Turkey Brine

Have you ever spent hours laboring over your big holiday turkey dinner only to end up with dry turkey? This turkey brine is exactly what you need to take your turkey from good (or not so good) to great. It adds tons of moisture and flavor to a turkey and makes it so much easier to knock holiday cooking out of the park.

Ingredients

  • 2 litres or quarts water

  • 1 cup table salt (reduce to ¾ cup for a smaller turkey, or if brining longer than 18 hours)

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (optional)

  • 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning

  • 1 tablespoons black peppercorns

  • 6 garlic cloves

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 1 ½ gallons ice water

  • ¼ cup melted unsalted butter

  • 1 whole turkey (mine was 11-12 pounds)

Instructions

  • In a large pot, combine water, salt, brown sugar, Italian seasoning, peppercorns, garlic cloves, and bay leaves.

  • Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium heat and simmer, stirring often, until salt is dissolved (just a few minutes).

  • Remove from heat and stir in ice water. Let brine sit until cooled to room temperature, or add additional ice to cool it more quickly if necessary.

  • Place turkey in a large stock pot and pour the brine over top, submerging as much of the turkey as possible. If the brine doesn't cover the turkey, add water until it reaches the top.

  • Refrigerate for 12-18 hours. If you need to refrigerate longer than that, you may want to reduce the amount of salt by ¼ cup so that the turkey doesn't become too salty.

  • Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well to remove excess salt.

  • Place the turkey in a large roasting pan and pat dry. Allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

  • Brush the turkey with melted butter and roast for 20 minutes, before reducing the heat to 350 degrees F for 2-2½ hours, until a meat thermometer inserted in the breast reaches 170 degrees F. Let rest 30-60 minutes before slicing.

Notes

*Keep in mind that not all of the salt is consumed, so the sodium in the nutrition information will not be accurate.

Tips:

  • Fully submerge the turkey. Be sure that the brine completely covers the turkey in the pot. You can add water if necessary until it’s totally submerged. If you don’t have a pot big enough you can use a (very thoroughly cleaned) cooler or a turkey brine bag.

  • Cool the brine completely. You want the turkey and the brine to be in the same temperature range when you start the brining process. You can let the brine sit at room temperature to let it cool or add more ice cubes until it has reached the right temperature.

  • Rinse it. After you brine it, be sure to rinse the turkey to remove any excess salt.

  • Dry it. Before you cook your turkey, pat it dry and let it sit for 1 hour at room temperature. The dryer it is after brining, the crispier and more golden-brown the skin will be.

  • Start at a high temp. The first 20 minutes at 425ºF gives the skin a chance to get crispy while the 2-2 ½ hours at 350ºF allows the turkey cook all the way through.

  • Let it rest. After it’s done cooking, let the turkey rest for 30-60 minutes before slicing into it. In that time, the moisture and flavor will settle back into the meat. If you slice into it too soon, all of that moisture will seep out.

Meat DishesKatharina Kunz