Easy Guide to Cooking the Perfect Holiday Turkey

Cooking a turkey can feel intimidating, but this holiday showcase dish is easier to prepare than many people assume. Whether you're cooking a turkey for the first time or trying to escape the dry and chewy ghosts of holiday turkeys past, this ATBBQ beginner's guide will walk you through everything you need to know—from picking the perfect bird to our favorite easy turkey recipes—so any home cook can present a holiday turkey like a professional chef. 

How to Pick a Turkey

The Gist:

• Buy roughly 1.5 pounds of bone-in turkey per guest
• Get two birds if you need over 20 lbs of turkey (for more even cooking)
• Avoid artificial flavors or preservatives

Once the holiday season rolls around, grocery stores stock up on turkeys, so it’s easy to find one. What’s a bit trickier is finding the right turkey among the myriad of options. Size is a primary consideration—nobody wants to run out of meat on the big day. In our guide for Picking and Preparing the Perfect Holiday Turkey, ATBBQ Product Specialist Jerry Crespo suggests purchasing about 1.5 pounds of bone-in turkey per person to ensure everyone gets plenty to eat.

“While that might sound like a lot of meat for an individual to eat, the portions balance out once the turkey is carved and all of the bones are removed,” Crespo explains.

That being said, don’t go too big with a single turkey when cooking for a large group. For instance, a 20-pound bird might seem like a good idea, but a turkey that size is going to be challenging to prepare and is unlikely to cook evenly. Opt for multiple smaller birds for those larger gatherings.

How to Properly Rub or Season a Turkey

The Gist:

• Brining a turkey will enhance flavor, juiciness, and tenderness
• Apply seasoning rub under the skin in direct contact with the meat
• ATBBQ turkey kits take the guesswork out of blending seasonings

Properly seasoning meat not only adds and enhances flavor but it can also help make turkey juicy and flavorful. This is especially true if you opt to brine the turkey before cooking it, as ATBBQ Staff Chef Tom Jackson explains in his video on how to make a basic brine.

“In its simplest terms, a brine is a saltwater solution,” Chef Tom says. “When you submerge your meat into the saltwater solution…the salt starts to work on those proteins to open them up so they can take on more liquid than before.”

When that brine is flavorful—as is the case with ATBBQ turkey kits like the Classic Holiday Turkey Kit with Sweetwater Spice Apple Rosemary Sage Brine Concentrate or the Savory Herb Turkey Kit with Sweetwater Spice Lemon Thyme Brine Concentrate—the flavor profile of the turkey is greatly enhanced as herbs and spices are infused into the meat.

But even with a brined turkey, adding a quality seasoning rub is a key step in preparing a fully flavored and visually stunning bird. Start by patting the turkey dry before applying seasoning under the skin so the herbs and spices are in direct contact with the meat. Then season the outside of the turkey as well as the cavity to ensure full coverage.

For more, check out ATBBQ’s in-depth guides on How To Brine a Turkey and How to Season a Turkey Before Cooking for Maximum Flavor.

What Temperature to Cook Turkey To

The Gist:

• Cook turkey to a specific temperature instead of for a specific time
• Pull a turkey from the heat source when the internal temp hits between 155º to 160º F
• Carryover cooking will cause the internal temp to rise after it’s pulled

A turkey is done perfectly without being overcooked when it reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the breast and the innermost part of the thigh. Cooking it shy of that temperature raises the risk of undercooked and unsafe meat, while allowing the internal temperature to go beyond that mark will increasingly dry the turkey out. To hit the mark, pull your turkey out of the oven (or the grill) when it hits between 155º to 160º F internal temperature. It will keep cooking for a bit once it’s out and will land right around 165°.

A critical mindset shift for beginner cooks is learning to cook meat to a specific temperature as opposed to for a set period of time. Turkey is no different from other meats in this regard. A lot of recipes will tell you to cook for X amount of hours, and we can guess at timing, but it’s the temp that matters.

5 Quick Tips for Cooking Turkey Perfectly

• ATBBQ strongly recommends spatchcocking turkey before cooking. This involves removing the backbone, which allows you to lay the turkey flat as it cooks, providing a more even cook and reducing cooking time.
• Roast the turkey at 325°F (163°C).
• Tent the turkey with foil to prevent the skin from over-browning. If the breast meat is cooking more quickly than the thigh meat, expose the thighs while keeping the breast covered with foil to help the dark meat catch up.
• In the unfortunate event the turkey dries out during the cooking process, serve with broth or gravy to add moisture.
• If you find that some parts of the turkey are undercooked once you begin carving it, return the pieces to the oven and continue cooking them until they reach 165°F.

