20 lb roasted turkey recipe

20 lb roasted turkey recipe

Photography Credit: Elise Bauer

With regards to holiday cooking, my dad and that i spend days deciding who's making the different sides. But with regards to roasting the poultry, there’s no discussion. Obviously that task falls to my mother.

Why? True, she's cooked our Thanksgiving poultry for more than half a century, so she knows what she’s doing.

However the real reason is the fact that her roast poultry is definitely perfectly done, the breast never dried up, but tender and filled with flavor.

So how exactly does she get it done? She cooks the poultry breast-side lower. As the poultry roasts, the juices fall lower for the breast, inducing the most succulent meat. The breast can also be more protected against heat, which will help ensure that it stays getting too dried up.

She also utilizes a meat thermometer to get any speculation of once the poultry is completed.

Breast lower roast poultry

My mother cooks the poultry stuffing individually, away from the cavity, that makes it simpler to prepare the poultry more evenly.

Within the years because we first published this recipe, my mother still cooks her turkeys breast-side lower, plus they’re still wonderful. After I’m cooking a poultry, if it's sufficiently small, sometimes I’ll switch it over close to the finish to obtain the breast side browned, truly like my mother, I’ll just roast it whole time breast-lower.

Very little has altered with this approach through the years, apart from the USDA has finally formally decreased the suggested temperature for cooked chicken (it’s now 165°F), meaning we don’t have to prepare the poultry as lengthy.

Cooking a poultry is fairly straightforward, but you will have to plan in advance, given that it may take several hrs to roast, and requires time (days if you want to defrost) in advance to get rid of the nippiness in the refrigerator.

Should you don’t possess a meat thermometer. please acquire one! One can make your existence a great deal simpler, otherwise there’s too much uncertainty.

Updated in the recipe archive, first published 2004.

Breast-side up roast poultry, following the poultry continues to be switched over and broiled a couple of minutes to brown the breast

Showing 4 of 117 Comments

It’s that point again, before Thanksgiving when everybody is trying to puzzle out the general cooking for his or her poultry.
Here’s a fast method to estimate, though observe that the particular cooking will be different for the way cold your poultry would be to start as well as your individual oven. So make certain to determine the poultry Prior To (a minimum of an hour or so) you estimate so that it is done.

Multiply the load of the poultry by 13 minutes per pound. So
a ten pound poultry would take about 130 minutes or 2 hrs ten minutes.
A 12 pound poultry would take 156 minutes, or 2 hrs 36 minutes.
A 14 pound poultry would take 182 minutes, or 3 hrs 2 minutes.
A 16 pound poultry would take 208 minutes, or 3 hrs 28 minutes.
An 18 pound poultry would take 234 minutes, or 3 hrs 54 minutes.
A 20 pound poultry would take 260 minutes, or 4 hrs twenty minutes.

Again, case a quote! In case your poultry isn't near to 70 degrees if this gets into the oven, it will require longer to prepare. If it's at room temp, it might take a shorter period to prepare. Check the temp early.

In case your poultry continues to be partly frozen, cleanse the basin of the sink, grow it with awesome water and put the poultry inside it. Alter the water every 30 minutes before the poultry is defrosted.

Elise,
I'm so grateful for you for writing this awesome recipe. I have not had much guidance in the kitchen area with cooking. I had been getting an audience over this past year and fund this unique poultry recipe. I adopted it step-by-step also it was amazing! I've now used and reused this and also have had awesome results every time.
Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!

Sharon
New Lenox, IL

I made use of your recipe a couple of years back also it arrived on the scene amazing. However can’t remember if I have to baste it although it’s cooking&...

IT Labored. I’ve nothing you've seen prior cooked a whole poultry, and it was greater than a little intimidated after i saw the 10kg (22 pound) bird that my butcher had for me personally (he explained it had been small Hungarians are intense regarding their food!). However I adopted these directions also it labored out superbly. Thanks bunches. I haven’t told my mother yet, however i loved it much better than hers.

Hi Debbie. I acquired a poultry at least one time per month and I have tried personally a disposable one. Make certain you receive the durable one and careful when taking it from the oven. the pan can bend as well as your bird may finish up on the ground. have fun with your poultry.

Go back