Easy Oven Roasted Turkey

Roasted Cut Up Turkey Platter For Thanksgiving with All the Sides

This is THE turkey recipe you need if you want a perfectly crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside turkey! This Easy Oven Roasted Turkey recipe is so straightforward that you really can’t mess it up. Make the perfect turkey for your holiday table this year.

Course dinner

Cuisine American

Keyword roasted turkey

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 3 30

Total Time 3 55

Servings people

Calories 282kcal

Ingredients

15 pound whole turkey
1 cup butter, unsalted room temperature
1 medium lemon juiced
3 tablespoons fresh sage chopped
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
3 tablespoons fresh thyme chopped
6 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Thaw turkey in the fridge if frozen. It takes about 24 hours per 5 lbs of turkey thawing in the fridge. You might want to give yourself an extra day just to be safe, thawed turkey can stay in the fridge 2 days before roasting. (A 15 pound turkey will take about 3 days to thaw in the fridge from frozen)
Remove your turkey from the fridge and let sit at room temperature, 1 hour before you want to start roasting it.
Make sure your oven racks are lowered so that the turkey will sit one level below the center. Preheat oven to 350° F.
Remove any packaging from the turkey, and remove the neck and giblets. Pat the outside of turkey until very dry with paper towel. Try to pat the inside of the turkey as dry as you can with paper towel also.
In a small bowl, combine the butter, juice of one lemon, chopped sage, rosemary, thyme, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined.
Using a wooden spoon, carefully loosen and lift the skin above the breasts (on the top of the turkey) and smooth a few tablespoons of the herb butter underneath.
Season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper. You can choose to stuff it with roughly chopped onion and more herbs if you want.
Place the turkey in a large roasting pan with a rack. Tie legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings of the turkey under the turkey for a pretty presentation.
Brush the remaining herb butter all over the outside of the turkey. Place a tin foil tent on the turkey to prevent it from getting brown too fast.
Roast in your preheated oven at 350°F for about 13 minutes per pound, or until the thigh and breast in the thickest portions get to 165° F with a thermometer. For a 15 pound turkey, this will take around 3 hours - plus or minus. Check the internal temperature of the turkey about halfway through cooking. Remove the foil tent for the last hour of cooking to brown the outside of the turkey.
Remove from oven when done and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.

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