This Brined Roasted Turkey recipe is courtesy of BGETeamGreen member Maciek Zurawski aka Grillin_with_dad
For more recipes from Maciek visit https://grillinwithdad.com
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups kosher salt
- 2.5 cups brown sugar
- 2.5 tbsp Big Green Egg Dill and Herb seasoning
Instructions
Combine the brine ingredients and 2 quarts of water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Mix until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Chill the liquid and pour into a 5-gallon brining bucket. Fill the bucket halfway with cold water and ice. Add the turkey. Brine the turkey for 24 hours, ensuring the water temperature is below 40ºF.
The next day, remove the turkey from brine, rise and pat dry. Let the turkey sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
Turkey Ingredients
- 1 14-16 lb. turkey, defrosted
- 3 sticks butter, unsalted
- 1 bunch rosemary
- 1 bunch sage
- 1 bunch thyme
- 1 yellow onion, cut into large chunks
- 2 celery stalks, cut into large chunks
- 2 carrots, cut into large chunks
- 1 lemon, cut
- 1 cup white wine
Turkey Instructions
Set the EGG for indirect cooking with the convEGGtor at 325°F.
Place the dry turkey on the Big Green Egg roasting rack in the drip pan. Melt 2 sticks of butter and add 1 tbsp each of rosemary, thyme and sage. Cut up the third stick of butter and put under the skin of the turkey over the breast. Pour the butter mixture over the turkey, ensuring thorough coverage. Put the onion, carrots, celery, lemon, rosemary, sage and thyme inside the turkey cavity. Pour a cup of white wine in the drip pan.
As a tip, fill a 1-gallon zip lock bag with ice. Lay the bag on the breast of the turkey for 30 minutes. The ice will bring down the temperature of the breast meat so it can finish cooking at the same time as the dark meat.
Cook turkey on the EGG until it has reached and internal temperature of 165ºF.
Gravy Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 stick butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 onion, halved
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 bunch rosemary
- 1 bunch thyme
- 1 bunch sage
Gravy Instructions
For the gravy, add the turkey neck, giblets, onion, celery, carrots and herbs in a stock pot of water. Simmer for 6-8 hours to make the stock.
Pour the drippings from the turkey’s drip pan into a jar and wait for the fat to separate. Remove the fat and discard.
Take the turkey’s drip pan and put in on the stove over medium heat and scrape the bottom of the pan. Use 1 stick of butter and whisk it in the pan. Whisk until the butter starts to brown and then add 1 cup of flour. Keep whisking until the flour is combined. Add the pan drippings from the jar and keep whisking. If you need more liquid, use the turkey stock. Keep a consistent heat on the pan until the gravy is your desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Lastly, remove all the meat from the turkey neck that was in the stock and chop it up with the rest of the giblets. Combine into the gravy.
Can I cook a whole turkey or chicken without the smoke flavor
When using the convEGGtor in a roasting pan there is less smoke flavor on the turkey. Also, do not use any smoking chunks or chips.
Over the past 25+ yrs I have smoked a lot of brined turkeys on everything BUT a BGE. Just purchased my 1st. As a rule of thumb I for smoking my turkey I use 225 to 250 for 30 min/LB. Will that works here? Thanks for the help!
How long do you cook it? your cooking at 325 degrees BUT how much time per pound….i believe that’s what Alex is asking.
soooo.. can you tell us how long it will take approximately? So we know when to start.
This depends on how big of a turkey you are using.
Approximately how long is the cook at 325 ??
This depends on how big your turkey is.
What do you mean by a Stock pot of water? How much water is that?
(I am a novice cook)
Put enough water in the pot to cover by a couple inches. Add more water if necessary as it simmers.
stock pot is the water after toy simmer your meat and veggys your flavor stock
A stock pot is a large pot, used to make a big batch of soup. Just use enough water to cover all the bones and vegetables by two inches. Any pot will do, but it needs to be large enough. : ) Good luck!
I like to start the turkey breast up for the first 30 minutes and flip breast down until done. I also smoke longer at a slower temp of 250 degrees.
Your brine recipe calls for BGE dill and herb seasoning. I have searched the web and cannot find it anywhere. Is there such a product? (I did find a citrus and dill seasoning but could not find an ingredient list for it)
Hi Charles, He used the Big Green Egg Citrus and Herb Seasoning.
Hello, thanks for the recipe. Can you please tell me how long you would expect a 14-16 # turkey would take to reach 165 degrees?
Thanks.
Bill
Approximately 2-2.5 hours at 325.