Good Eats Turkey Brine

This recipe has been recently updated with new pictures, and more tips to help you get the best results when making this recipe. 11/4/2019. 

Alton Brown is one of my favorite  Food Network chef’s and I just love trying out his recipes. I always learn something new from watching his show. 

If you want the juiciest roasted turkey for Thanksgiving you must try brining your bird. If you’ve never brined a turkey before don’t worry! It’s really simple and requires a couple of spices, salt, sugar, liquid, and salt. After you brine the bird it is up to you to decide how you want to cook it. I’ve tried smoked turkey, air fryer turkey breast, and oven roasted for the results. Smoked turkey is great if you have a smoker. 

There’s a lot of crazy spices this recipe calls for like candied ginger,  whole black peppercorns, and whole allspice. My grocery store has bulk bin items you can buy so if you’re only looking to purchase a certain amount of spices you can only buy just what you need to make the recipe! To give the brine even more flavor I added in some fresh rosemary and sage leaves on top of the turkey brine. 

What do I need to Turkey Brine? 

• Kosher salt and light brown sugar
• 2 containers of vegetable stock or chicken stock will be fine
• Spices: black peppercorns, allspice berries, chopped candied ginger - These have to be whole and can not be ground.
• 1 gallon heavily iced water
• For the aromatics: red apple, slice, onion, sliced, cinnamon stick, water, sprigs rosemary leaves sage, Canola oil

How to make Good Eats Turkey Brine Recipe 

2 or 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 ½ hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

Tips for Turkey Brine 

Chicken broth or chicken stock works as a good substitute for vegetable broth. 

The trick to turkey brine is to have a vessel large enough to hold your turkey and brine in. Coolers work well for this. I used my dutch oven pot since I was roasting a smaller turkey breast.

Other Alton Brown Recipes 

Mac and Cheese

Homemade Candy Corn Recipe 

Pizza Dough 

Homemade Fudge Recipe 

English Muffin Recipe 

Alton Brown’s City Ham 

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