Roasted Turkey (Moist, No Baste)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cover the bottom of your roasting pan with heavy duty foil and gently put a roasting rack on top of the foil (this will help greatly with clean up later). Oil the roasting rack, also to aid in later cleanup.
Remove giblets and neck from whole turkey and reserve for making gravy if you prefer (see Gran-gran’s Giblet Gravy recipe).
Rinse the bird with tap water, drain and dry off using paper towels.
Stretch skin to fully cover bird and attached with skewers if it won’t stay in place. Place turkey on a roasting rack breast meat up and fold wings under back of turkey so they stay in place. Tie legs and tail together using butcher string and push the drumsticks under the skin.
Mix the olive oil and spices together in a bowl and rub the mixture all over the turkey. Cover turkey with a foil tent (a piece just placed on top – do not wrap the turkey) to protect the breast from cooking too fast and drying out.
Roast the whole turkey for 15 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 175 to 180 F (and drumstick feels soft when pressed with fingers protected by paper towels). Breast temperature should reach 165 to 170 F. Use a meat thermometer in both places (thigh and breast) to determine cooking temps!

To brown the turkey skin, remove foil during last one hour of roasting time.
However, if the breast reaches 160 degrees before the thighs are close to final temps, recover the breasts with a foil tent, leaving the remainder of the turkey exposed to oven heat.
When turkey is done, place on large platter, remove skewers and string if used and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before carving. This allows the juices to redistribute back throughout the turkey.

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Turkey breasts will not come with giblets. If you want to make giblet gravy, you will need to buy a neckbone (or a few pieces of dark chicken meat). See Gran-gran’s Giblet Gravy recipe. The bone-in breast will probably come with a pre-made gravy packet. Throw it away for safety!
Rinse both breasts with tap water, drain and dry using paper towels. Stretch skin to fully cover breasts. Place on a roasting rack breast meat side up.
Mix the olive oil and spices together in a bowl and rub the mixture all over the turkey. Cover turkey breasts with foil.
For two bone-in breasts, bake at 325F for 15 minutes per pound calculated using the heavier of the two breasts. In other words, don’t double the time because you are cooking two. (However, if you are cooking more than 2 breasts, add 15 minutes to total cook time for each additional breast.)
Breast temps need to reach 160 degrees for safety so, using a meat thermometer, check meat temps of both breasts near the end of pre-determined cooking time and, if the internal temp of either or both breasts has not reached at least 160 degrees, continue to cook checking temps every 10 minutes. If one breast finishes faster, remove it from the oven and wrap it in foil while allowing the other to continue cooking.

To brown the skin remove the top piece of foil 20 minutes before the end of the estimated cooking time.
When turkey breasts are done, allow them to sit and rest for 5 to 10 minutes before carving. This allows the juices to redistribute back throughout the turkey.
Final tip: This RARELY happens with this method of cooking but if you’ve overcooked either the whole turkey or the breasts (and the meat is dry), you can brush the already sliced meat with a mixture of hot chicken broth (1 cup) and ¼ stick of melted, unsalted butter (just microwave the two together).
If it is really dry, you can just pour the mixture over the slices, wait a few minutes and they will absorb the liquid