How to brine a turkey: tips and video

Take your Christmas dinner up a notch and learn how to brine a turkey, ensuring a beautifully moist texture and even more flavour.

 

Steps on how to brine a turkey:

  • For a 5kg free-range turkey, you’ll need a large clean plastic container filled with 8 litres of water.
  • To create your brine, add 200g of table salt, some black peppercorns, a cinnamon stick, a nob of thinly sliced fresh ginger, 250g of light Muscovado sugar, one whole orange (halved and squeezed) and 8 tablespoons of maple syrup.
  • Stir the mixture until all the salt has dissolved.
  • Carefully lower your turkey into the brining solution.
  • It should be fully submerged, so do add more water if you have to.
  • Cover the container with foil or a lid and leave overnight in a cool place.
  • Lift the turkey from the brine and dry with a paper towel an hour or two before it’s due to go in the oven.

Or, check out our roast turkey recipes.