Even though it takes some effort, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday! In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to roast a turkey so it turns out golden brown, moist, and full of flavor.
I’ll also be answering a few of the most common questions; like whether you should cover the turkey with foil and when to take the foil off.
And don’t forget to grab the FREE Turkey Roasting Charts, plus explore my full collection of Easy Recipes for Thanksgiving shared below.
Recipe at a Glance
Prep: 20 min | Cook/Bake: 4 hrs | Difficulty: Easy
What it is: A classic roast turkey seasoned simply to let the natural flavors shine, with juicy meat and golden, crispy skin.
Why you’ll love it: Covers the two most-asked questions:
- Should I cover the turkey with foil?
- When do you take the foil off of a turkey?
How to make it: Prep the bird by seasoning and optionally covering with foil for moisture, then roast until tender and golden brown, basting as needed.
👉 By the way — you can download my FREE Turkey Thawing and Roasting Chart (linked below) to have the thawing and cooking times right at your side in the kitchen.
Table of Contents
- Recipe at a Glance
- Tried, Loved, and Rated 5 Stars!
- How to Prep a Turkey for Thanksgiving
- Should I cover my turkey with foil?
- Thanksgiving Printables Your Family Will Love
- Do you put water in the bottom of the roasting pan for turkey?
- Recommended Kitchen Tools
- My Kitchen Tools Essentials
- Ingredients You'll Need
- Step-by-Step Instructions for Roasting a Turkey
- What Temperature do you Cook a Turkey to?
- How to carve a Turkey
- How to make Homemade Gravy
- How to keep Turkey Warm?
- Insider Tips from My Kitchen to Yours
- Storing and Reheating Tips
- More Thanksgiving Recipes to LOVE
- Download the Turkey Thawing and Roasting Cheat Sheets
- LOVE this recipe? SAVE it for Later!
- 📖 Recipe Card
- Recipe FAQ's
- How long to cook a Turkey in an Electric Roaster?
- Indulge in Flavor, Not Ads - Get Your Ad-Free Digital Cookbook Today!
- Important Update
- 💬 Comments
Tried, Loved, and Rated 5 Stars!
“I’ve always used your tips. This time we followed your turkey recipe—my husband said it was so juicy and moist. Best turkey ever. Thanks!”
~ Loretta
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
How to Prep a Turkey for Thanksgiving
Cleaning up after unwrapping a turkey can feel like a chore, so I like to handle this step the night before Thanksgiving. Prepping early not only saves time on the holiday but also helps the turkey roast more evenly.
- Remove the turkey from its packaging.
- Take out the neck and giblets from the cavity (save for stock or discard).
- Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
- Place the turkey on a baking tray, cover loosely with paper towels and aluminum foil.
- Refrigerate overnight so the skin can dry slightly, which helps it crisp during roasting.
Should I cover my turkey with foil?
Covering the turkey with foil helps lock in moisture, but leaving it uncovered at the right time ensures crispy skin.
- Tent the turkey loosely with foil for most of the roasting time.
- This keeps the meat from drying out.
- Remove the foil during the last 30–45 minutes so the skin browns and crisps.
How long should I keep my turkey covered with foil?
- Keep the turkey covered for the majority of the roasting time.
- Uncover near the end so the skin can crisp and turn golden brown.
- For large turkeys, check once or twice during roasting and re-tent if needed.
When do you take the foil off of a turkey?
- Take the foil off during the last 30–45 minutes of cooking.
- If the turkey is browning too quickly, loosely tent it again to prevent burning.
Thanksgiving Printables Your Family Will Love
Quick to print and beautiful to display—these cards help you decorate in minutes!
Leftover Labels $2.99Vintage Gratitude Cards $3.99
Scripture Gratitude Cards $3.99
Do you put water in the bottom of the roasting pan for turkey?
You don’t need to start with water in the roasting pan. A turkey will release plenty of natural juices as it cooks, which keeps the meat moist and creates a flavorful base for drippings.
- Adding water at the beginning can cause steaming, which may prevent the skin from crisping.
- If you prefer, you can add a splash of water partway through roasting to keep drippings from burning.
- Too much water dilutes the flavor of the pan juices and can lead to a less flavorful gravy.
My tip: I always begin with a dry roasting pan. As the turkey cooks, its juices create rich drippings. Near the end, I add just a splash of water to loosen and enhance those juices for gravy.
