• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
    • WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY
  • Recipes
    • Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
    • Meatless Monday
    • Appetizer
    • Air fryer

The Dinner Bite logo

menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
    • WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY
  • Recipes
    • Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
    • Meatless Monday
    • Appetizer
    • Air fryer
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Holiday Recipes » Basic Turkey Brine

    Published: Dec 15, 2019 · Modified: Nov 19, 2020 by Ajoke · This post may contain affiliate links ·

    Basic Turkey Brine

    Skip to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Basic Turkey Brine Recipe!

    This simple turkey brine is infused with citrus, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, crushed garlic, brown sugar and herbs.  With this turkey brine recipe, you are promised a perfectly moist turkey that won’t only just be good for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but at any needed time. This brined turkey remained moist even for leftover recipes.

    turkey in basic brine solution or garlic, citrus, sugar and bay leaves.

    Today's post is a quick one, as I recently shared my quick chicken brine recipe at thanksgiving. In order to put things in perspective for you, I thought its best to share with you how I brine my turkey for any occasion or holiday as well.  Also, with this quick turkey brine recipe, I hope it would answer all your brining questions.

    Should I Brine Turkey:

    There has been a debate whether to wet brine or dry brine a turkey, Also, there is also a school of thought that believes you won’t get the best roast bird with brined turkey. Well, in my opinion, nothing beats brined turkey, trust me no one wants to eat bland bird especially the turkey breast.

    Brining is another extra step that guarantees you a moist and delicious turkey at all times. Remember turkey is lean meat and it can dry out quickly during the cooking process. If you have been asking the question “to brine or not to brine”, then my answer is yes. Give this simple brining a chance and you will never look back, although there might be a fight of what gets the fridge space during this process.  

    brined turkey.

    What Does Brining Do To Turkey?

    I will keep this simple, this is what you get with brined turkey; moist, tender and juicy meat. It is important not to overdo it as well. Do not brine for more than necessary to avoid mushy and salty bird. I explained all about it here

    Jump to Recipe

    Basic Ingredients to Brine Turkey

    Brining is the process of submerging meat or poultry in a saltwater solution for some few hours or up to 24 hours or longer in order to enhance the flavours and tenderness of the bird or meat. For this simple turkey brine recipe, I used the following

    Cooking salt: please note; this is different from table salt. Kosher salt is popularly used to brine chicken although, I mostly use cooking salt or crystal sea salt or any other coarse salt. These two types of salt are not as concentrated/dense as table salt and should never be treated or measured as same.

    Fresh thyme and rosemary

    Bay leaves

    Orange and lemon: for the citrusy taste

    Brown sugar: this is optional, but I love how it balances out the salt and it also reduces the chance of over-salting the bird. you can also use honey or caster sugar.

    Ground black pepper

    Fresh garlic cloves crushed

    Water: You would also need between 2 to 3 litres (3 quart which is less than a gallon) of water or more to fully soak the turkey depending on the size.

    Large pot: the size of your bird would determine how big your pot would be, my turkey crown was 1.7kg and it fits well in my instant pot 5.7lt inner pot. Alternatively, use a cooler but ensure you add enough ice to keep the bird cold and in the right temperature until ready to cook.

    ingredients

    How to make basic turkey brine

    Place the salt, sugar, citrus, crushed garlic and herbs into a pan cover with 500l of water and simmer on medium heat stirring continuously until salt and sugar totally dissolve.

    Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool completely. Transfer the brine mixture to a larger pot then add another 1.5 litres of cold water (total of 2 litres of water) mix to combine.

    adding water to brine.

    Place the turkey in the brine solution cover the pan with its lid or cling film and store in the fridge between 6 to 24 hours.

    Things To Remember

    • Check your turkey is not pre-salted before brining.
    • Don’t over brine, depending on the size of the bird, you can brine the turkey between 12 to 72 hours, in my opinion, I think 72 hours is a long time to leave the turkey soaked in the brine solution. Also, to be on a safe side, keep it between 6 to 24 hours.
    • Let the size of the turkey guide you, if using small turkey brine for a shorter time than you would with a bigger bird.

    Turkey Marinade For Roasting

    Try this trusted roasted garlic herb butter recipe on your bird. Add any fresh herbs of choice to the roasted garlic butter and generously cover the turkey in it before roasting.

