Roast Turkey - Simply Made

The easiest way to roast a turkey- and still have it be super moist without having to baby it- is to cook it in a turkey bag. I love those things!! I’ve been able to find them at most major grocery stores near the aluminum foil and plastic wrap.

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Roast Turkey- Simply Made

Ingredients:

turkey bag

whole turkey, thawed

2 TBSP ground sage

2 TBSP flour (to prevent the turkey from sticking to the bag)

1 1/2- 2 TBSP garlic salt (depending on how large your turkey is. I used 1 1/2 for a 14 lb turkey)

1/2 TBSP ground pepper

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Directions:

Mix ground sage, garlic salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Clean your sink and make room for your turkey. Cut off the plastic covering and begin to take out the gizzard. You’ll usually find the neck, a bag of organs (like the liver and heart), often there is a piece of plastic you need to pull out, and sometimes a bag of gravy. Put these aside and rinse it off and out. Often there is still ice on the inside. These birds take forever to defrost. If I need my turkey ready for thanksgiving day (Thursday), I need to pull my turkey out of the freezer the Sunday before (giving you 4 days), and put it in the refrigerator.

Place your turkey in the bag. Rub the turkey down with the seasonings you mixed in the small bowl. Next pat the turkey down with the flour. Place the sprigs of fresh rosemary around the turkey. Fill with stuffing. (Here is our sausage stuffing recipe.) If I am really on the ball, I will use fresh garlic and fresh sage and stick it under the skin as well as chopped on the outside. This is so delicious, but just a little bit more work.

Some people like to boil the turkey neck and innards. I just stuck them in the bottom of the bag this time, and they turned out great. I had a very happy husband when he pulled out his turkey neck. ;)

Twist the bottom of the turkey bag and secure with the twistie they put in the turkey bag box. If you haven’t already, stick your bagged turkey -breast side up- in a roasting pan. Make a few slits in the top of the bag, to vent it, so you don’t have an explosion in your oven.

For baking times, follow the instructions on the bag box depending on the size of your turkey. Make sure you use a meat thermometer as well so your bird is cooked to a safe temperature.

Ours always seems to cook about 20-30 minutes faster than the bag time recommends, so just keep an eye on it at the end.

Enjoy with all your wonderful Thanksgiving sides! For the other items on our Thanksgiving menu, click here!

For some better visuals, check out the videos below.