Turkey Brine Recipe

November 19, 2018

We are only a couple of days till TURKEY Day! This is my husbands favorite holiday of the year, which means I can't be like everyone else and put out ANY Christmas decorations until the day after Thanksgiving.

Because it is his favorite holiday of the year, we started a tradition when Nathan and I first got married. Every year before Thanksgiving, I always make Nathan his very own turkey. This allows us to have turkey at home to eat off of all week long, but I also make tons of homemade turkey pot pies, that we freeze and are able to eat off of every year.

This year, because I have taken the whole week of Thanksgiving off, I decided to brine the turkey in advance, which is something I have never done before. Well after researching lots of different turkey brine recipes, I decided to land on one from another Oklahoma native, the Pioneer Women!

When you brine a turkey it takes time, because you have to really plan out when you are going to bake or roast your turkey and then work backwards to plan on when you need to buy your turkey. It takes about 1 day for every 5 pounds of turkey to thaw in the refrigerator, and it is really important to make sure your bird is completely thawed before preparing your bird for the next steps. Then once the turkey is thawed, the below recipe is the brine I used. With a brine, it really absorbs all of those flavors and really allows the turkey to be moist and juicy (cause no one likes a dry bird). Once the brine below is cooked and cooled completely, the turkey will rest in there for over 24 hours at the very least (longer is better if you have the time).

Ingredients:

3 orange rinds
4 stalks of rosemary
bay leaves - handful (if you can't find fresh bay leaves - dried bay leaves will work as well)
6 cloves of garlic
2 cups brown sugar
3 cups apple cider or apple juice (I used the apple cider)
2 gallons of water
1 1/2 cups of Kosher salt
3 tablespoons of peppercorns

Directions:
First off - SUPER EASY

In a large pot (I had two use two pots and split the recipe out on the stove) mix all the above ingredients together and bring to a boil.
As soon as it starts to boil, turn the heat off and cover until the brine completely cools.
Once the brine cools - you have then two choices. You can either put the turkey in a brine bag and pour the brine over the turkey. Or like what I did (and I have the room in my fridge for) is transfer the cleaned/thawed turkey into a large pot, and then pour the brine over the top of your bird.
Note that if your brine does not cover all of your turkey, simply add more water to the mix. The recipe above is for a 20 pound turkey and the pictures below is a 22 pound turkey.
Refrigerate for at the very least for 24 hours.
Once you have brined your turkey, remove from the bag or pot and let your turkey soak in a tub of cold clean water. This will help removes some of the saltiness from the brine.
Then dry completely (I put mine back in the refrigerator for about 4 hours) and then you are ready to start preparing your turkey for the oven, roaster, or deep fryer.