My favorite method of turkey preparation is to roast it in the oven. This recipe is fairly heavy on the spices, so if you want a more mild flavor, just back off or eliminate anything that you don’t want to use. If you want to speed up the process, use this recipe that roasts the turkey in an oven bag.

To plan your preparation accordingly, you need to know how large your turkey is, so don’t throw away the label with the weight. If you do, you’ll be standing on a scale with either a frozen bird or one that’s dripping all over the floor. Neither is that fun, and you have to do scale math to figure out the difference of you with and without a turkey in your hands. Just save the tag.

Print Recipe

Roasting a Whole Turkey

Ingredients

Fresh or Frozen turkey *save the label so you'll know the weight*
1/2 cup Cooking Oil
Cooking Spray
to taste Garlic Powder
to taste Onion Powder
to taste Black Pepper
to taste Thyme
to taste Coarsely Ground Salt
to taste Celery Seed
to taste Poultry Seasoning

Instructions

Remove any packets that may be inside the cavities
Check both the neck and chest cavities
Spray your turkey pan with cooking spray (this makes cleanup vastly easier)
Be sure that your turkey pan is big enough for your bird
If you have a rack for your pan, spray it with cooking spray
If you have a rack, use it (this will make like easier)

If you have a frozen turkey

Defrost the turkey in the refrigerator. Anticipate a minimum of 24 hours of defrosting for every 4 pounds of turkey.
If you're in doubt, defrost it an extra day

For fresh or frozen turkeys

Remove any packets that may be inside the cavities
Check both the neck and chest cavities
Rinse the turkey until all water runs clear through the bird
Cleaning a turkey is messy business. Deal with it.
Rub salt and pepper inside the cavities (yup, this is messy too)
Rub garlic powder and onion powder inside the cavities for extra flavor

If you're going to stuff your turkey

Do that now
For instructions on stuffing a turkey, see the notes below
(see [Traditional Sausage-based Poultry Stuffing|http://hectic-kitchen.com/recipe-poultry-stuffing-001/] for a stuffing recipe)

After Stuffing (or not stuffing) the Turkey

Place the turkey, breast side up on the rack in the roasting pan
Brush cooking oil onto the turkey or spray the entire bird with cooking spray
Sprinkle the spices over the entire turkey
To determine how long to roast the turkey, see the link in the notes below
When the time is about 2/3 complete, cover the bird loosely with foil to avoid overcooking
To be certain that your turkey is completely cooked, insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, being careful not to touch the bone
When the temperature reaches 180F your turkey is finished roasting

Notes

NOTE: Fresh or Frozen turkey *save the label so you'll know the weight*

For instructions on stuffing a turkey, click here

To determine how long to roast the turkey, use this time chart

Here's a great stuffing recipe, if you need one