I’ve cooked dozens of turkeys — Butterball’s no-prep turkey is a game changer

The golden turkey is the centerpiece of the traditional Thanksgiving meal. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it. It is also the most stressful dish. From thawing to brining to roasting to resting to carving, there’s a lot to think about going forward, and no one likes a sad, dry turkey. Bad luck for us, turkey. really like Be dry. It’s an uphill battle and stressful!

Not all of us want to spend days raising a turkey and nurturing it every step of the way to make a delicious main dish. Luckily, Butterball released a new product last year that changed the game. In fact, I think this is the first major advance in store-bought turkeys that I can remember. I was shocked to say the least.

Türkiye without thawing or salt water

Butterball Chef Frozen Premium Whole Turkey You can literally just throw a frozen turkey into the pot, no need to thaw it, truss it, or gut it. There’s no need to adjust the temperature, add anything special to the pot or cavity, or brown the turkey. Just pop it in the oven and wait until it comes up to temperature and you’re done.

I recently tried this revolutionary turkey and I have to say I was really impressed. I’ve tried every turkey tactic over the years, from expensive traditional turkey roasting to spatchcocking to all kinds of brining. Although often good results are obtained, all of these methods Involved. Plus, it takes time to thaw a turkey day to day. What about the idea that you can just pop a frozen bird into a pot and get a juicy, delicious turkey with golden skin? It’s a dream.

Admittedly I had reservations. Does white or dark meat become dry? Does it take a whole day to roast? Is the skin crispy and flavorful? I was excited about the idea, but I wasn’t sure if it would actually work.

The folks at Butterball have clearly done some R&D on this. The bird is injected with salt, making it flavorful and salty enough without adding any additional ingredients. The temperature and cooking time range was perfect. I served this to friends and everyone agreed that no matter how it was cooked, this was a great turkey.

If you want to take the stress out of your Thanksgiving this year, you might want to buy one of these new frozen turkeys. Please note that cooking in the oven, even completely hands-free, will take 4-5 hours.

Easy Tips for Making Butterball’s New Turkey

• Use a suitable meat thermometer. Although this turkey is very safe, it can still be undercooked or overcooked. The only way to prevent that is to use a good meat thermometer. I like to use DOT from ThermoWorks. This will always stay in the thickest part of the white meat and an alarm will alert you when it reaches temperature.
• Do not cook to 170°F. The package recommends cooking white meat until it reaches 170°F. This is because Butterball doesn’t want you to get sick and has set the temperature extra high in case he doesn’t read the temperature correctly. My advice is to have a good thermometer, check in multiple places, and only cook the white meat until it reaches 155°F. As the turkey rests without drying out, the temperature will continue to rise to 165°F.
• Add oil and thermometer halfway through. Since the bird is frozen, you cannot insert a thermometer at first. Cooking will take at least 4 hours, so we recommend inserting a thermometer for 2-3 hours. Take this opportunity to slather your bird with oil or butter to give it an extra crispy, shiny skin.

Frozen Turkey Butterball Cook is available this November at Publix, Lowe’s, Harris Teeter, Giant Eagle, Giant Carlisle, Giant Landover, Food City, Stop & Shop, and select Kroger and Walmart stores.