The Best Oven Roasted Turkey

This oven roasted turkey is the best turkey recipe and perfect for any celebration! In this post we'll review preparing a turkey, how to cook a turkey in the oven, the best oil for roasting turkey, suggested times for cooking turkey in the oven, turkey sizing calculator, how to achieve moist, flavorful turkey, crispy turkey skin and make perfect gravy! This is the best oven roasted turkey!

We love making turkey, I think it is my favorite meal of all time! The turkey, the stuffing, the potatoes, the gravy and cranberry sauce. I love it all.

The Best Oven Roasted Turkey

When preparing a turkey, I used to always make my turkey with stuffing inside. That was the way I was taught and that was just the way I did it for years. Then I discovered this, the best turkey recipe. It's easier and less time consuming method from a friend.

No more getting up so early to get the turkey in the oven and I am well rested for the event. I hate being exhausted before dinner even starts!

Now I prepare all of the sides throughout the day and pace myself. I am not a spring chicken anymore! I make my stuffing separately and everyone loves it. They don't care that the stuffing wasn't made inside the turkey so why should I?

Now I make this best turkey recipe every time there is a celebration of any kind! Actually, truth be told, I love preparing a turkey any time, not just on holidays. Mostly because I love the Leftover Turkey Dinner Muffins and Leftover Turkey Mashed Potato Stuffing Burgers I make with all of the leftovers! I soak both of them in gravy and just love every bite. Really.

What Size Turkey Will I Need When Preparing a Turkey?

Generally if you are serving a crowd turkey dinner we recommend the following rough guidelines when preparing a turkey.

General turkey size calculator:
12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people
15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people
18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people

For more intricate conversions, use this turkey size calculator.

How Do I Thaw or Defrost a Turkey?

For a fabulous oven roasted turkey, this olive oil turkey recipe requires your turkey to be not stuffed and completely thawed before cooking.

If your turkey was frozen when you bought it, it will need to thaw in your refrigerator, approximately 24 hours for every four to five pounds of turkey.

So if you have a 15 pound turkey, it should take about 70 hours, or three days, to defrost.

When preparing a turkey to thaw, put the wrapped frozen turkey in a bag or a pan to prevent leaks and then place it in your refrigerator.

Remove the turkey from your refrigerator one or two hours before baking to allow it to get as close to room temperature as possible before putting your turkey in the oven.

How to Make The Best Oven Roasted Turkey

Cooking turkey in the oven really is as easy as it sounds. However, there are a few steps to take ahead of time when preparing a turkey to make sure you get the absolute best oven roasted turkey.

Getting the Turkey Ready

Rinse the turkey inside and out with water. If you see some turkey feathers pull them out!

Use paper towels to pat the entire turkey dry.

Coat the inside of the large and smaller cavity with salt and pepper.

Put a few sprigs of thyme, parsley or sage into the small cavity and cover the opening with the extra skin. If you are using dried spices add a tablespoon or so of your favorite. We encourage you to use a metal skewer to close it up completely, if necessary.

Put your quartered onion, garlic, a couple carrot sticks and the tops of your bunch of celery into the largest cavity of the turkey. Add any fresh or dried thyme, parsley or sage to the large cavity if desired.

We love thyme so we usually throw 1 tablespoon of dried thyme and 1 tablespoon of parsley into the large cavity if we do not have any fresh.

Cover the opening of the largest cavity with aluminum foil, metal skewers or kitchen string so that the vegetables do not fall out while the turkey is roasting.

Baste Turkey with Butter or Olive Oil

Seasoning is a big part of preparing a turkey for the oven. Sprinkle the outside of the turkey with salt and pepper. Press the salt and pepper into the outside skin on the turkey. Smear a thick coating of room temperature butter, melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey. We prefer to use room-temperature butter.

Pour 1 ½ cups of broth or water into the roasting pan. We prefer to use chicken broth.

Before you put your turkey in the oven, calculate roughly how long you think the turkey will need to cook. The rule of thumb is 14 or 15 minutes for every pound of turkey.

So, if you're wondering how long to cook a 15 pound turkey, you'll cook it for about 225 minutes or 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Put the turkey in the oven, breast side up, uncovered.

Baking the Best Oven Roasted Turkey

Follow these instructions for the best turkey recipe.

For the first 20 minutes you need to brown the turkey at the high temperature.

Then reduce the heat to 325 degrees for the rest of your cooking time.

At least once, every hour, remove the turkey from the oven, close the oven door, and baste or coat the turkey in juices all over.

To baste, tilt the pan a little and use a turkey baster or spoon to catch juices and pour all over the outside of the turkey. Basting is not required but you will be glad you basted when preparing a turkey. The skin turns out beautifully. I love crispy skin. I can't help it.

