Roasted turkey on a white serving platter with herbs and halved figs.

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson

A big golden bird is often the centerpiece of a holiday meal—but that doesn’t mean it has to take the most work. This flavorful roast turkey recipe makes it easy to get the main course on the table in just three hours, leaving you more time to take on the other elements of your Thanksgiving dinner (like green bean casserole and mashed potatoes). The key to roasting a turkey in a shortened time frame is: (1) Remember to thaw your turkey ahead of time, and (2) roast it at a higher temperature than you might be used to. This allows you to reduce the cooking time and gives you golden brown, crispy skin while keeping both the breast meat and turkey legs moist and juicy, no basting required. Note that this method isn’t recommended for turkeys over 16 lb., and that for birds under 14 lb., you’ll want to start checking for doneness earlier than this recipe indicates. (Find our timetable for turkey cooking here.) And you’ll still have plenty of drippings for the best turkey gravy.

For this Thanksgiving turkey recipe, we keep the ingredients as simple as possible—all that’s added is salt and pepper. But, if you’d like to perfume your holiday roast with some fresh herbs, tuck a few sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary into the turkey cavity, along with a halved onion and any other aromatics (like a few lemon or apple wedges or smashed garlic cloves), so that you don’t have to worry about them burning. For the actual cooking, you’ll just need a roasting pan and a good meat thermometer (ideally, one that you can read remotely to keep track of the turkey’s internal temperature). In just a few hours, you’ll have a perfect roast turkey at rest on your cutting board.

Recipe information

Total Time
3 hours
Yield
8–10 servings

Ingredients

1 14- to 16-lb. turkey, neck and giblets (excluding liver) reserved for turkey giblet stock

2½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1½ tsp. Morton kosher salt (2 tsp. if using a kosher bird)

1½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Special Equipment:

Pliers (preferably needlenose); a small metal skewer (optional); kitchen string; a flat metal roasting rack; an instant-read thermometer

Preparation

Step 1
Remove any feathers and quills with pliers (kosher turkeys tend to require this more than others) from one 14- to 16-lb. turkey, neck and giblets (excluding liver) reserved for turkey giblet stock (if making). Pat turkey dry with paper towels.
Step 2
Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
Step 3
Mix 2½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1½ tsp. Morton kosher salt (2 tsp. if using a kosher bird) and 1½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl and sprinkle it evenly in cavities and all over turkey skin. Fold neck skin under body and, if desired, secure with metal skewer, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with kitchen string.
Step 4
Put turkey, breast side up, on roasting rack in a large flameproof roasting pan. If your roasting pan is made from dark metal, add 1 cup cold water to bottom of pan. Roast, rotating pan 180° halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, 1¾–2½ hours. If breast starts to darken before desired temperature is reached, tent bird loosely with aluminum foil.
Step 5
Carefully tilt cooked turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a platter (do not clean roasting pan) and let stand 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180°F). Cut off and discard string from turkey.
VARIATIONS:
For a stuffed turkey: Twelve cups of stuffing will fill both cavities and leave you extra to bake separately. Just before roasting, spoon room-temperature stuffing loosely (stuffing expands as it cooks) into the neck (smaller) cavity. Fold the neck skin underneath the body and secure with a small metal skewer. Then loosely fill the body (larger) cavity, and tie drumsticks together. If you don't want any stuffing to spill out, cover the opening with a slice of fresh bread, tucking it inside the cavity before tying the drumsticks. Follow roasting directions above. (Timing for a stuffed bird may be slightly longer, but start checking the temperature at 1¾ hours.) Immediately transfer stuffing from body cavity to a shallow baking dish (separate from one for stuffing baked outside the turkey). Take temperature of stuffing in neck cavity and if less than 165°F, add it to the baking dish. Bake (covered for a moist stuffing or uncovered for a crisp top) until it reaches a minimum of 165°F. This can take 20–45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the oven, which you may have lowered to reheat side dishes.
For a roast turkey breast: For a 6–8-lb. breast (with skin and bone), reduce salt to 1½ tsp. and pepper to ¾ tsp. Use a V-rack instead of a flat rack. Roast, rotating pan 180° halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted in thickest part of each breast half (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, about 70 minutes–1½ hours. Let stand 30 minutes (temperature in breast will rise to between 175°F and 180°F). (For a grilled turkey option, see Grilled Whole Turkey.)
Editor’s note: This recipe was first printed in the November 2005 issue of ‘Gourmet.’ Head this way for more of our easiest Thanksgiving recipes →