If you are looking for a delicious and simple turkey brine then this recipe is perfect for you! It results in moist turkey EVERY TIME!
What is brining?
Brining uses water to help salt and flavorings penetrate whatever protein you are bringing. When you create a brine you are creating a solvent of liquid and seasonings. The protein, when placed in the solvent, will start to absorb the liquid around it until the amount of solvent in the protein matches the amount of brine outside it. The solvent wants to reach equilibrium. The result is a tender protein that has taken on the flavor of the brine itself.
How long should I brine my turkey?
This completely depends on the size of your bird. In general you should brine for about an hour a pound. Going a little over that is not a problem, but when you brine for days the turkey will be too salty. I personally brined my turkey for close to 15 hours, it was a 12 pound turkey, and it came out just fine! Here is a helpful chart for bringing more than just turkey! Brining can add flavor to any protein!
Why would I want to brine my turkey?
Bringing ads a richness to the meat that I have not gotten from any other method of cooking. Turkey especially has tendency to dry breasts, due to the long cook time. With bringing and BASTING I have had no issues with dry turkey breasts! I have had friends comment that this is the best turkey they have ever eaten and I firmly attribute that to the brining method!
When should I eat this delicious and moist turkey?
I recommend often throughout the year! For the longest time I only ate turkey at thanksgiving. But with this brine, and the free turkey promotions at most grocery stores in the fall, I have started eating turkey several times throughout the year. You can eat turkey at Christmas, Easter, or even a random Tuesday! Delicious food doesn’t need to wait for holidays!
How do I cook the turkey after I brine it?
Cooking turkey is an art that can result in a dry and flavorless bird, or a moist and delicious one! The actual cook time always depends on the size of your bird. Do not overcook turkey if you can avoid it, I highly recommend using a meat thermometer! The general rule of thumb is 13-15 minutes per pound at 350 F. For a 12 lbs turkey I bake it covered in foil at 275 F for 2 -2.5 hours. Then I will remove the foil, cover it in HERB BUTTER FOR BASTING, and cook it at 350 F for 1-1.5 hours. Intentionally checking the meat thermometer until it reads 165 F near the breast bone. If your turkey is over 14 lbs I would recommend cooking it covered on 275 F for 3-3.5 hours and then uncovering and cooking it for 1.5-2.5 hours.
Helpful Tips for brining:
- Bringing should be scaled to the size of the bird. This specific brine is for a 10-12 lbs turkey, but you can easily double the recipe for a larger bird! If you are working with anything smaller than a 14 lbs turkey I would follow this same recipe and just add enough water to cover the turkey in the brine bag. Then let it brine for the appropriate length of time. For anything larger than 14 lbs I would at least 1 1/2, if not double, this recipe.
- You do not want your meat to brine too long or it will taste overly salty. If you go over by a few hours it shouldn’t be an issue ,but if you brine for days the meat is probably a lost cause.
- Make sure you have room in your fridge for the turkey in the brine bag! I like to use my produce drawer, because it is contained and I can make sure that the brine is covering the turkey completely the whole time.
- Heat up all of the ingredients, except the water. Once the salt is dissolved, remove from the heat and add room temp or cold water to bring your brine down to an appropriate temperature.
- Get a brine bag that is appropriate for your turkey size. As you can see from the photos I did not do this… It was a MISTAKE! Too big of a bag can be as annoying as too small of a bag.
- When adding the brine and turkey, place your brine bag in the sink, or a large bowl, to keep the bag from flattening and spilling your brine.
What tools will I need for this simple turkey brine?
- Large stockpot
- large spoon
- Brine bag, appropriate to your turkey size
- Vegetable peeler
- Hand citrus juicer
- Garlic press
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 10-12 lbs turkey, defrosted
- 2 cups apple juice
- ¾ cup salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only (½ tbsp dried)
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only (½ tbsp dried)
- 2 sprigs fresh marjoram, leaves only (½ tbsp dried)
- 2 oranges, peel and juice
- 7 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 tbsp rainbow peppercorns
- 1 gallon water, approximate
How to assemble the simple turkey brine
1.Firstly, remove the leaves from the herbs and give them a rough chop.
2. Then, prepare your oranges. Use a vegetable peeler to remove most of the zest, AKA orange portion of the peel, from both oranges. Wide strips of zest work well for brining. Cut the oranges in half and use a hand juicer to extract the juice. You can pour this directly into your stock pot.
3. Mince your garlic, or put your garlic through a garlic press.
4. Fourthly, add the apple juice, salt, brown sugar, rosemary leaves, thyme leaves, marjoram leaves, orange peels, orange juice (if you didn’t add the juice already), minced garlic, peppercorns, and 2 cups of water all into your stock pot.
5. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Making sure that all of the sugar and salt dissolves into the liquid. If there is sediment in the bottom, that isn’t herbs, then add another cup of water and bring back to a boil.
6. Once everything has combined, it is time to turn off the heat and add your room temperature water. You want to add approximately a gallon(16 cups) total, so if you added the 2 initial cups then add 14 more cups of water. The goal is to bring the brine down to room temperature so that you can add the turkey into the brine without warming the turkey. You can also add cool water, but you need to do this gradually so that you do not shock the salt and sugar out of the solution with a drastic temperature change.
7. If your pot is not large enough to hold all of the liquid, mine isn’t, simply add as much water as your pot can comfortably hold and set aside the remaining cups of water.
