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The best way to make a turkey – moist, with a golden skin and tons of flavor without hours of work – the perfect centerpiece to your holiday meal
How I found this perfect method for cooking a moist turkey
I love Turkey, Like seriously one of my all time favorite meals! I make a Turkey as often as I can, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter at least!
I’ve made around 30+ turkey’s over the last 16 years since I’ve been hosting Thanksgiving. And I have tried a lot of different techniques to get a flavorful, juicy turkey. Injecting, brining, roasting, deep frying, basting, stuffed, unstuffed, etc…
Some of these taste amazing, most of them are very dry and ALL of them take a lot of work.
And now I’m going to share my all time favorite way with you guy! In the early years I usedReynolds bags, I loved how moist and juicy the turkey ends up, BUT because your cooking it in a plastic bag your turkey isn’t very pretty, kind of unattractive and sickly looking.
It tastes amazing and it’s super easy though so I wanted to find a similar way to cook the Turkey, Easy and Moist.
THEN I learned this brown bag method! BRILLIANT! The bag keeps your turkey juicy and moist without the extra work of basting.
AND because brown paper bags breath better than plastic you still get a great brown on the skin, you end up with a gorgeous centerpiece that tastes great!
Just tell me how long to cook a turkey already!
If you’d rather skip my tips and tricks for cooking a brown bag turkey, along with links to other Thanksgiving recipes and get straight to learning how to cook a turkey – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.
Tips to Make the Perfect Brown Bag Turkey
– You can prepare the Turkey before cooking ANY way you want, injections, stuffed, putting a mixture under the skin, etc… I like to use a compound butter!
– The key to knowing how long to cook a turkey is a Meat Thermometer. It’s a MUST for cooking a Turkey and not OVER cooking it. A digital one is easy to use and takes a lot of the work out of your turkey.
– I prefer to use a disposable pan as well. That way I save room AND (this is the most important part to me) I can pop a hole in the bottom corner and easily pour out all the turkey juice. (to use in the other recipes!)
– I dressed mine up with some Lemon branches, but you can add anything you want to yours, I’ve seen really pretty ones with bright berries, stuffing, potatoes, apples, and more! How do you like to dress up your turkey?
Will the Brown paper bag catch on fire?
Paper ignites and burns at 451 degrees. Since the oven is set to 375 degrees it won’t just catch on fire simply by being in the oven.
Make sure none of the bag is touching any of the heating elements or the sides of the oven and it won’t catch on fire. I’ve made over 40 brown bag turkeys and I’ve never had a bag so much as start smoking, let alone burn.
Is it safe to cook in a brown paper bag?
Things to consider:
- a brown paper bag is put together with glue – which could create fumes
- is often made of recycled paper – who knows what is in that bag
- grocery bags have ink on them – but the ink is on the outside, not where they’d touch the turkey
- Paper bags aren’t made with the idea that they will be used to be food/baking safe
At the end of the day I can’t say it’s perfectly safe – but I also can’t say how dangerous any of these things are. There are probably worst things I’ve eaten and to be fair so have my kids.
I personally have chosen to use this method anyway and I don’t worry about it. 40 turkeys later and we’re all alive, healthy and no one has gotten sick after eating it.
To cook this turkey you’ll need
- A good Meat thermometer – I like electric ones that will make a loud beep when it hits the right temperature.
- two Brown bag – I just grab some at my local grocery store. but some people have worried about the ink in the bag – here are some extra large blank paper bags
- Disposable Turkey pan – obviously if you have a nice turkey roaster that’s a great way to go – I just like to easily get the drippings out by poking a hole in the disposable pan over the gravy pot.
- herb cutter – one of my favorite tools!
How to cook a Brown Bag turkey
If you love these thanksgiving turkey recipes as much as I do, I’d love a 5 star review. Be sure to share on social media and tag me if you make it @ashleemariecakes! If you want to stay updated on new recipes sign up for my newsletter and join my Facebook Group!
If you love Brown Bag Turkey you’ll love these other Thanksgiving recipes!
Turkey and Wild Rice Soup | Spatchco*ck Smoked Turkey | Turkey Stock
Crescent Rolls | Turkey Pot Pie | Homemade Gravy
Connect with Ashlee Marie Online!
If you love my turkey recipe I have created digital Thanksgiving cookbook with all the recipes I use for my own Thanksgiving dinner!
To watch me make this brown bag turkey and gravy play the video in the recipe card. There should also be a short teaser auto playing for you.
You can find all my cooking show style recipe videos on YouTube, or my short recipe videos on Facebook Watch, or my Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
How to Cook a Turkey
the best way to make a turkey – moist, with a golden skin and tons of flavor without hours of work – the perfect centerpiece to your holiday meal
4.11 from 19 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours hours
Total Time: 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes
Servings: 18 lbs Turkey
Calories: 554kcal
Author: Ashlee Marie
Ingredients
- 18 lbs Turkey any size will work
- 2 large Brown paper bags
- 2 onions sliced
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
Compound butter
- 1 C softened butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 Tbsp rosemary’
- 1 Tbsp thyme
- 1/2 Tbsp sage
- 8 cloves garlic diced
- 1 shallot finely diced
US Customary – Metric
Instructions
I like to make a compound butter a few days before
mix the softened butter with the minced herbs, salt and pepper, garlic and shallots, wrap and refrigerate
IF you don’t make a compound butter you simply rube the butter and spices into the turkey the day of
Preheat your oven to 375
clean your thawed turkey with cool water, making sure to take out the neck and gizzards (you can save for making Turkey Stock or throw out)
Pat your turkey dry and place it into a pan (I use a disposable one for easy access to the drippings later)
toss the sliced onions and crushed garlic into the pan and cavity of your turkey (not filling the cavity, just a small sprinkling), this will help flavor the drippings as well (for gravy)
Pull the skin away from the meat in the breast and thigh areas – place thin slices of the compound butter in between the skin and meat, use MOST of the compound butter
now rub it all over the outside of the turkey with the compound butter, don’t forget the legs, wings and underside.
massage it in very well.
Put your meat thermometer into the breast of the turkey, making sure it doesn’t touch any bone.
Open your brown paper bags, slide the turkey/pan into one bag, then from the opposite side slide the turkey/pan and first bag into the second bag.
They will overlap and encase the turkey, it’s perfect.
the butter on your turkey will keep it from sticking, and as long as your paper bag isn’t touching a heating element it won’t burn (paper burns at 451 degrees)
Place your turkey into the oven and cook until your meat thermometer reads 165 about 13-15 mins per lbs unstuffed.
Pull your turkey out and let it rest for 15 mins, then pour the drippings into a pan to make your gravy
then plate and serve!
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 554kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 70g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 259mg | Sodium: 581mg | Potassium: 757mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 521IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 3mg
Did you make this recipe?Mention @ashleemariecakes or tag #makesomeawesome and I’ll share your image in my Instagram stories!
Related Posts:
- Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
- Turkey or Chicken Pot Pie Recipe and Video
- Spatchco*ck Smoked Turkey with Gravy Recipe and video
