Bacon-Wrapped Roasted Turkey

Original Recipe: Here

o   13 lb whole turkey*

o   Kitchen twine

o   Aluminum foil

o   2 c butter (softened)

o   1.5 oz fresh sage (3 packages of the fresh herb)

o   1 lb bacon

o   1 onion

o   2 garlic cloves

o   Salt (to taste)

o   Pepper (to taste)

§  Preheat oven to 325*F

§  Remove giblets and neck from Turkey. Rinse turkey with cold running water and drain well. Blot dry with paper towels.

§  Roughly chop onion and garlic and mix together. Stuff the mixture into Turkey.

§  Chop sage and mix in with softened butter, use a mixer to blend well and make it easier to spread.

§  Rub the sage/butter mixture under the skin and over the skin of the turkey, I aim for about 60-75% of the butter under the skin and the rest on top.

§  Salt and pepper turkey to taste.

§  Tie up the turkey’s wings, legs, and drumsticks with twine as desired.**

§  Place uncooked bacon slices all over the skin of the uncooked turkey. They will stick to the buttered turkey.

§  Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the inner thigh area near the breast of the turkey but not touching the bones.

§  Place turkey in a roasting pan and use foil to tent the uncooked turkey.

§  Remove foil tent for last hour of cooking turkey.

§  Continue to let bacon cook on turkey for an additional 15 min then remove.

§  Remove Turkey from oven once the internal temperature reaches 160*F.

§  Allow turkey to rest for 20-30min under foil, then carve. (Turkey should cook up to 165*F while resting). Pour juice from resting turkey into the finished gravy and whisk it in.

*Use whatever size turkey you want, just adjust your plans to account for roughly 20min/lb. We've noticed that turkeys take a tad longer to cook with this method due to the bacon covering it. Our 11lb turkey this year (2019) we did 2 hours under the foil, removed foil and continued for 20 min, removed bacon, and then it took another full hour. 

** Tuck wings under the bird. Cut off a few feet of twine, find the center and loop it around the neck in the front of the turkey, draw the twine down and around the wings, into the crevasse between the legs and breast of the turkey. Draw the legs together and tightly tie the "ankles" together. Do not skip this step! It helps the turkey to cook more evenly and it presents better, as well.