👉If you’d like to take the flavor up a notch, try brining your turkey before roasting. My Holiday Poultry Brine Cheat Sheet includes nine different brine recipes to help you create juicy, flavorful poultry every time.
Recommended Kitchen Tools
For a full list of kitchen tools used in this recipe, be sure to check the recipe card below. You can also browse my Favorite Kitchen Tools by clicking the photo below.
Check out my list...
My Kitchen Tools Essentials
Tools that will make your time easier and faster in the kitchen!
Ingredients You'll Need
Here's a quick overview of the ingredients for this recipe. Find the exact amounts and click the Instacart button to easily add them to your cart – all in the printable recipe card below!
Step-by-Step Instructions for Roasting a Turkey
This section provides step-by-step photos and instructions to guide you through the recipe. For the complete printable version, scroll down to the recipe card below.
Step 1: Remove the turkey from the refrigerator, uncover it, and place it breast side up in a Roasting Pan with Rack.
Step 2: Season the cavity with salt and pepper. If you’re stuffing the turkey, add the prepared stuffing now being careful to stuff it loosely.
Step 3: Tuck the wings back or under the bird, then truss the legs together with kitchen twine.
Step 4: Spread softened butter generously over the turkey, then season the outside with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, or your favorite spice blend.
Step 7: Roast the turkey at 400°F for the first 20 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 hours. Baste the turkey with warmed chicken broth or the pan juices every 20–30 minutes. For exact roasting times based on your turkey’s weight, check out the Printable Turkey Roasting Chart below.
What Temperature do you Cook a Turkey to?
- The turkey is done when a Digital Meat Thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the turkey’s thigh reads 170°F degrees.
- If you stuffed the turkey with dressing, the dressing should reach 165°F degrees for it to be safe to consume.
- Once the turkey is finished cooking, remove it from the oven. Take the turkey out of the roasting pan and place on a cutting board. Cover the turkey with aluminum foil. Let the turkey rest for 30 to 60 minutes before carving.
- Why? This lets the juices redistribute so your meat stays juicy.
How to carve a Turkey
- Roast the turkey early in the day and carve it before guests arrive to keep the kitchen clean and stress-free.
- Remove the entire breast from the turkey before slicing for neat, even pieces of white meat.
- After slicing the breast, carve the thighs, wings, and legs.
- Keep the carved turkey in a large pan covered with aluminum foil until ready to serve.
How to make Homemade Gravy
- Instructions on how to make lump-free gravy are in my post for Pot Roast. It's the SAME recipe, only you'll be using the turkey drippings for turkey gravy instead of the beef broth from the pot roast.
- Step-by-step photo instructions are included in that post as well.
How to keep Turkey Warm?
- Place the turkey in an Oster Turkey Roaster, or any electric roasting pan.
- Fill the bottom tray of the roaster with warm water.
- Arrange the sliced turkey in the removable tray, then insert it into the roaster.
- Set the roaster to the warm setting (around 200°F).
- The warm water in the bottom tray creates gentle steam, helping keep the sliced turkey warm and moist without drying it out.
Insider Tips from My Kitchen to Yours
✔️ DO prep the turkey the night before so the skin has time to dry — this helps it roast up golden and crisp.
❌ DO NOT leave the foil on the entire time or you’ll miss out on that beautiful, crispy skin.
Storing and Reheating Tips
Refrigerator: Place any leftover turkey in an airtight container or wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate within two hours of cooking and store for up to four days.
Freezer: Portion any leftovers it into meal-sized amounts before freezing in airtight containers or freezer bags for up to 3 months.
Thawing and Reheating: Thaw safely in the refrigerator overnight and then enjoy your turkey in sandwiches, soups, salads, and more!
More Thanksgiving Recipes to LOVE
- Candied Sweet Potatoes and Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing are two of my favorite side dishes for Thanksgiving!
- Company Mashed Potatoes - prepare your mashed potatoes the day before with this delicious recipe for creamy mashed potatoes.
- I always cook an additional Turkey Breast cooked in the crock pot so we have extra white meat for family to take home leftovers to make turkey sandwiches the next day.
Download the Turkey Thawing and Roasting Cheat Sheets
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📖 Recipe Card
How to Roast Turkey
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Remove the turkey from the packaging and remove the neck and giblets from the cavity.