8. Next, take the defrosted turkey out of the packaging and specifically check the entire chest cavity for any organs or giblets. Remove them, but be sure to save them in the fridge for GIBLET GRAVY!
9. Rinse your turkey in cool water and pat dry.
10. Add the turkey to your brine bag and top off with the remaining water. You want to ensure that your turkey is fully submerged, so add extra water if needed.
11. Straightaway place the turkey in the fridge for 1 hour per pound. Ex. 12 lbs turkey =12 hours in the brine.
12. Preheat the oven to 275 F.
13. Remove the turkey from the fridge, rinse it off, and dispose of the brine. Remember the brine was sitting with raw meat for multiple hours, dispose of accordingly.
14. Prepare the turkey for roasting by placing it in a roasting pan with sides and a rack in the bottom, breast side up, tucking the wings underneath the bird, and the legs tied together with butcher’s twine. If you don’t have twine you can make a small slit in the fatty skin between the legs to tuck the narrow portion of the legs through. This will hold the legs in place as the turkey bakes.
15. Bake covered with foil for 2-2.5 hours, for a 12 lbs turkey. If you have a turkey over 15 lbs then bake covered for 3-3.5 hours.
16. I highly recommend my citrus herb butter for BASTING in this next step! Remove the foil and increase the oven temperature to 350 F.
17. Bake uncovered for 1-1.5 hours, for a 12 lbs turkey, the internal temperature near the breast bone should be 165 F. If you have a turkey over 15 lbs then bake for 1.5-2.5 hours. Regardless, the baking time will depend on the internal temperature of the bird. If the turkey starts to get too brown on top, then loosely cover with foil again.
18. After the turkey reaches the appropriate temperature, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest at least 20 minutes before carving.
19. Enjoy your deliciously moist turkey!
Super Simple Turkey Brine
Ingredients
- 10-12 lbs turkey, defrosted
- 2 cups apple juice
- ¾ cup salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only (½ tbsp dried)
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only (½ tbsp dried)
- 2 sprigs fresh marjoram, leaves only (½ tbsp dried)
- 2 oranges, peels and juice
- 7 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 tbsp rainbow peppercorns
- 1 gallon water, approximately
Instructions
1. Firstly, remove the leaves from the herbs and give them a rough chop.
2. Then, prepare your oranges. Use a vegetable peeler to remove most of the zest, AKA orange portion of the peel, from both oranges. Wide strips of zest work well for brining. Cut the oranges in half and use a hand juicer to extract the juice. You can pour this directly into your stock pot.
3. Mince your garlic, or put your garlic through a garlic press.
4. Fourthly, add the apple juice, salt, brown sugar, rosemary leaves, thyme leaves, marjoram leaves, orange peels, orange juice (if you didn’t add the juice already), minced garlic, peppercorns, and 2 cups of water all into your stock pot.
5. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Making sure that all of the sugar and salt dissolves into the liquid. If there is sediment in the bottom, that isn’t herbs, then add another cup of water and bring back to a boil.
6. Once everything has combined, it is time to turn off the heat and add your room temperature water. You want to add approximately a gallon(16 cups) total, so if you added the 2 initial cups then add 14 more cups of water. The goal is to bring the brine down to room temperature so that you can add the turkey into the brine without warming the turkey. You can also add cool water, but you need to do this gradually so that you do not shock the salt and sugar out of the solution with a drastic temperature change.
7. If your pot is not large enough to hold all of the liquid, mine isn’t, simply add as much water as your pot can comfortably hold and set aside the remaining cups of water.
8. Next, take the defrosted turkey out of the packaging and specifically check the entire chest cavity for any organs or giblets. Remove them, but be sure to save them in the fridge for GIBLET GRAVY!
9. Rinse your turkey in cool water and pat dry.
10. Add the turkey to your brine bag and top off with the remaining water. You want to ensure that your turkey is fully submerged, so add extra water if needed.
11. Straightaway place the turkey in the fridge for 1 hour per pound. Ex. 12 lbs turkey =12 hours in the brine.
12. Preheat the oven to 275 F.
13. Remove the turkey from the fridge, rinse it off, and dispose of the brine. Remember the brine was sitting with raw meat for multiple hours, dispose of accordingly.
14. Prepare the turkey for roasting by placing it in a roasting pan with sides and a rack in the bottom, breast side up, tucking the wings underneath the bird, and the legs tied together with butcher’s twine. If you don’t have twine you can make a small slit in the fatty skin between the legs to tuck the narrow portion of the legs through. This will hold the legs in place as the turkey bakes.
15. Bake covered with foil for 2-2.5 hours, for a 12 lbs turkey. If you have a turkey over 15 lbs then bake covered for 3-3.5 hours.
16. I highly recommend my citrus herb butter for BASTING in this next step! Remove the foil and increase the oven temperature to 350 F.
17. Bake uncovered for 1-1.5 hours, for a 12 lbs turkey, the internal temperature near the breast bone should be 165 F. If you have a turkey over 15 lbs then bake for 1.5-2.5 hours. The baking time will ultimately depend on the internal temperature of the bird. If the turkey starts to get too brown on top, then loosely cover with foil again.
18. After the turkey reaches the appropriate temperature, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest at least 20 minutes before carving.
19. Enjoy your deliciously moist turkey!
For my full Thanksgiving menu click HERE!
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