Make Ahead Roast Turkey 101

When you're expecting a large crowd for the holidays, one of the best gifts you can give yourself is the gift of simplicity. We like to make the holiday less hectic by cooking some of the food ahead of time. Here are several hints for our family's Make Ahead Roast Turkey.

Spray the roasting pan with PAM or other non-stick coating.

Begin with a thawed turkey. Read the instructions provided with the turkey to determine how long thawing will take.

Remove any turkey parts stored in the bird's cavities. Save for making gravy if you desire.

Wash and pat dry the turkey.

Place the turkey in the roasting pan and lightly coat with oil or butter.

Follow instructions for time and temperature that came with the turkey you’ve purchased. For instance: 18 lb turkey – 325 oven, 5 or so hours.

After roasting, let the turkey rest for 20 minutes before you carve it. Feel free to check online for illustrations about how to carve it.

Save all of the juice to use again.

Clean out the roasting pan, re-spray it with PAM and put the sliced turkey right back in the pan. Set the meat in as neatly as possible - dark on one side and light on the other.

Pour some of the juice right back over it, cover and refrigerator. (I usually put about 1 cup or more of the juice back on the turkey) Store the remainder of the juice for use in dressing and gravy recipes.

On the day of your celebration, about 3 ½ hours before serving time, take the turkey out of the refrigerator and let begin to warm to room temperature.

Then about 1 to 1 ½ hours before serving time, put the turkey and other pre-cooked food such as mashed potatoes and dressing in a 350 oven.  Don’t peek so everything stays moist.

Prepare the gravy, salads and other foods while everything is heating in oven.

At serving time, gently transfer carved turkey slices to serving platter. Enjoy!

This sounds simple and it really is. Once you have carved the turkey, you can discard the bones and carcass so your kitchen is clean on the day of the party. Or better yet, save the carcass and bones, store them in the freezer and use later for homemade soup and broth.