Vic’s Tricks To…Super Simple Roasted Turkey & Gravy

Thanksgiving is the ultimate holiday.

I mean the food is just like so right up Vic’s alley…it’s hard not to love it.

But, with any Thanksgiving dinner comes the ultimate sleep-inducing poultry: turkey.

Especially given how crazy 2020 is, I thought I’d share my own recipe for a super simple roast turkey so you all may enjoy the deliciousness, regardless of what your Thanksgiving may look like.

OK a couple things to note before we get started:

• Turkeys can really vary in how long they keep their freshness. So, if you’re buying your turkey longer than 1 or 2 days before cooking it, I’d recommend buying a frozen turkey and letting it defrost in the fridge over the day before cooking.
• For the size of the turkey, you usually assume about 1lb per person you’re cooking for.
• Cooking times will vary on the size of the turkey, but the best way to know if it’s done is to have a meat thermometer, insert it into the juicy part of the thigh, and remove when it reads 165°.
• Most turkeys will have a bag in their neck or bum cavity with all the giblets – we don’t have to go into detail on what those are, but I don’t use them, so you can toss them.
• You’ll also want to rinse the turkey completely with water, then pat dry with a paper towel before moving onto the recipe.

First, preheat your oven to 325°.

Once your turkey has been patted dry we can focus on the most critical component:

THE BUTTER.

I made my own compound butter by taking a stick of softened unsalted butter and mixing in garlic powder, fresh thyme, and fresh rosemary.

Now’s the fun part…time to lather this bad boy up!

You’re going to put the butter alllllll over this turkey. Including inside the cavity and under the skin. This is where all our flavor and that beautiful crispy skin will come from.

Vic Trick: Use your hand to help separate the skin from the bird. I mean realllllyyyy get it in there.

From there, add in your aromatics. I roughly chopped some celery, carrots, garlic, onion, orange, and lemon, then added them under, inside the cavity, and all around the outside of the bird.

Cover the turkey loosely with aluminum foil and put it in the oven to cook and remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to brown the outside.

Vic Trick: I had a 16 lb turkey and it took about 4-4.5 hours. But, I made sure to remove it when it hit 165° because it will continue to cook even when you remove it from the oven.

Then you can carve it (I’ll try and post a video) and serve it right back in the pan with the juices to keep it moist.

I also made a super simple gravy by taking 1/2 stick of butter and cooking it with 1/4 cup of flour until it starts to brown. Then add about 2 cups of the pan juices from the turkey and cook on low until thickened.

And bang that’s it! See?! Not so bad!

Happy Eating!

Give it a try and rate this recipe!