I discovered a super easy turkey recipe that I’ve been making since I was 21 (when I had to start taking the lead, as I had moved away from family!)

It is soo good and easy and always a hit!

What you need:

-Large roasting pan (or buy a throw away turkey roasting pan)

-Turkey oven bag

-The turkey (make sure you buy in advance and let it defrost in plenty of time-instructions for thawing are generally on the package but you can google it based on weight as well.)

-A bottle of champagne.

-Stick of butter.

-An apple. (I always use a large Honeycrisp apple, but it probably doesn’t matter!)

-Seasonings – salt, pepper, garlic powder or salt, any other seasonings you like! I like to toss in some thyme and cayenne pepper!

Here’s what I do:

-Remove the stuff they stuff in the middle of the bird. (The neck, giblets, gravy packet, and whatever else.)

-Wash the bird with cool water. Dry with paper towels. Set in the roasting pan or on a large prep board. (WASH HANDS!)

-Cut butter into thin slices. (If it’s a super big bird I may use 2 sticks. More butter is always better right?)

-Mix all the seasonings together in a small bowl. I don’t measure anything just eyeball it. But you want enough to rub under the skin and on top. (You can always add more if needed.)

-Cut up the apple and stuff inside the bird. (I do this for extra moisture.)

-Breast up, gently separate the skin from the flesh. I start at the top center and separate the skin from breasts first and work my way back to separate as much as I can and down to the legs.

-Then I take the slices of butter and start stuffing them in, as well as the seasonings. You could dip the butter slices in the seasonings or just dump the seasonings in your hands, there’s no method to my madness really. The idea is to get the butter and seasonings all over the meat so it cooks into the meat. If you just put it on the skin, you don’t get all the flavor in the meat.

-Once that’s done, I run remaining seasonings all over the skin and usually rub some butter on the skin too.

-Then follow the turkey bag instructions, put it in there, but don’t close it yet.

-Once it’s in the bag, dump the bottle of champagne in there too, then close it up!

-Cook according to the turkey bag instructions and weight of turkey. (It usually takes 2-3 hours depending on the size of turkey and how your oven cooks.)

-Towards the end I cut the bag on top and open it to make sure the skin gets brown and crispy on top. I also baste it a couple times in the last 10-15 mins or so, if I remember (with the juices). If not, I baste it after I take it out and then again when cutting it!

Notes:

This turkey is always super tender and delicious!

The drippings make excellent gravy!

If you are super nervous and overwhelmed, buy 2 bottles of champagne and some juice and make mimosas 🙃 😉

Take pics of your champagne turkey and post on IG – tag me @thewanderfulmom and use the hashtag #shamelessfoodpics

Happy Thanksgiving!!