- You can use these to make turkey stock if desired...I usually throw them away.
- Pat dry with paper towels.
- Place the turkey on a tray and cover with paper towels and aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.
- Remove the turkey from the refrigerator and uncover.
- Place the turkey, breast side up in the roasting pan on top of a rack.
- If you are roasting the turkey with stuffing, add your prepared stuffing now to the cavity of the turkey. If you are not stuffing the turkey, make sure you salt and pepper the cavity.
- You can also add onions, apples, celery, carrots and parsnips to the cavity of the bird. These will all add flavor to the turkey. Make sure you stuff loosely.
- Turn the wings back or under the bird. Using kitchen twine, truss the legs of the turkey together
- Cover the turkey with the softened butter, the more the better. This is Thanksgiving and calories don’t count.
- Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper and then poultry seasoning. If you prefer different seasonings, please use your favorite.
- Roast the turkey at 400 degrees for the first 20 minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue cooking for another 3 to 4 hours.
- If you notice that the turkey is getting too brown while it is cooking, cover loosely with aluminum foil.
- Don’t forget to baste your turkey! I like to baste every 20 minutes or so using chicken stock.
- The turkey is done when a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the turkey’s thigh reads 170 degrees.
- If you stuffed the turkey with dressing, the dressing should reach 165 degrees for it to be safe to consume.
- Once the turkey is finished cooking, remove it from the oven. Take the turkey out of the roasting pan and place on a cutting board. Cover the turkey with aluminum foil.
- Let the turkey rest for 30 to 60 minutes before carving.
Nutrition
Notes
- Prep the turkey the night before to save time and allow the skin to dry for a crisp finish.
- Season generously inside and out for the best flavor.
- Tent loosely with foil during roasting, then uncover for the last 30–45 minutes to brown the skin.
- Carve the turkey in advance and keep the slices covered with foil in a large pan until serving.
- Store leftovers in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days.
- Freeze cooked turkey for up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Recipe FAQ's
To view the answers, simply click on the down arrow (⬇) next to each question. If you have any other questions not answered here, please leave a comment!
ChatGPT said:
Roast an unstuffed turkey at 325°F for about 15 minutes per pound, until it reaches 165°F in the breast. For exact times by weight, check out my Printable Turkey Roasting Chart.
Baste the turkey every 30–45 minutes to keep the skin golden and help lock in moisture. Just be sure to close the oven door quickly each time so you don’t lose heat.
You can baste a turkey with the pan drippings, melted butter, broth, or a mix of all three for extra flavor. Using a combination of butter and drippings gives the skin a beautiful golden color and rich taste.
How long to cook a Turkey in an Electric Roaster?
Here’s how to roast your turkey in an electric roaster for juicy, evenly cooked results:
- For an unstuffed turkey, plan on 8–10 minutes of cooking time per pound at 325°F.
- Prep and season the turkey as outlined above.
- Place the turkey in the electric roaster and set the temperature to 325°F.
- Keep in mind that cooking time can vary depending on the weight of the turkey.
Important Update
Since first publishing this post in 2015, there are new guidelines recommending not to rinse the turkey or any other poultry. You can read more about the new guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration HERE.
Julie Slominski says
Do you have a crockpot recipe for turkey thanksgiving
Lois says
I only have a recipe for a turkey breast made in the crock pot: https://walkingonsunshinerecipes.com/roast-turkey-in-crock-pot/ Thank you for visiting!
Loretta says
Always used your tips
.this time we used your turkey recipe
.my husband said it was so.juicy and moist..Best turkey ever. Thanks
Lois says
Thank you Loretta! Best comment I've read in a long time. Glad your family enjoyed the turkey.
Doreen says
Thank you for the tips. You said you threw away the giblets in the turkey. My mom/grandma would cook them in some water/chicken broth with celery & onions and add the meat to their stuffing recipe. So that's how I do mine too. Yummy!
Lois says
That's such a great idea! I know my mom always did something very similar. Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment!
Tim Leathers says
Loved it. Thanks for the tips!!
Excel at Home says
Great tips, thanks! I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year and will be following for more advice. I'd love for you to check out my free Christmas Card List and printable on my blog (and also linked through Link Party Palooza). Thanks!
Sunny Simple Life says
Do you still host your weekly blog party? I am updating my list on the blog. Could you let me know?