How to Cook a Turkey Upside Down – Amazing Every Time!

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Step-by-Step Directions

• Buy the Turkey
  
  Choose whether you want a fresh or frozen turkey. If you buy a frozen turkey you’ll need to buy it several days in advance to allow for thawing time. See the package for recommended times.
  
  Determine your desired size. Butterball Brand has this helpful online calculator where you can enter the number of people eating, and it will calculate how many pounds of turkey and stuffing you should cook (remember to add some for leftovers too).
  
  This chart below will give you a general idea of COOK TIMES for how to cook a turkey with my recipe, but be sure to read the full post to figure out your schedule before buying your turkey. The times may seem crazy, but this is a slow-roasting method, and that’s what makes it so delicious.
  Personally, I always buy the largest turkey I can find since we LOVE all the leftovers. By the way, I hope you’re buying turkey when it’s on sale around the holidays, even if you don’t plan on eating it then. For years I’ve always bought a turkey when they’re on sale, then if I don’t cook it on the holiday, I freeze it and use this recipe to cook it later. After all, if you go somewhere else for a holiday dinner, you won’t have any leftovers for yourself.
• Thaw the Turkey
  
  Thawing a large turkey can take several days. Don’t throw a wrench in your meal by not giving it enough time. Allow at least 1 day of thawing for every 4 pounds of turkey. If it’s not quite thawed the day before you want to cook it, you can more quickly finish thawing it by following these instructions from Butterball.
• Prep the Turkey
  
  Just before you put it in the oven, remove the neck and giblets from inside the cavity. Check both “ends” of the turkey to make sure you haven’t left anything inside. If the cavities are still partially frozen, you may need to run warm water in the cavity to loosen the neck or giblet package to remove. Set the giblets and neck aside to cook later.
  
  Rinse the bird well
  Dry the turkey with paper towels.
  Rub the outside all over with olive oil.
• To Stuff or Not to Stuff
  
  If you want to cook stuffing/dressing inside the turkey, stuff it with the dressing of your choice at this step.  This is optional. The turkey can be cooked with or without stuffing and stuffing can be baked separately in the oven or microwave, if preferred.
  
  Sometimes if I’m not stuffing the turkey, I’ll add a few large pieces of celery, carrots, and onion, or garlic. You can also add your favorite spices like thyme, sage, parsley, or rosemary in the cavity to add more flavor to the bird.
  
  If you’re making traditional stuffing, you’ll have these items on hand. If you don’t have them, no worries. The turkey will still be delicious.
  
  There are many variations of seasoning or add-ins for how to cook a turkey. Any seasoning or prep should be done at this point.
• Choose Your Roasting Pan
  
  If you don’t have a roasting pan or a rack for the pan, you’ll want to borrow or buy something like this. Take into consideration the size of your turkey, the size of your oven (make sure it will fit), and how much you’ll use the pan over the years.
  
  If you’ll only use the pan once or twice a year, you don’t have to spend an exorbitant amount on it. Less expensive pans can work just as well. If you’re on a tight budget, you can even use an aluminum foil roasting pan, like this. or they’re often stocked in grocery stores, especially around the holidays. It’s nice to have a rack even for aluminum foil pans, but the raised bottom does help some, so even that’s not life or death.
  
  One expert tip on using a foil pan. Be sure to set it on a cookie sheet for support if you’re cooking a large turkey.
  
  If you already have a large pan that’s at least a few inches deep, you can also buy a rack separately.
• Set the Turkey UPSIDE-DOWN on a rack in the Pan
  
  After prepping the turkey, set it BREAST SIDE DOWN on a rack in a roasting pan. This is the opposite of the way most recipes tell you how to cook a turkey. The reason is that with the breast at the bottom of the pan it bastes itself internally, making the (normally dry) white meat extremely moist.
  
  If you’re not sure how to tell one “side” from the other, the legs will be on the underside and the wings will be more toward the top of the bird when it’s breast-side down.
  
  Unfortunately, I don’t have an image of this right now and all these photos show the turkey with breast side up. I’ll try to remember to take a picture this year at Thanksgiving to show what it looks like.
• [VERY IMPORTANT] Bake for 1 Hour on Higher Temperature
  
  How to cook a turkey? Place it in a 325-degree F [163 degrees Celsius] preheated oven for one (1) hour to destroy any bacteria on the surface and begin the browning process. Then turn down the heat to 185 degrees (F) for any size turkey. (note: I’ve updated the temp for the first hour of cooking to 325 merely as a precaution since many recipes now call for roasting temps to be at that minimum level.)
• Turn Down the Oven to 185 for the Rest of the Cooking Time
  
  Trust me on this one. The white meat melts in your mouth. This is a SLOW roasting method, but once in the oven, you can forget it until it comes out. Now that’s how to cook a turkey the easy way!
  
