By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 3 hours, plus overnight dry-brining
- Rating
- 4(463)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This recipe makes things easier on you if you’re feeding a crowd at Thanksgiving. Instead of roasting two birds, or a giant, hard-to-maneuver 22-pounder, borrow a trick that caterers use at large weddings. There’s the official wedding cake for show, while in the kitchen there are sheet pans full of the same cake recipe, baked into flat, easily sliceable pieces.
Using the same logic, here you’ll find a recipe for one whole turkey roasted for that Norman Rockwell moment. Then, pans of easy-to-carve turkey parts are cooked in the same oven at the same time. Monitor everything carefully: The whole bird takes the longest to roast, while the parts roast in about half the time, the white meat often finishing before the dark. You will need a large roasting pan with a rack, and two 9-by-13-inch baking pans.
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Ingredients
Yield:20 to 24 servings
- 1(10- to 12-pound) whole turkey
- 8pounds bone-in turkey parts (see notes)
- 4½tablespoons kosher salt
- 2tablespoons black pepper
- ½teaspoon allspice
- 6garlic cloves, grated on a microplane or minced
- Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
- Finely grated zest of 2 oranges (save the oranges for juicing)
- 2bunches rosemary
- 1bunch thyme
- 3white onions, peeled, halved and sliced
- 4large carrots, peeled and sliced into ½-inch coins
- 3celery stalks, sliced ½-inch thick
- 2apples, cored and sliced
- Dry white wine, as needed
- ¾cup melted butter or olive oil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Remove giblets from inside the turkey; reserve for stock or gravy. Pat meat dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, stir together salt, pepper, allspice, garlic and citrus zests. Pat mixture all over turkey and turkey parts (including inside the whole turkey cavity). Stuff one bunch of rosemary in cavity of whole turkey. Strew remaining rosemary and the thyme all over turkey and turkey parts. Refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.
Step
2
Remove whole turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before you plan to cook it so it can come to room temperature. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange oven racks so the pan with the whole turkey will fit on top rack, and the two pans with parts will fit underneath.
Step
3
Place whole turkey (with herb branches clinging to it) on a rack in a roasting pan. Take parts out of the fridge and place the breasts in a 9-by-13-inch roasting pan. Place the legs and wings in a separate 9-by-13 roasting pan.
Step
4
Distribute onions, carrots, celery and apples into all three pans, scattering them on the bottom of the large roasting pan under the whole turkey, and tucking them in among turkey pieces. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons wine over each pan of turkey parts and pour ½ cup wine in the bottom of the whole turkey pan.
Step
5
Transfer whole turkey to the oven and roast for 1 hour (let the parts come to room temperature while the turkey starts roasting).
Step
6
Add parts to the oven underneath the rack with the whole turkey on it, and roast for an additional 30 minutes.
Step
7
Squeeze the juice from the 2 zested oranges. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees and sprinkle about a third of the orange juice into the bottom of each of the three pans.
Step
8
Drizzle the butter or oil all over the whole turkey and the pieces. Continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the meat registers 165 degrees, about 20 to 30 minutes more for the whole turkey, and 15 to 45 minutes longer for the parts. (Note: The turkey breasts may cook faster than the dark meat, so keep your eye on them.) If the breast of the whole turkey starts to look too brown before the bird is cooked through, cover it loosely with foil.
Step
9
When the whole turkey is cooked through, remove from oven, cover with foil and let rest for 20 minutes while the parts finish cooking.
Step
10
When all the turkey parts are cooked through, adjust oven temperature to broil. Broil turkey parts until skin turns golden brown and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Let parts rest for 5 minutes before carving and serving. If you want to use the drippings for gravy or stock, strain or use a slotted spoon to remove vegetables first.
Tips
- You can use your favorite cuts here — all dark or all white meat depending upon what you prefer. Or use a mix. Just make sure your breasts are on the bone. You can substitute 2 boneless breasts for the bone-in breasts, but they will cook more quickly. Start checking after 30 minutes total cooking time, though it could take up to 50 minutes.
- If you can't buy parts, buy another whole turkey and cut it into 8 pieces. To do so, slice the turkey legs away from the body at the joint where the thigh connects to the body. Separate each thigh from the drumstick by slicing through the joints. Separate wings from the breast by cutting through the joints. Place limbless turkey, breast-side up, in front of you. Using a sharp knife or poultry shears, cut along sides of ribs to remove the entire breast. Turn breast upside down. Cut through the center of the breast bone to separate the 2 breasts completely. Save backbone and any other scraps for stock or gravy.
Ratings
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out of 5
463
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Jackie
Does adding freshly grated garlic to the rub, which is applied to the turkey the night before, result in a undesirable odor & flavor as a result of the garlic oxidizing in that time? Should it be combined with a little oil or butter to prevent that? Thanks.
