Description
Basic Turkey Brine Recipe – a simple turkey brine recipe that you can easily add your favorite aromatics too!
Ingredients
Scale
Basic Wet Turkey Brine:
- 4 cups water
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
Multiply this ratio as-needed to fully submerge turkey.
Add-ins:
- 2–3 sprigs fresh thyme and rosemary
- sliced apple
- slice of lemon
- 2 slices red onion
- 6 black peppercorns
Instructions
- Determine how much water you need to fully submerge your turkey. Then determine how much salt you are going to need (1/4 cup salt for every 4 cups of water).
- Add 4 cups of water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Add salt and allow to dissolve.
- Remove from heat and let cool completely.
- Place the turkey in whatever you will be brining it in (cooler, bucket, etc). Add the salt/water solution as well as the remaining water needed to submerge the turkey. Add in remaining ingredients.
- Brine for 12-48 hours.
- Remove turkey from brine. Discard brine.
- Option 1: You can pat dry bird (no need to rinse) and rub with soft butter or ghee. Cook turkey as desired.
- Option 2: Pat dry bird and set in the fridge, uncovered, anywhere from 2-12 hours. This will result in a more crispy skin. Before cooking, rub with soft butter or ghee and then cook as desired.
Notes
- Salt: Make sure you pay attention to what type of salt you are using. Use kosher salt and if you HAVE to use table salt it is recommended that you cut your total salt amount in half to avoid having your bird be too salty
- While the turkey is brining do I need to keep it refrigerated? Yes! It will need to stay refrigerated during the brining process.
- Do you HAVE to brine a turkey before cooking it? No. It is simply one way of keeping the meat moist and giving it a little extra flavor.
- Should I let the turkey sit after taking it out of the brine before cooking? Some recommend letting your protein sit for 4-12 hours (in the fridge) after you remove it from the brine. This will help dry out the skin and result on a more brown/crisp skin after cooking. Totally personal preference!
- Do I rinse the bird after brining: There is no real need to rinse the bird after brining, but feel free to!
- Do I season the bird after brining: Before cooking I recommend patting dry the bird and rubbing all over with soft butter or ghee. You can season it with some salt and pepper and you can still stuff it with aromatics!
- Wet Brine Recipe: Here is a great recipe for a Turkey Dry Brine!
- USDA: Check out this post by USDA about safely brining a turkey.