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

| October 25, 2019 | 3 Comments

Do you want to learn how to cook a turkey that is moist and delicious every time? You’ll get rave reviews from your family and guests on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or whenever. This is one of my most popular posts and when you try the recipe you’ll see why. The secret to the best turkey is to cook it upside down at a lower temperature for a longer time.

Our family has used this oven-roasted turkey recipe for decades and we always get rave reviews about how moist and tender it is.  It’s never dry!

how to cook a turkey

This recipe is awesome because you can put your turkey in the night before. It saves so much time on the big day. YES, the NIGHT BEFORE you want to eat it, you’ll start cooking it…and you’ll wake up in the morning with the delicious aroma filling the house. My family says waking up to the smell of turkey is one of their favorite things. Another wonderful fact about this recipe is that even if you cook a large turkey, it always comes out moist and tender.

I first found the recipe long ago in a book by Emilie Barnes called “The Complete Holiday Organizer”. The book is out of print, but it appears there are a few used copies available if you’re interested. If you haven’t heard of her, she was a homemaking guru before anyone ever heard of Martha Stewart. I hope you try it and enjoy it. The recipe is SO easy!

how to cook a turkey
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Don’t Miss This Important Note

Be aware that, depending on the size of the turkey, it may need to be put in the oven the night before you plan to eat it. Be sure to read all the directions below so you can calculate your thawing and roasting schedule before you buy your turkey.

Ingredients

  • 1 Turkey – any size

  • 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

  • Stuffing (optional)

  • 1 cup celery, carrot, and/or onion pieces (optional)

Turkey in pan

Supplies – Roasting Pan

Perfect Turkey Every Time

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 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.how to cook a turkey - slow roast cook time
    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 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.
    how to cook a turkey - roasting pan with rack
    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. It’s still nice to have a rack, but the raised bottom does help some, so even that’s not life or death. One note on 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 to cook it. 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.
  • Bake for 1 Hour on Higher Temperature [IMPORTANT]

    Place 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.

    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 Roasting Chart if you have questions on cook times.

    A good rule for timing 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.

    VERY IMPORTANT: 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.how to cook a turkey - slow roast cook time
  • 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.how to cook a turkey
  • Let the Turkey Rest for 20-30 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?Carving a turkey
  • Enjoy the Feast

    Now’s the 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.
How to cook a turkey

The Presentation

One item I need to point out. Do you want to put the whole turkey on the table on a platter “Norman Rockwell” style?Then you need to know that cooking it breast side down will not be quite as pretty as what you’re accustomed to. There will still be some crispy skin on the top side, but the breast will not be crisp since it was on the bottom of the pan. If you’re like our family and you just take it out of the oven and carve it up onto platters, no one will even know that you cooked it upside-down.

I’ve been using this recipe for over 30 years and have never been disappointed. The only person I know that had trouble was a friend who didn’t realize their oven had turned off automatically until the turkey had been sitting half-cooked in a tepid oven for several hours and started to smell bad. That was not a fun holiday for them. But, if you follow the directions here, you’ll know how to cook a turkey like a pro.

Have fun and let me know if you have any questions. Post an update below about how your dinner turns out. I’d love to see pictures of your turkey dinner on my Facebook page.

Also, just in case you’re still hesitant about this, you can see many comments here from my old blog on readers’ success with cooking their turkeys this way.

Learn More About Cooking:

Carving a turkey and foundational recipes for just about everything can be found in this classic cookbook. This is the updated version of the Betty Crocker Cookbook that I used for decades. It’s perfect for the new cook or anyone that wants to learn step-by-step with lots of photos, tips, and specific instructions.

This is the one that my husband referred to when he wanted to know how to carve the turkey. For many years he’d open it up to the turkey carving diagram to make sure he had it right. It wasn’t long before he had it memorized and mastered. Now, in our house, turkey carving is the “man’s job”. LOL

Betty Crocker Cookbook
Updated Betty Crocker Classic Cookbook
Never dry best ever turkey recipe
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If you like this recipe be sure to save it to Pinterest so you’ll have it later. And if you want another one of my “why didn’t anyone tell me this years ago” tips, check out “How to Store Parsley for a Month or More“.

how to store parsley for a month or more
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Category: Recipes, United States

Comments (3)

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  1. Sinjana says:

    I have never prepared a whole turkey before. Loved reading this recipe. Hope I will put these easy tips to use some day.

  2. Pawan Yadav says:

    Thanks for the turkey cooking tips. I haven’t cooked a turkey in a pan so it is a little unusual for me. But I will try following your guide.

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