Recipes

Juicy & Tender Roast Turkey and Gravy

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 4 hours 15 minutes

Serves 8-10

Is this your first time cooking a bird? We’ve got three simple, step-by-step videos to take you through the process from cooking to carving to gravy. You’ll learn great tips, like how to protect the turkey when its skin is browning too fast (called tenting), and, hopefully, get a few laughs with Jess and Ali in the kitchen!

Comments (9)

ready to learn? just hit play.

ingredients

6 stalks: celery, halved

2: yellow onions, quartered

1: (12 to 14-pound) turkey

2 to 6 cups: low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon: kosher salt

1 teaspoon: freshly ground black pepper

12 sprigs: fresh thyme

2 tablespoons: olive oil

¼ cup: cornstarch

directions

Turkey:

Place the oven rack in the lowest position and heat the oven to 375°F.

Place 4 stalks of the celery and 4 of the onion quarters in a large flameproof roasting pan.

Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey; rinse the neck and add it to the pan; discard the giblets. Place a roasting rack on top of the vegetables.

Rinse the turkey inside and out, pat dry with paper towels, and place on the rack (breast-side up). Season the turkey inside and out with salt and pepper (48 turns on pepper mill), and tuck the wings under the body.

Stuff with the thyme and remaining 2 stalks celery and 4 onion quarters. Tie the ends of the legs together with kitchen twine. Rub the turkey with the oil.

Roast for 1 hour, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and add 2 cups of the chicken broth to the pan.

Continue to roast 2 to 2½ hours more until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F. Transfer the turkey to a large cutting board and let rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Watch Video: Preparing and Roasting the Turkey

Gravy:

Discard the vegetables from the pan and strain the pan juices into a large measuring cup or fat separator.

Place the roasting pan over two burners over medium heat. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth and cook, scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon, 1 minute, then strain into the measuring cup containing the pan juices.

Add enough additional chicken broth, if necessary, to measure 4 cups total liquid; let settle for 3 minutes, then skim the fat from the top (if using a measuring cup).

Pour the liquid (leaving the fat in the fat separator, if using) into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and ¼ cup cold water and whisk into the broth. Simmer until the gravy thickens, 3 or 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper (48 turns on pepper mill).

Watch Video: Making the Gravy

Carve:

Snip the string
Remove leg/thigh
Remove wish bone
Remove breasts
Remove wings
Separate leg from thigh; slice thigh meat
Slice breast meat

Watch Video: Carving the Turkey

Roasting times for a 375° F oven (internal temperature of turkey 165° F):

Total Weight	Unstuffed	Stuffed
8 to 12-pounds	2 to 3 hours	2 ½ to 3 ½ hours
12 to 16-pounds	3 to 4 hours	3 ½ to 4 ½ hours
16 to 20-pounds	4 to 5 hours	4 ½ to 5 ½ hours
20 to 24-pounds	5 to 6 hours	5 ½ to 6 ½ hours
24 to 30-pounds	6 to 7 hours	6 ½ to 7 ½ hours

helpful hints

Thaw a frozen turkey in the refrigerator 2 days in advance
When ordering your turkey, figure about 1½pounds per person (including enough for leftovers)
If the turkey starts to get very brown on top and still has a lot of cooking time left, tent the top with a piece of aluminum foil to slow the browning
Check the temperature of the turkey 30 minutes before you think it will be done, just to make sure your timing is still correct

tools needed

Large flameproof roasting pan, roasting rack, kitchen twine, 2 cutting boards, chef’s knife, 4-cup measuring cup or fat separator, fine strainer or sieve, small bowl, ¼ cup measuring cup, measuring spoons, wooden spoon, whisk, medium saucepan, meat thermometer, aluminum foil

9 comments, add yours below

Laura on June 25, 2011 at 9:45PM wrote:

thanks! i never learned how to make gravy. my mom used to make it and and she passed away and i never learned how to do it until your video! thank you! have a great summer! <3

Laura on July 21, 2011 at 6:27AM wrote:

what size roaster rack are you using? i am going to sur la tab and i want the same one you are using! thanks jess <3

Tawni on September 21, 2011 at 3:20PM wrote:

I’m going to make this turkey recipe this year…or maybe before just for practice. I’m so hungry now.
Thanks, you guys crack me up :)

Sara V on October 9, 2011 at 3:43PM wrote:

As you know it’s Thanksgiving in Canada today so I have followed your instructions for the turkey and have used our family recipe for stuffing. Looking forward to making the gravy and eating this baby up :) Thanks so much Jess!

Hungry in Ontario on October 9, 2011 at 3:56PM wrote:

Thank you for the simplest instructions - we roasted our turkey many times using your recipe and the results are amazing - moist turkey & gravy!

Sue Bottiger on November 8, 2011 at 8:46PM wrote:

I love you and Ally W. together..friendships like yours is so hard to fake and better yet harder to endure. You guys are so cute together…thank you for the Pre Thanksgiving lesson…I have a 22lb waiting for us….in the freezer.
Love you Jess…your the best. Jerry is a lucky guy..and your kids are blessed! Same with you Ali W.

Mary Valantine on November 25, 2011 at 11:01AM wrote:

not into computers much.was a way for mw to communicate with my step daughter who had cancer.unfortunatly she lost.4yrs ago.but for you watched you and your Husband on anderson today, and would love the recipe, for brownies for christmas.I always go to my daughters, aand the grandson+wife are there with.little angie she;s five mo. so beautiful.and thought these would be nice for her mother to make as she and her sibling, start to grow we;re expecting again.in june. angie will according to calculations be just one.