  No need to cover it.
  
  This is important. Example:
  – If I have a 22-pound turkey.
  – At 7:00 p.m. Thanksgiving Eve I put the turkey in the oven prepared at 325 degrees for ONE hour.
  – After an hour, I turn the temperature down to 185 degrees and leave the turkey roasting uncovered until it’s done the NEXT day about 12 or 1:00 PM.
  
  Although the cooking times seem startling at first, the meat is amazingly delicious, juicy, and tender. It slices beautifully and shrinks so little that a turkey cooked at regular temperatures no longer tastes good. It cannot burn so it needs no watching. It literally cooks itself.
  
  I do baste it every few hours, but that’s probably more habit than anything, besides I like to open the oven and smell the turkey.
  
  See the Roasting Chart if you have questions on cook times.
  
  A good rule for timing for how to cook a turkey is about 3 times longer than a standard recipe. For example, a 20-pound turkey that normally takes 15 minutes per pound to cook would take 5 hours. This slow cook method would be 3 times 5, so it equals 15 HOURS to cook the slow way. A smaller turkey cooks 20 minutes per pound, so an 11-pound turkey takes 3 hours, 40 mins standard, times 3 which equals 11 hours for the slow roast way.
  
  ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT TIP: Many newer ovens automatically turn off after 12 hours. I guess it’s assuming that you forgot to turn the oven off, so it does it for you. However, in this case, it could ruin an amazing meal. You don’t want your turkey sitting in an oven without any heat or it could be undercooked and dangerous to eat. Plus you’ll have lots of unhappy and hungry guests come dinner time. 
  
  If your turkey will be reaching the 12-hour mark while you’re sleeping or busy, just before you go to bed, be sure to turn off the oven for a minute or so, then turn it back on to 185 degrees. This will reset the oven’s internal timer so it won’t automatically turn off in the middle of the night. Be sure to set a reminder for before the time the 12-hour window ends, so you can “reset” the oven before it turns off.
  
  If you accidentally forget to reset the oven for even up to a half-hour, It should still be fine, as long as you turn the oven on as soon as you realize it. Much longer than that and I’m not sure I would trust it…but it probably depends on how close it was to finish cooking. The more it’s cooked, the safer it would be to eat, of course. And the oven will stay warm for a little while even after the oven turns off.
• Extend Cook Time, if Needed
  
  Now here’s the coolest part. Once it’s done, it will NOT overcook or dry out. You can leave it in the oven for an additional 3 – 4 hours at 185 degrees (F) and it will still be perfect! Thus your roasting can be adjusted totally to your convenience. So allow yourself plenty of time. It’s better to put it in a little early than too late though since you want to be sure it’s done.
• Let the Turkey Rest for 20 to 30 Minutes Before Carving
  
  Many standard recipes call for allowing the turkey to “rest” outside the oven for about 30 minutes before cutting. This can be done with the slow roast method as well. Besides allowing the juices to settle in the turkey, it also allows you to have your oven free to cook or warm other side dishes for the meal just before serving. I usually cover my turkey with foil while it rests to keep it warmer.
• Make Gravy from the Turkey Drippings
  
  I don’t know about you, but to me, the gravy is one of the best parts of a turkey dinner. Sure, you can buy a jar or mix packet in the grocery store, but why waste all those delicious drippings? Besides, homemade gravy tastes so much better and you don’t get all the additives. Here’s a turkey gravy recipe from Betty Crocker that’s similar to the one I make if you’re not sure how to make gravy from drippings.
• Carve the Turkey
  
  Sometimes carving can seem a bit overwhelming, but in reality, if you don’t do it according to instructions it really doesn’t matter that much. But, if you’d like to learn one recommended way, here’s a helpful video from “America’s Test Kitchen”. We actually don’t slice up the thigh meet and we don’t slice the breast meat across the grain like this shows, but to each his own, right?
• Enjoy the Feast
  
  Now that you know how to cook a turkey it’s time to enjoy your feast with friends, family, neighbors, strangers, or just your little ol’ self. Whether you have a single small turkey with nothing else or a lavish feast to feed 50, take a moment to quietly give thanks for the gift of life and the awareness to be able to enjoy this scrumptious treat that others may not be as fortunate to have.