Lemon-and-Butter Roast Turkey
The center of the table, and the easiest part of the day if you start on Tuesday.
- Serves
- 12
- Hands-on
- 30 minutes
- Roasting
- About 2¾ hours
- Start
- Tuesday
This is the turkey we make every year, and the whole trick is salt and time. On Tuesday it gets rubbed with salt and lemon zest and goes into the fridge uncovered, where it quietly becomes the best version of itself. On Thursday it gets a great deal of butter and goes in the oven while you do something more interesting.
It will be done before you think. Let it rest for longer than feels right. The skin stays crisp, the meat stays juicy, and it frees the oven for everything else.
When to do what
- Saturday
Buy or collect the turkey. If frozen, it goes in the fridge today to thaw.
- Tuesday
Dry-brine. Ten minutes. Back in the fridge, uncovered, on a tray.
- Wednesday
Make the lemon-thyme butter. Cover it and refrigerate it overnight; it comes out to soften an hour before the bird goes in.
- Thursday, late morning
Turkey out of the fridge for an hour, then into the oven.
- An hour before dinner
Out, and resting under foil. Oven free for the stuffing and rolls.
The recipe
Lemon-and-Butter Roast Turkey
You need
- The turkey
- 12–14 lb turkey, giblets out
- 3½ tbsp kosher salt (Diamond Crystal; use a little over half as much Morton’s)
- 3 lemons
- The butter
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
- 1 bunch thyme
- 1 head garlic, halved across
- Black pepper, plenty
- The pan
- 2 onions, thickly sliced
- 2 cups turkey or chicken stock
You also need: a roasting pan, a meat thermometer, foil, and somebody to carve.
Then
- Tuesday: saltPat the turkey dry. Zest two of the lemons into the salt and rub it all over, inside and out, a little more on the thick parts. Set it on a rack on a tray and put it in the fridge, uncovered, until Thursday. Don’t rinse it.
- Wednesday: the butterMash the butter with the leaves from half the thyme, the juice of one zested lemon and a lot of pepper. Cover it and refrigerate it overnight.
- Thursday: warm it upTake the turkey out of the fridge an hour before it goes in. Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the lower third.
- Butter it everywhereLoosen the skin over the breast with your fingers and push half the butter underneath. Rub the rest over the outside. Put the halved lemons, garlic and remaining thyme inside. Scatter the onions in the pan, add the stock, and set the turkey on top.
- Roast30 minutes at 425°F, then turn the oven down to 350°F. Baste every 40 minutes or so. If the breast is browning too fast, lay foil over it loosely. It’s done when the thickest part of the breast, the thigh and the wing all read 165°F: about 2¾ hours in all. The time is a guide; the thermometer decides.
- RestMove it to a board, tent with foil and leave it for at least 45 minutes. It will keep rising to a safe 165°F and stay hot for an hour. Use the time and the empty oven.
- Carve at the table, or don’tLegs off first, then the breast in whole pieces, sliced across. Pour the pan juices into the gravy.
If it goes wrong
Running late: turn the oven up to 375°F for the last hour and baste less. Done too early: it can rest, well wrapped, for up to 90 minutes. Pale skin: five minutes under the broiler, with someone watching.
Leftovers
The next morning: sourdough, mayonnaise, sharp cheddar, cold turkey, a smear of cranberry sauce, salt. Eat standing up.
With it
Make-ahead gravy, sausage, leek & sourdough stuffing (or the leek and mushroom one), and a very bitter salad to cut through all of it.
The turkey is resting. So should you. Back to the Thanksgiving Almanac