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The best roast turkey

Name: The best roast turkey
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h 50 min
Yield: Serves up to 12, depending on how much you want left over
Cuisine: British recipes
Ingredients: 70g sea salt flakes, plus extra to serve; 50g dark muscovado sugar; Finely grated zest 2 lemons; 25g bunch thyme, plus extra to decorate (optional); 5kg turkey; 2 onions, roughly chopped; 500ml dry white wine or chicken stock (or 250ml each); 1 heaped tbsp mayonnaise; Specialist kit; Probe thermometer; Cocktail sticks; Butcher’s string

By: Pollyanna Coupland
Food producer, delicious.

Published: 28 Oct 24
Updated: 20 Dec 24

Roast turkey that’s beautifully presented, richly flavoured, tender and juicy – that’s what you want on Christmas Day. Best of all, making this turkey recipe is a simple process that gently adds fragrant lemon and thyme to every bite. We hope you’ll agree this is the best roast turkey recipe.

Get our definitive Christmas dinner menu, including best-ever versions of all the classics.

Easy
November 2024

Test kitchen approved

Serves up to 12, depending on how much you want left over
Hands-on time 20 min. Oven time 2 hours 30 min, plus 30 min resting and overnight brining

Get our definitive Christmas dinner menu, including best-ever versions of all the classics.

Nutrition: Per serving (for 12)

Calories: 403kcals
Fat: 16g (4.7g saturated)
Protein: 63g
Carbohydrates: 0.9g (0.9g sugars)
Fibre: trace
Salt: 1.4g

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Before you start

Why it’s the best roast turkey
Brining made easy:A traditionally brined turkey usually involves the arduous process of precariously balancing a large vat of water inside an already full fridge. Dry-brining (essentially a light cure) is much simpler and in our opinion provides better results. The salt draws moisture out of the turkey through osmosis, which creates a brine as the turkey’s juices mix with the salt. This briny mixture then begins to penetrate the meat, allowing for seasoning to occur throughout rather than just on the surface, and filling the meat with moisture. It’s a key step to prevent dry meat and adds a little fragrance via thyme and lemon zest to boot.

Magic mayo: Brushing a turkey with mayonnaise might sound weird, but all you’re really doing is just covering it with seasoned oil and egg yolk – two ingredients that create a golden glaze and a crisp exterior. Applying it with a brush ensures you get a nice, even browning all over your bird, which makes it look fantastic and is tough to achieve with pure oil or fat.

Fierce then gentle: Blasting the bird with a high heat when it first goes in the oven gives you perfectly browned and crisp skin. The heat can then be turned down and liquid added to create a steamier environment which prevents the meat from drying out while it finishes cooking through.

Extra leg-work: Turkey is generally dry because it’s been overcooked – they’re big, uneven things, so the breasts cook through a while before the denser dark meat in the legs is ready. The simplest way to solve that problem is to remove the bird from the oven when the breasts are done, carve off the legs and put them back in the oven to finish while the crown rests. Easy!

Be a better cook: The quality of your turkey is paramount – if you can, buy a fresh free-range bird for the very best flavour and texture.

Make ahead: You can leave the turkey dry-brining for up to 2 days if you want.

Don’t waste it: Save the turkey resting juices and the wine from the roasting tray to make your gravy.

Before you start

Be a better cook: The quality of your turkey is paramount – if you can, buy a fresh free-range bird for the very best flavour and texture.

Make ahead: You can leave the turkey dry-brining for up to 2 days if you want.

Don’t waste it: Save the turkey resting juices and the wine from the roasting tray to make your gravy.

Ingredients

70g sea salt flakes, plus extra to serve
50g dark muscovado sugar
Finely grated zest 2 lemons
25g bunch thyme, plus extra to decorate (optional)
5kg turkey
2 onions, roughly chopped
500ml dry white wine or chicken stock (or 250ml each)
1 heaped tbsp mayonnaise

Specialist kit

Probe thermometer
Cocktail sticks
Butcher’s string

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Method

Put the salt, sugar, lemon zest and roughly half the thyme in a food processor, then whizz until combined. Rub this all over the turkey, inside and out, then leave, uncovered, in the fridge overnight.
The next day, put the chopped onions in a large roasting tray. Rinse the cure off the turkey, then pat dry with kitchen paper and place it on top of the onions. Pin the wings to the sides of the turkey with cocktail sticks and tie the legs together with butcher’s string.
About 3 hours before you want to serve Christmas dinner, heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7. Roast the turkey for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, turn the heat down to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4 and add the wine/stock and remaining half bunch of thyme to the tray. Brush the turkey all over with the mayonnaise. Cook for a further 1 hour 30 minutes.

Remove the turkey from the oven and put in a large dish or on a board. Carefully carve off the legs, trying to remove as much thigh as possible to leave you with a neat crown. Return the legs to the tray, nestling them into the liquid, and cook for a further 30 minutes. Leave the crown to rest uncovered.
To serve, carefully carve the whole breasts off the crown, then slice them against the grain (widthways, across the meat fibres) into thick 1.5cm slices. Arrange on a large serving platter, then carve the legs to separate them into drumsticks and thighs. Put these on top, then garnish with thyme and
sprinkle with sea salt.

Recipe from November 2024 Issue

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 403kcals
Fat: 16g (4.7g saturated)
Protein: 63g
Carbohydrates: 0.9g (0.9g sugars)
Fibre: trace
Salt: 1.4g

delicious. tips

Save the turkey resting juices and the wine from the roasting tray to make your turkey gravy.
You can leave the turkey dry-brining for up to 2 days if you want.