Thanksgiving and Christmas are the prime times for cooking a turkey. However, cooking the perfect turkey is not always as easy as it may seem, especially if you’ve never cooked one before. Therefore, to help you out this holiday season I’m sharing what to do and not to do to cook the perfect turkey.
Read Also: Alternatives to Turkey For Thanksgiving
What to do
Use olive oil
A while back I eliminated butter from my house in an effort to clean up my family’s diet.
However, what you’ll find is that most turkey recipes do list butter as an ingredient. A substitute that works just as well as olive oil.
Use an oven roaster oven
While I won’t say cooking the perfect turkey in the oven is necessarily a bad thing using an oven roaster oven is so much easier (plus it can be used for other things such as brisket as well).
I invested in our oven roaster oven some years ago and we’ve never gone through the headache of cooking a turkey in the oven since.
The reason I recommend an oven roaster oven is that you can easily reinject the turkey with juice and check on it during the duration while it’s cooking without having to constantly slide oven racks in and out or take the turkey in and out of the oven.
Cook the turkey breast side up
Whether to cook a turkey breast side up or breast side down has to be one of the most discussed cooking topics during the holidays. We always do breast side up since we inject the turkey multiple times while it’s cooking.
The breast is the largest section of meat and to make sure it’s juicy we make sure to have easy access to inject it.
What not to do
Use butter
As mentioned earlier, we substitute butter for olive oil. It’s a healthier alternative and it provides the same results (cooking-wise).
Hold back on creativity
Even if you’ve never made a turkey before don’t be afraid to get creative. You don’t have to follow a recipe’s ingredients exactly (yes, even mine). It’s okay to get creative in the kitchen and make the dish your own.
There are no right or wrong ingredients.
Cook turkey until it’s done without checking on it
Making the perfect turkey is more than using the right ingredients and cooking it for the suggested time.
To make sure it doesn’t dry out it’s important to inject it with juice throughout the entire cooking process.
Don’t just throw it in the roaster, or oven, and cook it for hours on end or you won’t be happy with the end results.
Now that we’ve gotten the do’s and don’ts out of the way, let’s move on to my perfect bird recipe.
Kiwi & pineapple turkey ingredients
All of the ingredients for this Kiwi & Pineapple Turkey Recipe can be purchased from your local Food Lion.
If you hate shopping in-store as much as I do make sure you shop using their Online Shopping with pick-up or delivery service, which still allows you to take advantage of their Weekly deals. Check to see if Food Lion 2 Go is available in your area.
- Olive oil
- 2 cans of pineapple
- Turkey
- Pineapple juice
- 10 Kiwis
- Onion powder
- Accent
- Cayenne pepper
- Celery
- Carrots
- Organic cilantro
- Stuffing
- Gravy
- Black pepper
Kiwi & pineapple turkey recipe
Preheat the roaster to 325 Put pineapple juice at the bottom of the roaster (just enough where it covers the rack)
Wash turkey and pat it dry with paper towels and place in a glass dish
Make a bowl of injection juice ingredients (this consists of pineapple juice and seasonings
Start prepping stuffing (use bag stuffing and substitute chicken broth with condensed chicken noodle soup)
Peel kiwis and chop celery and carrots
Rub the turkey’s inside and outside with olive oil
Season turkey in a glass dish and once seasoned add to the oven roaster
Stuff putting stuffing, celery, carrots, and pineapples in the turkey
Add extra kiwis, carrots, celery, and pineapples to the roaster beside the turkey
Inject turkey with juice
Cook for 3 – 3 ½ hours and inject the turkey with juice every 20-30 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.
Kiwi & Pineapple Turkey
Equipment
- Oven Roaster Oven
Ingredients
- Olive Oil
- 2 cans Pineapple
- Turkey
- 10 Kiwis
- Onion Powder
- Accent
- Cayenne Pepper
- Celery
- Carrots
- Organic Cilantro
- Stuffing
- Gravy
- Black Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat roaster to 325
- Put pineapple juice at the bottom of the roaster
- Wash turkey and pat it dry with paper towels and place in a glass dish
- Make a bowl of injection juice
- Start prepping stuffing
- Peel kiwis and chop celery and carrots
- Rub the turkey inside and outside with olive oil
- Season turkey in a glass dish and add to oven roaster
- Stuff putting stuffing, celery, carrots, and pineapples in turkey
- Add extra kiwis, carrots, celery, and pineapples to roaster beside the turkey
- Inject turkey with juice
- Cook 3 – 3 ½ hours and inject the turkey with juice every 20-30 minutes
- Serve and enjoy
You can cook the perfect turkey this holiday season
Overall, the holidays are about spending time with family and making new memories. This holiday season my challenge to you is to get creative in the kitchen with your relatives and create your perfect turkey together.
If you need some inspiration make sure to check out the Herb Roasted Turkey Breast recipe featured in Food Lion’s recipes.
What tips do you have for cooking the perfect turkey?
I am a meat kind of person and the roasted chicken is my favorite dish. Your recipe sounds perfect!
I love these tips and the recipe looks good! I don’t usually cook turkey because I have a small family.
We might be stuck with making the turkey again this year. This time we’re creating two. Thanks for the heads up.
I will have to try cooking the turkey this year – and put some of your tips to use. Hubby likes to deep fry his turkeys – and they just turn out overdone.
Every year we try something a little different and I think we’ll attempt this one this year! This looks so delicious and gets me excited for the holidays!
This bird looks so yummy!! I’ve never baked a good turkey. Must try your recipe.
That really is the perfect bird. I have had some practice so my turkey is usually pretty good but, I learned a few tips and tricks to add. Thank you so much!
I’m happy to see I’m not the only one who still stuffs her bird! These are great tips. Pinning. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so it doesn’t take much to get me excited!
I’ve never tried cooking turkey before. Thank you for all these helpful tips. These will surely come in handy! Love this recipe!
We don’t have a turkey roaster, but it seems like it would make life easier. I’d like to try your kiwi and pineapple turkey, I’ve never had anything like that.
It’s that time once again to cook the perfect bird dish! Thanks for the recipe!
I haven’t had to cook a turkey in so long. My mom taught me to stuff that bird with apples. It helps keep the bird moist and I’m guilty of using butter. I then wrap the turkey in one of the turkey-sized oven bags. Then I wrap it in foil. This helps seal the flavor in too. But my favorite way to cook a turkey is on a charcoal bbq grill. I don’t have one yet so I can’t cook my bird this way. It doesn’t heat up the house and allows your oven to be free for other dishes too.
Apples sound interesting. I may have to give that a try for Christmas. One year we did do an apple turkey but they were just beside it in the pan.
I remember cooking my first turkey and it didn’t go nearly as smooth. Could have used these really helpful tips!!
I can’t wait to give this recipe a try, especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Yum, this looks so tasty! I love turkey. I’ll keep your tips in mind. I always worry I’ll burn it.