I got a great deal on a turkey after thanksgiving, $0.68 a pound, that is cheaper than chicken! While I love eating brined turkey that my husband cooks on the grill for thanksgiving, I wanted something that was not so time intensive, but still yummy.
I might have been willing to take the time to brine the turkey, but I wanted the turkey for dinner on the same day. When I looked for turkey recipes, there were oodles for brined turkeys, but not whole roasted turkey. I didn’t think it should be that hard to roast a turkey. I would keep it simple, and treat it like a big chicken.
To simplify things, I was going to stuff it and rub it. I stuffed the turkey with some rosemary and thyme and a large onion. I made a simple rub of salt, pepper, garlic, and onions, and patted it all over.
I squeezed the turkey into my 7.5 quart dutch oven, and I left the lid off. I couldn’t put the lid on without having it touch the turkey, so I left it off. About half way through the cooking time, I covered up the wing tips with some aluminum foil because they were getting too crispy. Having the lid off helped the skin get nice and crispy, and the basting helped to keep the meat tender and juicy.
As the smell slowly wafted through the house, my two year old insisted she was hungry and only wanted “chicken”. When I pulled it of the oven, it looked as good as it smelled, the only thing now was the taste. I was patient enough to let it sit uncovered for 10 minutes and it was well worth it. The skin was crispy, and the meat was tender and juicy. The herbs had infused the meat and it was salted perfectly.
Ingredients
- Turkey
- 1 onion
- 3-4 sprigs of rosemary
- 3-4 sprigs of thyme
- 2 cups chicken stock
Rub Ingredients
- 3 Tbspn dried onion flakes
- 2 Tbspn dried garlic powder
- 2 Tbspn salt
- 3 Tbspn black pepper
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°
- Take the turkey out and make sure to grab anything that is inside of the turkey and take out. (The innards make an amazing broth, or you can discard them.)
- Mix dried onion, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and rub over the turkey.
- Pour a cup of the chicken stock into the bottom of the dutch oven and place uncovered (cover the breast) into a preheated oven.
- Cook 20 minutes per pound, or until your meat thermometer reads at least 160.
- After about an hour of cooking, check on the turkey and add the other cup of chicken stock. Use the stock to baste the turkey an hour before you take it out.