Check the turkey’s temperature in a few places where the meat is thickest. Perhaps the breast or thigh. In every case, the meat should be at least 160 degrees before you remove it from the oven.

If any place is under that temperature, put the turkey back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Cover the breast meat with foil if necessary to keep it from overcooking or over browning.

The turkey will continue to cook after it is removed from the oven and resting.

If you don’t have a meat thermometer, pierce the breast with a knife. If the turkey juices run clear, and not pink, you should be alright. Once the turkey is cooked and you remove it from your oven, place it on a large, suitably sized cutting board and loosely cover or tent it with foil.

How to Carve a Turkey

We usually lift the entire turkey out of the pan on the rack and place it right on a large cutting board. The tented turkey should be allowed to stay there for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing.

Make sure the turkey is breast side up before you carve it. Carving a turkey is just like carving a big chicken. Remove the wings first, then thighs, legs and breast meat.

Slice, starting from the top of the turkey downwards, on an angle, through the breast. Keep slicing until you get to the bones. This will get a bit messy.

You can use the carcass and bones to boil for soup later.

Like I said, this is the best turkey recipe!

Butter or Olive Oil for Turkey?

You may be wondering if you can use olive oil instead of butter on turkey for The Best Oven Roasted Turkey and the answer is, yes. Use olive oil on turkey instead of butter.

Olive oil is a nice, healthy alternative to butter and it won’t compromise the taste at all. For added flavor you can try basting a turkey with olive oil infused with herbs. Just make sure you do baste your turkey with butter or oil so you get that crispy turkey skin.

How to Get Extra Crispy Turkey Skin

If crispy turkey skin is your goal then use olive oil on turkey instead of butter. Using olive oil on turkey skin will yield a much crispier skin than butter. It's simply the best oil for roasting turkey.

Can You Spray Pam on Turkey?

This isn't as weird a question as you might first believe! Pam cooking spray is oil that comes in a spray form and can be used as a lubricant. So if you're wondering if you can spray Pam on turkey, yes, you can! Just use it instead of other oil when it comes to that step in the recipe. Some cooks swear by it as a turkey hack, although we still recommend using olive oil or butter for turkey in oven baking.

Making the Gravy

The drippings in the pan left behind after you remove the turkey, is perfect to make homemade gravy! Make the gravy while the turkey is resting, covered in tinfoil, on your cutting board.

If you have used a thick metal roasting pan, you can often put it directly on the stove top burner, if not, scrape off the drippings and put them into a large skillet.

In a separate small bowl, place a quarter cup of cornstarch and just enough water to totally dissolve the cornstarch and the mixture is smooth.

Heat the roasting pan or skillet on medium heat on your stove top.

SLOWLY add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly.

Only use as much of the cornstarch mixture as you need to get your desired thickness.

As you stir, the gravy will slowly thicken. Be patient.

Add some salt and pepper, ground sage, thyme or other seasonings to taste. Keep tasting your gravy until you get it the way you like it!

We do not cook the stuffing or dressing in our turkeys anymore. They cook more evenly and actually taste better without it.

We bake stuffing as a side dish and it tastes fabulous!

Also don't forget about the leftovers.

The leftover meat needs to be refrigerated within two hours of cooking.

Ingredients for The Best Oven Roasted Turkey

• turkey
• butter
• garlic cloves
• carrots
• celery
• onion
• parsley
• rosemary, sage or thyme 
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper
• fresh parsley & cranberries, to garnish

Homemade Turkey Gravy (3 ½ cups)

• turkey drippings
• chicken broth
• butter
• flour
• salt
• pepper

How to Cook a Turkey in the Oven

This method, for creating a fabulous oven roasted turkey, requires your turkey to be fresh or completely thawed before cooking and have no stuffing inside the turkey. If your turkey was frozen when you bought it, the turkey will need to thaw inside your refrigerator, approximately 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds of turkey. Put the wrapped frozen turkey in a bag or a pan to prevent leaks and then place it in your refrigerator. So if you have a 15 pound turkey, it should take about 70 hours, or 3 days, to defrost. Remove the turkey from your refrigerator between 1 and 2 hours before baking to allow it to get as close to room temperature as possible to promote even cooking.

Next, prepare your roasting pan and rack. Spray the rack with cooking spray to help the turkey not stick to it.   If you are not using a rack just spray the inside of your pan but I highly recommend using a rack underneath your turkey for the best results.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Position your oven rack in the bottom third of your oven.  We always put the uncooked turkey into our roasting pan and put it in the oven for a moment to make sure it fits before the oven gets too hot. Just to be sure.

Thaw your turkey fully in the refrigerator. Remove all packaging and the bag of giblets (heart, liver and gizzards) and the neck. Discard or reserve for other use. I ruined my first bird leaving the bag of giblets in and I still can't believe I did that!  

