2-Hour Turkey, Really.

Recipe Rating:	74 Ratings5
Categories:	Turkey, Quick & Easy, Healthy
Collections:	Thanksgiving Table
Keywords:	easy, fast
Prep Time:	10 Min
Cook Time:	2 Hr

Ingredients

1	thawed, whole turkey (from 10 - 24 pounds)
2 Tbsp	olive oil, extra virgin
1 to 3 tsp	coarsely ground salt (kosher or sea)
	freshly ground pepper

Pinched by cypennell, and 6,802 more.

Torrey Moseley

Well Seasoned

Dallas, TX (pop. 1.2M)

Torrey

Member Since Jul 2011

Torrey's Notes:

I ran across this recipe a few years back from my local grocery store. I was VERY skeptical that one could actually cook an entire turkey (regardless of size) in about 2 hours and have it be edible. Well, not only does this actually work, it produces the BEST roasted turkey I've had to date. NO MORE GETTING UP AT 4 a.m. to start the holiday turkey, NO MORE BASTING. It's so incredibly fast and easy. It has become the only way I roast turkeys. Turkey...it's not JUST for holidays, anymore. The biggest turkey I made this way was 22.5 pounds. It took about 2 hours 15 minutes to cook. WOW.

(See Torrey's Original Version of Recipe)

Comments from the Test Kitchen:

The flavor is all that you would expect from a well-cooked Thanksgiving turkey, but the technique is so wonderfully different! The Crew and I cooked a 14 lb turkey in 1 hr 15 min.

Directions

Since this employs the use of a VERY hot oven, make sure your oven is CLEAN before you start to reduce the risk of smoking your family out of the house. Place oven rack on lowest position in oven. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Remove all giblets, neck, pop-up thermometer (if there is one) and any trussing. Rinse turkey THOROUGHLY, inside and out with cool water, letting all water drain out of neck and body cavities. Pat dry, inside and out, with paper toweling.

Place on V or U-shaped wire rack in roasting pan, so that turkey doesn't rest on bottom of pan. First time I made this I didn't have a rack, so I just slapped it in my grandmother's old-fashioned blue-enamel roaster pan and it turned out FINE. You could also take a long piece of aluminum foil and wad it up into a long rope, then coil it in the bottom of the pan and rest your turkey on that.

Add about an inch of water (or broth) to the roaster pan... and keep replenishing it as needed while roasting. By doing this, not only was the smoking problem eliminated, but I had terrific drippings for gravy!

Rub entire outside of dried-off turkey with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. I use Kosher salt because it has large, coarse grains.

Pull wing tips AWAY from the body, twist them and tuck them, backwards, under the bird...up by its neck.

Using aluminum foil, form caps over the end of each drumstick. If any parts of the turkey extend beyond pan rim, make a foil "collar" underneath to make sure drippings flow back into pan. Do NOT tie legs together, do NOT add stuffing, do NOT close body cavity. NOT NOT NOT.

Place pan on oven rack set to LOWEST or SECOND-TO-LOWEST position in oven. The lowest position may be too hot in some ovens since it's directly above the heating elements. Half-way through cooking time, turn roaster/turkey around to ensure even cooking.

If any part of the turkey becomes too brown during cooking, cover it loosely with foil tent.

Cooking timing chart below: (times are approximate)

10-13 lbs. = 50 minutes to 1 1/4 hrs.
13-16 lbs. = 1 1/4 hrs to 1 hour 50 minutes.
16-19 lbs. = 1 1/4 hrs to 2 hrs.
19-22 lbs. = 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs.
22-24 lbs. = 1 1/2 hrs to 2 1/2 hrs.
25+ lbs. = Are you sure it's not an ostrich you're roasting? If not, call Guinness Book of Records.

It's done when internal temp (in breast) is 160 degrees. When done, remove from oven. Cover completely with foil, and let rest 30-45 minutes before carving. The internal temp will continue to rise to the recommended 165 degrees.

After resting, transfer to platter for carving. NOTE* There will likely be a LOT of juices in the cavity, drain them out before transferring the bird to a platter. Save the juices to make gravy or moisten dressing!

Comments

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Carol Junkins CarolAJ

Carol Junkins [CarolAJ] has shared this recipe with discussion groups:
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Jan W Neeniejan

Jul 17, 2011

This sounds so easy!!! I have a 21.5 lb bird in the freezer right now & he needs to come out...think I might cook him this way!!
Thanks for the recipe...all your recipes are great!!! ♥

Torrey Moseley Torrey

Jul 18, 2011

Thanks Jan! Let me know how it turns out!!!

Kitchen Crew JustaPinch

I tried this recipe and say it's Family Tested & Approved!

Kitchen Crew JustaPinch

I shared a photo of this recipe.

Jan W Neeniejan

Oct 28, 2011

Congratulations on the Blue Ribbon!!! this is an awesome method and it does work, as I tried it with that 21.5 lb turkey I had...so much easier than traditional way of cooking!!! ♥

Torrey Moseley Torrey

Oct 29, 2011

Wow! Thank you kitchen crew for the blue ribbon! I love cooking my turkeys this way! GOBBLE GOBBLE!! Thank you, Jan, for the comment!

Pat Duran kitchenchatter

Oct 30, 2011

Amazing- now I've heard everything. Thanks for the share.

Pat Duran kitchenchatter

Pat Duran [kitchenchatter] has shared this recipe with discussion groups:
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Colleen Simmons 1Munchkin

Nov 2, 2011

Oh I am for sure doing this method for Thanksgiving!! Sure will make life easier....I'll suffer through not stuffing the bird...had planned to do my oyster stuffing for the first time outside of the bird this year tooo....so I'm more concerned about the stuffing than the bird! Many thanks for sharing!!

Denise Smith dsmithlubbock

Nov 9, 2011

I've been roasting my turkeys just like this for years. It's so good! The skin turns out crispy like bacon.

JoAnn Mac Diarmid wholelottacookin

Nov 9, 2011

Congratulations on the blue ribbon. For sure will be doing turkey this way from now on! Sure beats having the oven tied up for half the day when you need it for other things. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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2-Hour Turkey, Really.

Ingredients

Directions

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