Growing up, I liked turkey but it was never my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. I loved my Dad's homemade mashed potatoes and Mom's dressing she made from scratch the most. Last year I made my first Thanksgiving dinner as an adult and I might be biased, but it was amazing! All of my sides came from Paula Dean recipes and I went through a few pounds of butter, but the turkey is seriously what stole the show. I used Kidd Kraddick's Brown Bag Turkey recipe that I had been hearing about on the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show on the radio for years and it didn't disappoint. You will not believe how moist and flavorful this turkey is and it's super easy to make!
Ingredients
- 1 (18-20lb) Whole Turkey
- 2 Stalks Celery (roughly chopped)
- 1 Large Carrot (roughly chopped)
- 1 Onion (cut into quarters)
- 3-4 Crushed Garlic Cloves
- Olive Oil
- 6 oz Chicken Broth (for gravy)
- 1/8-1/4 Cup Cornstarch (for gravy)
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Take everything (giblet bag etc) out of the turkey and set aside. {Now I can handle childbirth all day long, but I need a real adult to dig around inside the turkey, so for this part I recruit help and the insides just get thrown out.}
- Put all of your chopped veggies inside the turkey- you don't have to peel them. You can crush your garlic with the broad side of knife on the counter, then just throw it all in.
- Rub the entire outside of the turkey with olive oil. You don't want to use butter, because butter usually has salt and salt isn't your friend if you want a moist turkey. Make sure the entire bird is oiled well.
- Put the turkey into a roasting pan and slide the whole pan into a brown paper bag. If it's big, you might need a brown paper bag on each end. Staple it shut- it won't stick to the turkey because of the oil. You want to use paper instead of a Reynolds bag, so the bird roasts instead of steams.
- Sprinkle water over the bag.
- Place the bag on the MIDDLE rack of a preheated 375 degree oven. (the bag won't burn, because paper burns at 451)
- Roast the turkey for 13-15 minutes per pound.
- When your timer goes off, stick a meat thermometer through the bag (not into bone) and check for an internal temperature of 163-170 degrees.
- Remove from the oven, cut the bag open and pull out the pan.
- Pour all of the juices from the turkey into a large pot on the stove.
- Add 6oz of boiling chicken brother to that pot and your cornstarch until it's the thickness you'd like for your gravy, cook on low heat and stir constantly!
- Let the turkey rest for a few minutes, enjoy the beverage of your choice and serve with gravy!