We usually discard the giblets and use the neck for soup. You can also use the giblets to boil with the turkey carcass if you are making soup later with carcass and bones. Also, you can use the giblets to make stock for your stuffing or gravy. Just chop up the heart and gizzard and put them into a small saucepan. Cover the giblets with water, add a pinch of salt and bring to simmer for an hour or so. We leave that up to you.

Rinse the turkey inside and out with water. If you see some turkey feathers pull them out! Use paper towels to pat the entire turkey dry. Coat the inside of the large and smaller cavity with sprinkles of salt and pepper and rub it in.  Place in a roasting dish or shallow baking dish. Tie the legs together with butcher twine (optional) and tuck the wings underneath the bird for roasting.

In the large empty bird cavity, place in the celery sticks with leaves, garlic cloves and quartered onion. Sometimes I add a few sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary, parsley or sage into the large or small cavity and cover the opening with the extra turkey skin. If you are using dried spices add a tablespoon or so of your favorite. We encourage you to use a metal skewer to close it up completely, if necessary.

In a small bowl, mix the butter, garlic powder and dried rosemary together. Mix until well combined. Using a spoon or basting brush, rub the herbed butter evenly over the turkey skin. You can use olive oil instead of butter to coat your turkey but I prefer using butter. Sprinkle turkey with salt and pepper.

Bake in the preheated oven for roughly 15 minutes per pound or until the turkey reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Check the turkey's temperature in a few places where the meat is thickest. Perhaps the breast or thigh. In every case, the meat should be at least 160 degrees before you remove it from the oven. If any place is under that temperature, put the turkey back in the oven for another 20 minutes. Cover the breast meat with foil if necessary to keep it from overcooking or over browning. The turkey will continue to cook after it is removed from the oven and resting.  If you don't have a meat thermometer pierce the breast with a knife. If the turkey juices run clear, and not pink, you should be alright.  Our bird was done roughly around 2 hours. If your bird is browning too fast, please tent with a piece of foil.

At least once, every forty five minutes, remove the turkey from the oven, close the oven door, and baste or coat the turkey in juices all over. To baste, tilt the pan a little and use a turkey baster or spoon to catch juices and pour all over the outside of the turkey. Basting is not required but you will be glad you basted.  The skin turns out beautifully.  I love crispy skin. I can not help it.   

Once the turkey is cooked and you remove it from your oven, place it on a large, suitably sized cutting board and loosely cover or tent it with foil.  We usually lift the entire turkey out of the pan on the rack and place it right on a large cutting board.  The tented turkey should be allowed to stay there and rest for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing.  Make sure the turkey is breast side up before you carve it. Carving a turkey is just like carving a big chicken.  Remove the wings first, then thighs, legs and breast meat.  Slice, starting from the top of the turkey downwards, on an angle, through the breast. Keep slicing until you get to the bones. This will get a bit messy.

Serve with our favorite turkey gravy recipe. The drippings in the pan, left behind after you remove the turkey, is perfect to make homemade gravy!  Make the gravy while the turkey is resting, covered in tinfoil, on your cutting board.

Homemade Turkey Gravy

If you have used a thick metal roasting pan, you can often put it directly on the stove top burner, if not, scrape off the drippings and put them into a large saucepan or skillet. This recipe uses a cup of drippings but I always double it because I LOVE gravy.

Remove drippings from the bottom of your turkey roasting plan. Let it rest for 10 minutes to allow the fat to rise to the top. Using a spoon, gently spoon off the fat from the top.

In a medium saucepan, add the butter. Stir until melted. Add the flour to the melted butter.

Stir constantly to make a roux. Cook for about 1 minute until lightly brown, stirring occasionally. Add the turkey drippings and broth to the roux. Turn the temperature to high and bring to a boil.

Once the gravy reaches a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until thickened. Serve warm.

Serve your turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and any other side dish you desire!

Tips

• If you are making this gravy gluten free, sub out regular flour with gluten free flour blend and use 1 stick of butter in your recipe.
• Generally if you are serving a crowd turkey dinner we recommend the following rough guidelines. 12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people.
• We do not cook the stuffing or dressing in our turkeys anymore. We find the turkeys cook more evenly and actually taste better.  We bake stuffing as a side dish and it tastes fabulous! Also don't forget about the leftovers. The leftover meat needs to be refrigerated within two hours of cooking.
• Before you put your turkey in the oven calculate roughly how long you think the turkey will need to cook.  The rule of thumb is 14 or 15 minutes for every pound of turkey.

Serve your turkey with mashed potatoes, our cornbread stuffing is amazing if I don't say so myself, cranberry sauce and any other side dish you desire! Check out our Easy Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce. It's a favorite in our house and it will be in yours too! If you enjoy serving soup check out our collection of Thanksgiving soup recipes.

The Best Oven Roasted Turkey Video

Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.