How to Carve a Turkey

The Gist:

• Allow turkey to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving
• Use steady, gentle pressure and slice against the grain
• Find points where you can easily work your knife through the joints

Turkey carving success largely boils down to two factors: quality tools and a manageable technique. “Really essential to the job are a nice carving set and a good cutting board,” Chef Tom says in his How To Carve A Turkey video. Specifically, a long, sharp knife like the Wustoff Classic 8” Hollow Edge Carving Knife provides clean, precise cuts to easily slice through breasts and joints.

Outfitted with a quality knife, a meat fork, and a grooved cutting board, the meat will slice best if allowed to rest for at least 20 minutes after cooking. Slice against the grain and use steady, gentle pressure to create smooth slices and prevent the meat from tearing. When it’s time to separate the thighs, legs, and wings, find spots where you can easily work your knife through the joints.

Still get overwhelmed when considering how to cut into your beautifully cooked masterpiece? Follow Chef Tom’s foolproof method for perfectly carved turkey. And for important tips on knife maintenance that will maximize their turkey carving potential, make sure to check out Chef Tom’s Video on How To Sharpen Your Knives.

How to Beautifully Present a Holiday Turkey

While turkey carving requires a solid plan, presenting a holiday turkey leaves room for creativity. This step is easy to forget, and in the rush to get the delicious meat to the table, it all ends up in a jumbled pile on a platter. A delicious, jumbled pile, but a jumbled pile nonetheless.

Chef Tom provides tips for arranging slices and chunks of meat in the aforementioned video on how to carve a turkey, but you can use alternate layouts depending on the size and shape of your serving dishes. Some of our favorite tips for really making a turkey platter pop include:

• Arrange fresh herbs and add slices of oranges, lemons, or cranberries for color
• Use a large serving platter to make it the centerpiece of your table
• Carve turkey and arrange slices of breast meat alongside leg and thigh pieces
• Lightly brush the turkey with melted butter or a glaze just before serving to give it a glossy appearance

Easy Turkey Recipes for Beginners

Throughout the years, we’ve cooked dozens of turkeys. Most of them have tasted, smelled and looked fantastic. But even the ones that didn’t turn out great were valuable experiences that helped us hone techniques that anyone can use to easily cook a great turkey for their holiday meals. Some of our favorite recipes include:

Easy Thanksgiving Turkey

This recipe is about as straightforward as it gets. It features Cattleman’s Grill Butcher House Brine and Cattleman’s Grill Ranchero Seasoning from the ATBBQ Easy Thanksgiving Turkey Kit.

Classic Holiday Turkey

Step the degree of difficulty up just ever so slightly with a simple glaze that enhances the look and taste of your holiday turkey. Use the ATBBQ Classic Holiday Turkey Kit’s Sweetwater Spice Apple Rosemary Sage Brine Concentrate and Cattleman’s Trail Dust seasoning rub for a flavor profile that includes apple, sage, rosemary, and a handful of other traditional holiday tastes.

Texas Turkey Breast

Not up for cooking a whole turkey? Boneless skinless turkey breasts are easier to manage and simple to slice. Cattleman’s Butcher House Brine and Lone Star Rub will infuse the meat with tons of flavor and ensure that this cut of lean white meat comes out tender, juicy and delicious.

Cider Brined Barbecue Turkey

For this recipe, Chef Tom dilutes Sweetwater Spice Smoked Apple Spice Brine Concentrate from the ATBBQ Apple Cider Brined Turkey Kit with apple cider before coating the turkey with Plowboys BBQ Yardbird rub and putting it on the Yoder Smoker to cook. He then finishes things off by combining pomegranate juice and Firebug Mild Grillin Sauce, which is perfect for dipping.  

More Turkey Tips from ATBBQ

Looking for more pointers on how to prepare a memorable turkey dinner, like how to inject a turkey or why it’s a good idea to spatchcock a turkey before cooking it? Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter, where we share every new recipe video, check out some of our all-time favorite turkey recipes, and take a look at our turkey kits and accessories. You’ll find plenty of insights and pointers that we’ve learned over the years and continue to use when preparing holiday meals for our families.