Susan
This is simply the best tasting and relatively easy turkey I have ever made. I had a 19lb supermarket giveaway. Cooked it at 500, and found myself checking it continuously after 1 hr. Covered it with aluminum foil at that mark. Took about 2 hours. Instant read thermometer sent from 137 to 178 in 15 minutes-breast even higher. Took it out, let it rest for 20 minutes and then took apart. Flavor intensely good, moist and delicious.
Tom
Why?
This seems like a great example of added complication for almost nothing gained. Lots of extra steps and the strong chance you will screw up the whole thing because the timing will be off...and for what: because a 22 lb bird is "hard to maneuver". I've no doubt this could and does work, but the Risk-o-Meter is rising to the red zone with this one, especially because (yikes) all ovens ARE different, and ummm, I've got a few other things going on in the kitchen.
MJHurst
Might-go to secret ingredient for every turkey I have roasted over the last 30 years is—at the last minute before it goes in the oven—slice an orange in half, squeeze all of the juice over the top of the turkey and then push the orange halves right into the cavity. It brightens the flavor of the turkey meat and is wonderful (and so easy).
Martin Sleeman
The Turkey was moist and delicious. However we didn't really get a lot of the citrus flavor out of the recipe so I'd question taking all that time to zest the oranges and lemons. Also I'd recommend 1/2 the salt as it was quite salty.
Fran Maunder
I used this only to make a 12lb turkey, no extra parts-basiccally halved the recipe, using 1 lemon, 1 orange, 1 onion. I should have covered the turkey with foil at the point of increasing the oven temp (not later, which I did), because the herbs on top started to burn, but it turned out really well, anyway!
It was fun to make, too.
Reyes
Best Thanksgiving turkey ever!!!!We bought a 16 pound turkey (no parts needed) and we followed all steps but we also followed someone’s advice to put the squeezed orange halves inside the turkey, which I think truly gave the final flavor lots of juiciness. The recipe is simply great: our turkey was in the oven for 2:45mins. After the first hour, when the oven temperature changed and it started really cooking, we covered the turkey with aluminum foil basted every 20’. WONDERFUL RESULT!!!
judi
Didn’t add orange juice. Turkey thighs as the pieces were a huge hit
KK
Not a turkey or traditional Thanksgiving food fan, but this recipe is good enough to convert me. Made only with large turkey, not additional parts, and with more veggies. Best roast veggies, ever.
Karyn
This recipe worked well and was a flavorful addition to the Thanksgiving meal. I put the grated citrus, garlic, and brine-spice mixture under the skin of the turkey as well.
jenna
could you use this recipe for a chicken?!
Kim
It doesn't say to add any fat to the whole bird until it has already been in the oven for 90 minutes -- is that right? the herbs + paste are getting a bit charred.
Lisa
Does it matter whether you use a previously brined turkey, or non-brined turkey? (Typically if I was dry brining 3 days ahead I would make sure to buy a non-brined one; since you are just salting this the night before, I'm not sure?)
ilyssa
The orange flavor really came through - i liked it and ill make this rub for roast chicken.
Reyes
Best Thanksgiving turkey ever!!!!We bought a 16 pound turkey (no parts needed) and we followed all steps but we also followed someone’s advice to put the squeezed orange halves inside the turkey, which I think truly gave the final flavor lots of juiciness. The recipe is simply great: our turkey was in the oven for 2:45mins. After the first hour, when the oven temperature changed and it started really cooking, we covered the turkey with aluminum foil basted every 20’. WONDERFUL RESULT!!!
Jenny G.
Does NYTimes recommend a stuffing to go with this turkey?
Denis
Cutting up a turkey is not like cutting up a chicken. It’s harder because the bones are bigger. I use a clean hacksaw.
Olivia
Hey all! This recipe looks amazing, I mean rosemary and citrus is the perfect combo. However, I don’t currently have an oven. Does anyone know how long I should put the turkey in the microwave for? Thanks for any suggestions!
Dan Zehr, from Platter Talk
We made this recipe for our guests, last Thanksgiving. We followed the instructions to the "T", for the most part. The results were nothing less than spectacular, both visually and in taste. Several of our guests remarked it was the best turkey that they had ever tasted. We concurred. Check out our rendition and photos on Platter Talk, at this link: https://goo.gl/Z97zFV
Jenny G.
Did you pair it with a stuffing? If so, which one?
Teresa Irizarry
Instead of the onions, celery, carrots, apples mixture under the turkey roasted it on a bed of whole garlic cloves (many of them, they made a rosemary garlic butter for bread) mixed with sections of orange with peel on. Eliminated pepper and substituted for the white wine a red wine vinegar mixed with diluted maraschino cherry juice.
Stephen Berde
Made this for thanksgiving this year it's the best turkey I've ever made. The parts piece was excellent and the whole bird will be our sandwiches item. My oven wouldn't accommodate all three pans simultaneously so I did the whole bird first and then the pieces. Worked great though it added a bit of extra work and time.
Well worth the effort.
Stef
This is hands down the best turkey I've ever had! And I even made the extra turkey parts in my toaster oven (pretty low on oven space).
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