As you learned from my last post, I have been on a mission to make the best roasted turkey. My last turkey was dry on top, moist at the leg and thighs, but not too flavorful. It basically was not something I would be serving to guests.
I ended up making turkey pot pies, which were amazing, but it was the homemade gravy and Paleo Pie Crust that made it taste wonderful!
So what is the best technique for roasting a moist and flavorful turkey?
I did my research and what I learned is that brining the turkey the day before roasting produces the juiciest most succulent turkey.
I looked around for recipes and what I found is that many people buy the brine pre-made. Since I love making my own food from scratch, I decided to come up with a homemade brine recipe. It was so simple to make and yes, the end product was absolutely flavorful and worth the wait.
All you basically do is bring some vegetables to a boil with herbs, coconut sugar and salt. Let is simmer for an hour, allow it to cool and then soak your turkey submerged in this brine for 12-24 hours. It is simple as that. Then rinse your turkey, dry it, fill it with aromatics, truss it, baste it and roast it.
You can see the turkey came out wonderful! This Homemade Turkey Brine Recipe is something that I will be passing onto my children, it truly is that special.
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- 5 quarts of filtered water
- 1 cup of coconut sugar
- 4 bay leaves
- 4 carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
- 2 medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered
- 12 peppercorns
- 1 lemon quartered
- 1 cup of Himalayan salt ( sea salt works well too)
- 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 4 cloves of peeled garlic
- 1 teaspoon of ground allspice
- 4 sprigs of fresh sage leaves
- Add all ingredients to a large stockpot and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to lowest setting on heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
- Turn off heat, allow stock to cool to room temperature.
- Strain out vegetables and herbs and add brine back to large stockpot.
- Add turkey into stockpot. If turkey is not submerged under the brine, add more water. Cover with lid.
- Place stockpot in refrigerator and allow turkey to soak in brine for 12-24 hours.
- Drain brine and rinse turkey well inside and out. Pat turkey dry and its time to roast your turkey!
Ester Perez
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I am so glad you linked this up with us at the TGIF Link Party. I’ve been wondering about brining turkey, we always brine our chicken and it makes it so moist. I have pinned this to my Thanksgiving board and will be forwarding it along to my grandmother for Thanksgiving!
Hi Rebecca! That is great that you also brine your chicken this way! I will try that next week when I make my Rosemary Roasted Chicken. Thank you for sharing! Happy cooking!
Isn’t it amazing what a difference a brine makes? I love it. It’s a little more work up front, but I think it’s totally worth it for that insurance that the turkey will be moist and flavorful. I’ve been brining for the last 5 years or so; my recipe uses apple cider along with a lot of the same aromatics you’re using. This is a beautiful post, I never could have imagined how pretty the photos of a brine could be. Well done!
Thank you Allie! I was curious to know how a brine with apple cider vinegar tastes. I am glad that you like it. I will try that too! Thanks for stopping by!