Lemon-Garlic Roasted Turkey
- Prep Time: 15 minutes + 2 hours
- Cooking Time: 3 hours
- Serves: 8
This year we hosted Thanksgiving at home for the first time, which wasn't so daunting since my mother-in-law offered to cook almost EVERYTHING! The only thing I was in charge of was the turkey, and since I'd made a pretty good turkey leg once, with advice from our chef Sam Garelick, I figured it couldn't be that hard...
And, guess what? It wasn't! So here's my approximate recipe for a 12 pound roast turkey. Feel free to improvise (especially since these measurements are really estimates), and you may discover a new favorite entree!
- Part of Meal: Entree
- Food Type: Meat
- Service Temp: Warm
- Kosher Hostess Tip:
The rule of thumb for cooking an unstuffed turkey is 15 minutes for every pound (so a 12 pound turkey, for example, will cook for 3 hours).
- 12 pound(s) turkey
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 10 cloves of garlic, pressed
- 1 tablespoon(s) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon(s) freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon(s) dried rosemary
- 3 tablespoon(s) olive oil
1. Rinse off the turkey and place it, breast up, in the roasting pan.
2. Combine the lemon juice, garlic, kosher salt, pepper and rosemary in a medium-size mixing bowl and stir. *Note: I was probably supposed to put the olive oil into the mixture at this point, but I forgot, so my mother-in-law just drizzled it on top of the turkey before it went in the oven. We'll use that method here, but feel free to try it the other way if you prefer!
3. Using your hands, cover the turkey with the lemon-garlic mixture--both UNDER the skin and over every available surface area. It's very liquidy (since I forgot the olive oil), but you can just keep scooping it up and patting it onto the turkey.
4. Cover the turkey with aluminum foil and refrigerate for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove turkey from fridge, drizzle with olive oil, and roast for 3 hours. (The rule of thumb is 15 minutes ofr every pound of turkey.) Baste twice, using a baster or a very large spoon. Cover as much of the turkey in liquid as possible each time you baste.
6. Test turkey with a meat thermometer in the thigh. When it reads 165-170 degrees, it's ready to come out. Let it rest for about 15 minutes before you carve it.
7. Two more notes: If you choose to make stuffing inside the turkey, remember that the turkey's going to have to cook longer. Also, there wasn't much gravy with this recipe. Whatever liquid there was, was pretty salty, so my mom put it in a small saucepan over low heat, and added water to increase the volume and cut the intensity, and corn starch to thicken it up.