Turkey 101: Eight Of Our Best Recipes For A Perfect Bird From The Pages Of H&H

By Alexandra Whyte On November 1st, 2022

To brine or not to brine?

Oven roasted or BBQ’d, we’ve tried it all. Here are some of our favorite ways to achieve the perfect, moist, bird with a crispy skin, courtesy of H&H food editors and chefs. Tell us your favorite!

1. The Golden Butter-basted Turkey

According to Eric Vellend, the key to making this turkey is letting the turkey defrost to room temperature before you cook it, which will reduce roasting time and allow it to cook more evenly.

Get the recipe here.

House & Home

2. Mustard & Za’atar Barbecued Turkey

Spice up your holiday meal with this recipe that uses za’atar, a Middle Eastern spice blend consisting of thyme, sumac, roasted sesame seeds, marjoram, oregano and salt.

Get Sarah Richardson’s recipe here.

House & Home; adapted from At Home: Sarah Style (Simon & Schuster, 2015).

3. Sugar and Spice Dry-brined Roast Turkey

This recipe may take a while, but it’s worth it. The turkey is dry-brined overnight with sugar, salt, orange zest, pepper, coriander, fennel seed and chilis, then brined again the next day for six more hours before roasting. The flavors can’t be beat!

Get Kristen Eppich’s recipe here.

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4. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme-brined Roast Turkey

For a more classic turkey recipe, try this one from Laura Calder, which uses a variety of herbs to create a juicy bird with crispy skin. If you want it to be extra delicious, try an extra rub of butter before popping it in the oven.

Get Laura Calder’s recipe here.

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5. Upside-down Roast Turkey

Roasting your bird upside-down results in juicy, tender white and dark meat. This recipe takes you through each step — and you use a handy roasting rack inside the pan to better contain the bird.

Get Kristen Eppich’s recipe here.

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6. Perfectly Crisp Roast Turkey

Ask your butcher for a fresh (not frozen) free-range turkey to start this recipe off right. Baking powder in the brine mixture will give you a crispier skin, and if you use a V-rack over a baking sheet in the oven, air will circulate well for a more even roasting.

Get Eshun Mott’s recipe here.

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7. A Golden Bird

Mayonnaise is the key to success for Mary Berg’s turkey recipe. It’s easier to spread than butter and creates an even more golden, crispy skin.

Get Mary Berg’s recipe here.

8. Turkey Meatballs

Want to try something different for the holidays this year? These meatballs from Laura Prepon’s The Stash Plan cookbook are a fresh take on turkey!

Get the recipe here.

From The Stash Plan by Laura Prepon and Elizabeth Troy. Copyright 2016 by Laura P. Enterprises Inc. and Emmett LLC. Reprinted by permission of Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. On sale 3/1/2016 wherever books are sold.

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