internal reading of 165°F. For extra crispy skin, broil the turkey for 5-10 minutes.
  • Remove bird from the oven and rest 20 minutes. Enjoy!