    How To Cook Brined Turkey

    Brined turkey can be seasoned before cooking but not with additional salt. Take the bird out of the brine, pat dry or leave to dry in the fridge for some few minutes before roasting.

    Roast Turkey in a preheated oven of 190C/385F in the centre of the oven. My turkey crown was 1.7kg so I allowed 20 minutes per 500g or pound or cook until the juice runs clear. To know if your turkey is done or well-cooked, insert a thermometer to the thickest part of the bird or in-between the thigh and breast and the temperature should read 165C

    Other Recipe On The Blog You'll Love

    Scalloped potatoes

    Perfect Roast Potatoes

    Sauteed Cabbage

    Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

    Instant Pot Turkey Breast

    If you made this simple turkey brine recipe, don’t forget to leave me feedback and rate it. Tag me @thedinnerbite on Instagram and save away to your Pinterest. Please subscribe to the blog if you haven’t for free new recipes in your inbox

    Basic Turkey Brine

    Ajoke
    This simple turkey brine is infused with citrus, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, crushed garlic, brown sugar and herbs. With this turkey brine recipe, you are promised a perfectly moist turkey that won’t only just be good for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but at any needed time. This brined turkey remained moist even for leftover recipes.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 5 mins
    Total Time 15 mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine American, British
    Servings 1 turkey

    Equipment

    • large pot

    Ingredients
      

    • ½ cup cooking salt substitute for kosher salt or any other coarse salt
    • Few thyme springs
    • 4 rosemary springs
    • 2 Bay leaves
    • 1 large orange sliced
    • 2 lemons sliced
    • ½ cup brown sugar substitute with honey or caster sugar.
    • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
    • 4 garlic cloves crushed
    • Water 2 litre or more

    Instructions
     

    • Place the salt, sugar, citrus, crushed garlic and herbs into a pan cover with 500l of water and simmer on medium heat stirring continuously until salt and sugar totally dissolve.
    • Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool completely. Transfer the brine mixture to a larger pot then add another 1.5 litres of cold water (total of 2 litres of water) mix to combine.
    • Place the turkey in the brine solution cover the pan with its lid or cling film and store in the fridge between 6 to 24 hours.

    Notes

    Tips for best brined turkey ever

    • Check that your turkey is not pre salted before brining.
    • Don’t over brine, depending on the size of the bird, you can brine the turkey between 12 to 72 hours, in my opinion, I think 72 hours is a long time to leave the turkey soaked in brine solution. Also, to be on a safe side, keep it between 6 to 24 hours.
    • Let the size of the turkey guide you, if using small turkey brine for a shorter time than you would with bigger bird.

    Nutritional data: Please note that the nutrition label provided is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients and brands you use. Under no circumstances will thedinnerbite.com be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information.

    Keyword basic turkey brine recipe, Simple turkey brine recipe, turkey brine
    Tried this recipe?Mention @thedinnerbite or tag #thedinnerbite!
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE RATE IT AND LEAVE ME A COMMENT. USE #THEDINNERBITE OR TAG @THEDINNERBITE ON INSTAGRAM SO I CAN SEE YOUR PHOTOS, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOUR CREATIONS. THANK YOU!

    19 shares

    Filed Under: Condiments and Sauces, Holiday Recipes Tagged With: brine, Christmas, citrus, thanksgiving, turkey

    About Ajoke

    Hello, Nice to meet you! Welcome and thanks for visiting my food blog "The Dinner Bite". Feel free to browse through, you are guaranteed nothing here but a yummy experience

    Previous Post: « Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
    Next Post: Instant Pot Taco Meat »

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Hi! I'm Ajoke.

    It is really nice to meet you! Welcome and thanks for visiting my food blog "The Dinner Bite". Feel free to browse through, you are guaranteed nothing here but a yummy experience.

    More about me →

    Trending Recipes

    • vanilla sponge cakes.
      Easy Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe
    • a grey plate with instant pot cod fish, parsley sauce, baby potatoes and asparagus.
      Instant pot fish (frozen Cod)
    • a plate of salt and pepper chicken.
      Salt and Pepper Chicken Recipe
    • a glass of iced coffee with straw.
      Easy Iced Coffee Recipe

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility Policy

    Contact

    • Contact

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 The Dinner Bite