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Perfect Roasted Turkey and Gravy

You don't need loads of butter to make Perfect Roasted Turkey and Gravy--a dry brine and perfect cooking technique make this classic a little lighter without sacrificing flavor.
Author: Geri

Ingredients

FOR THE TURKEY

  • 1 12- to 18-pound turkey
  • 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • fresh cracked pepper
  • 2-3 cups chicken or turkey broth
  • turkey neck, giblets, and heart, removed from cavity

FOR THE GRAVY

  • 1 cup reserved turkey drippings, grease removed
  • 5 cups chicken or turkey broth
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water
  • fresh cracked pepper

Instructions

BRINE THE TURKEY

  • Remove and reserve the neck, giblets, and heart from the cavity of the turkey. Discard the liver.
  • Season the turkey evenly with kosher salt, including the cavity and under the skin of the breasts. The amount of salt depends on the size. I used 1 1/2 tbsp for a 13-pound turkey.
  • Place on rack in roasting pan, cover with tin foil, and let brine in the refrigerator over night. Try for 24 hours, but 8 hours will be fine.

ROAST THE TURKEY

  • Preheat oven to 500F degrees. Remove tin foil and drain liquid from bottom of roasting pan. Place turkey back on rack in pan, breast side up.
  • Rub 1 tbsp olive oil over the skin of the turkey, then season with freshly cracked pepper to taste.
  • Place reserved neck, giblets, and heart in the bottom of the pan, along with 2 cups of chicken broth.
  • Roast until the skin begins to brown, about 20-30 minutes, then turn heat down to 350F degrees. Continue to roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads anywhere from 160-165F degrees. This can take up to 3 hours for a very large turkey. My 13-pound turkey took only 1 hour and 45 minutes.
  • If it looks like the tips of the wings might start to burn, tent them with tin foil (see blog notes).
  • Check the dripping in the bottom of the pan every 30 minutes or so. You want them to concentrate and get very brown, but not burn. Add in more broth, 1/2 cup at a time, if the pan looks too dry. I added in about 1 extra cup total.
  • Remove turkey from oven. Take the bird off of the rack and let sit for at least 30 minutes before carving

MAKE THE GRAVY

  • Discard neck, giblets, and heart. Drain grease from the drippings. The easiest way to do with is with a fat separator (see blog pictures). You should be left with 1 cup of concentrated dripping. If you have less, add broth until you get a full cup.
  • Place roasting pan over two burners. Turn the heat to high and add drained drippings back in, along with 5 cups of broth.
  • Continue to cook, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until liquid reduces almost in half, about 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium.
  • In a small bowl, mix together cornstarch and water. Add to the pan and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until gravy thickens and becomes glossy, and 5 minutes.

Notes

Gravy
Click here to determine your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe (if you are logged in to your WW app, it should calculate for you automatically). Calculated for 1/4 cup serving.
WW SmartPoints for Green, Blue, and Purple: 3 SP for 1/4 cup | 4 SP for 1/3 cup
Turkey Breakdown
Click here to determine your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe (if you are logged in to your WW app, it should calculate for you automatically). Calculated for 1/24 serving of a 12 lb. turkey (3 oz cooked meat, with skin).
Green WW SmartPoints:
3 oz of cooked dark meat with skin is 4 SP
3 oz of cooked dark meat without skin is 2 SP
3 oz white meat with skin is 3 SP
3 oz white meat without skin is 1 SP
 
Blue and Purple SmartPoints:
3 oz of cooked dark meat with skin is 4 SP
3 oz of cooked dark meat without skin is 2 SP
3 oz white meat with skin is 3 SP
3 oz white meat without skin is 0 SP