Alton Brown Turkey: 7 Steps Behind the Thanksgiving Bird Nearly 6,000 Home Cooks Have Rated

The Alton Brown turkey is the one Thanksgiving recipe that refuses to go out of style. His Good Eats Roast Turkey page on Food Network has 5,994 reviews and a 4.9 out of 5 star average, which is a staggering number for a single bird. Home cooks keep coming back to it because it is calm, logical and hard to mess up. There is no deep fryer, no fancy injector and no wild spice rub. There is a sweet and salty brine, a very hot start and a thermometer that tells you when to stop. Here are the seven steps, explained in plain words, with a timeline you can stick on the fridge..

Why the Alton Brown Turkey Has Nearly 6,000 Reviews

Alton Brown created and hosted Good Eats, the Food Network show that ran for 16 seasons and explained the science behind everyday cooking. A sequel, Good Eats: The Return, ran from 2019 to 2021, and he also became the familiar voice of Iron Chef America. His turkey episode turned into a holiday tradition for a lot of families, and a newer video from his own YouTube channel, The Big Bird, has passed 2.5 million views.

The reason the method works is simple. Brine seasons the meat all the way through and helps it hold on to its juices. The hot start browns the skin fast. Then a lower oven and a probe thermometer cook the rest gently, so the breast does not dry out while you wait for the legs. If you have ever carved a turkey that looked perfect and tasted like cardboard, this is the fix.

Steps 1 and 2: Thaw Early and Build the Brine

Step 1: Start two to three days before dinner. The recipe uses a 14 to 16 pound frozen young turkey and thaws it in the refrigerator, or in a cooler kept at 38 F. Never thaw a turkey on the counter. A big bird needs real time, so put it in the fridge on Monday or Tuesday for a Thursday feast.

Step 2: Make the brine the day before you soak. The brine is the heart of the Alton Brown turkey: a mix of about a gallon of vegetable stock, 1 cup of kosher salt, 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, a tablespoon of black peppercorns, and a little allspice and chopped candied ginger. Bring it to a boil while you stir so the salt and sugar dissolve, then take it off the heat, let it cool to room temperature and chill it. The ginger and allspice are the quiet surprise. You will not taste them as spices, but they make the meat taste warmer and rounder.

Steps 3 to 5: The Cold Soak, the Dry Skin and the Aromatics

Step 3: Soak the bird cold. The night before, or early on the big day, pour the cold brine into a clean food safe 5 gallon bucket with about a gallon of heavily iced water. Lower the thawed turkey in, breast side down, with the giblets removed. Weigh it down if it floats, cover it and keep it cold for 8 to 16 hours, turning it once halfway through. If you are using 15 other ways to cook a Thanksgiving turkey this year, this brine also works as a first step for most of them.

Step 4: Rinse and dry. Heat the oven to 500 F. Lift the turkey out, throw away the brine, and rinse the bird inside and out with cold water. Set it on a roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat it very dry with paper towels. Dry skin is what turns crisp, so do not skip this.

Step 5: Aromatics, not stuffing. Instead of packing the cavity with bread stuffing, the recipe steeps a sliced red apple, half a sliced onion and a cinnamon stick in 1 cup of water in the microwave for 5 minutes. That warm mix goes inside the bird with 4 sprigs of rosemary and 6 sage leaves. Tuck the wings under, then rub the skin all over with canola oil. Your kitchen will already smell like the holidays. Bake your stuffing in a separate dish, next to your other make-ahead Thanksgiving sides.

Steps 6 and 7: The Hot Start That Makes the Alton Brown Turkey

Step 6: 30 minutes at 500 F. Put the turkey on the lowest rack of the oven and roast it at 500 F for 30 minutes. This blast of heat sets and browns the skin. If the breast starts to get too dark later, you can lay a loose sheet of foil over it.

Step 7: Drop to 350 F and trust the thermometer. Push a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and turn the oven down to 350 F. Alton sets the thermometer alarm to 161 F, because the turkey keeps cooking while it rests. A 14 to 16 pound bird takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours of total roasting. Let it rest for 15 minutes, loosely covered with foil, before you carve. That resting time is part of the Alton Brown turkey recipe, not an extra. Which camp are you in: crispy skin first, or a big slice of white meat?

Your Alton Brown Turkey Timeline

• 3 days out (Monday): Move the frozen turkey to the fridge. Buy the stock, kosher salt, brown sugar, allspice berries and candied ginger.
• 2 days out (Tuesday): Make the brine, cool it and keep it in the fridge. Clean the 5 gallon bucket.
• The night before (Wednesday): Brine the thawed bird in the fridge or a cold cooler for 8 to 16 hours. Turn it once.
• Thanksgiving morning: Heat the oven to 500 F, rinse and dry the turkey, add the aromatics and oil the skin.
• About 3 hours before dinner: Roast 30 minutes at 500 F, then about 1 1/2 to 2 more hours at 350 F until the alarm goes off. Rest 15 minutes and carve.

Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so if you want this exact Alton Brown turkey plan, the turkey needs to go into the fridge by Monday, November 23.

Safety Notes Before You Brine

• The USDA says poultry is safe to eat at 165 F. Check the thickest part of the breast and the thigh with a thermometer after resting, and if you are not sure, cook it to 165 F.
• Keep the brine and the bird cold the whole time, at 40 F or below. Add ice to the cooler if you are not using the fridge.
• Check the label first. A kosher turkey or an enhanced or self basting turkey is already salted, so brining it can make it far too salty.
• Use a clean food safe container, wash your hands and the sink after rinsing raw poultry, and never reuse the brine.

The Alton Brown turkey is proof that the best holiday recipes are not about doing more. They are about doing a few things in the right order, and starting early enough that nobody panics on Thursday. For the full ingredient amounts and his original notes, see the Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe on Food Network. Will you try the brine this year, or is your family loyal to another method? Tell us how your bird turned out.