CaliToday (15/11/2025): It’s so much easier, delivers a perfectly herbed, juicy bird, and completely eliminates the single most annoying step of turkey prep.
Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe; Food Styling: Spencer Richards
I’m going to be honest with you. For a long time, roasting the Thanksgiving turkey was my least favorite part of the holiday.
First, there’s the immense pressure of cooking the literal centerpiece of the most anticipated meal of the year. Then, there’s the pervasive cultural whisper that holiday turkey is... well, always overrated. That just adds more pressure to prove everyone wrong, creating a vicious little cycle of holiday anxiety.
Over the past decade, I’ve tried everything to make it perfect. I’ve wrapped the bird in a bacon lattice. I’ve spatchcocked it. I’ve grilled it. I’ve even (shockingly) had great success with a pickle juice brine. And while I’m always told the result is "delicious," I’m usually too stressed out from the process to even enjoy it.
But this year is different.
Our Senior Recipe Editor, Christine Gallary, just taught me a better way. It's a method so smart and simple, it completely changed my approach. It leads to such flavorful, aromatic, and juicy results that even the most stubborn turkey haters have nothing to stand on.
When Christine retested and reworked our famous Basic Roast Turkey recipe, she made one small change that solves the biggest problems of turkey prep.
It’s an infused herb-butter baste. And the trick is: You don’t chop anything.
The Problem with "Perfect" Turkey
Listen, I know "herb butter" isn't a new concept. But how it's made is the problem.
Almost every recipe calls for a compound butter. This means you must:
Remember to take multiple sticks of butter out of the fridge to soften for hours (which I always forget to do).
Meticulously wash, pick, and finely chop a mountain of fresh herbs.
Mash those herbs into the softened butter.
Try to slather this chunky, cold-ish butter mixture all over (and under) a slippery, cold, raw turkey.
Even if you do all that, the little chopped herb bits on the skin almost always burn and turn bitter during the long, high-heat roast. It's too much fussy work for a flawed result.
The Brilliant, Easier Way
Christine's method skips all of that. It’s a shortcut that feels like a professional upgrade.
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| Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe ; Food Stylist: Brett Regot |
Here it is:
Take a stick (or two) of cold butter and toss it into a small saucepan.
Throw in a few whole, fresh sprigs of thyme, rosemary, and sage. Don't chop a single leaf.
Melt the butter over low heat.
As the butter melts, it gently poaches the herbs, and the heat instantly infuses the fat with all their essential, aromatic oils. The entire kitchen smells like Thanksgiving in seconds.
This gives you two products:
The Basting Gold: A perfectly clear, deeply fragrant, herb-infused melted butter.
The Aromatics: A small pile of softened, butter-drenched whole herbs.
You then stuff the butter-drenched herb sprigs inside the turkey's cavity, where they create an aromatic steam bath from within. You then use the golden herb-infused butter to brush the turkey all over before it goes in the oven, and to baste it every 45 minutes or so.
You get all the beloved herby flavor, but without the hassle of chopping and zero risk of burnt herbs on the skin. It's genius.
My Other Non-Negotiable Turkey Rules
After ten years, this butter trick is my new #1. But here are the other tips I swear by to guarantee a perfect, low-stress bird.
Dry Brine Your Turkey. Forget the giant bucket of sloshing salt water. A dry brine (salting the turkey and letting it rest in the fridge for 1-3 days) is far easier and, in my opinion, better. It draws out excess moisture, seasons the meat deeply, and guarantees the crispiest skin.
Pat It DRY. This is the most crucial part of a dry brine. Before applying the herb butter, pat the turkey skin dry with paper towels. No, really dry. Drier than that. A bone-dry surface is the only way to get that crispy, golden-brown skin.
Let It Sit at Room Temp. Don't throw a fridge-cold turkey into a hot oven! Let it sit on the counter for at least an hour before roasting. This "takes the chill off," helps the skin dry out even more, and results in more even cooking and browning.
Protect Your Gravy. Your future gravy is one of the most important parts of the meal. To ensure the precious drippings don't burn and turn acrid in the hot pan, pour a cup of chicken or turkey broth into the bottom of the roasting pan before the turkey goes in.
Make Gravy in the Roasting Pan. Don't you dare pour those drippings into a separate saucepan. Make your gravy directly in the roasting pan on the stovetop. All the best-caramelized flavor (the fond) is stuck to that pan. You want to scrape all of it up.