How to Roast a Turkey Ahead

3.93 from 76 votes

How to Roast a Turkey Ahead

Don’t want to worry about roasting a whole turkey on the holiday? Turkey can be fully roasted ahead of time and reheats beautifully with these easy instructions. No one will ever know you did it up to 24 hours ahead.

Prep Time3

Cook Time15

Total Time3 15

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Christmas, Holiday recipe, make ahead, Thanksgiving, turkey

Servings:

Author: Jess Smith via Inquiring Chef

Cost: $18.00

Equipment

Oven Safe Casserole Dish

Ingredients

1 Whole Roasted Turkey, carved and cooled
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, softened
Foil, for roasting
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt (optional; see step 4)
2 Tablespoons Turkey or Chicken Stock (see note)
1/2 Lemon (optional; see note)

Instructions

Rub an oven-safe (and broiler-safe) casserole or serving dish with softened butter.
Arrange sliced turkey in prepared dish. Leave the skin facing up so that it can be easily crisped under the broiler.
(You can serve the turkey right out of this dish if you’d like, so take the time to make it look the way you would like it to look when served.) Cover the turkey tightly with foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
When ready to serve, preheat oven to 350°F / 177°C.
Tip: Just before reheating, you can lift the foil cover off the turkey and taste the sliced breast meat. If the meat tastes bland or under seasoned, this is a great opportunity to add a bit more flavor. Lightly season the turkey with kosher salt, lifting the pieces up and seasoning underneath if you’d like to insure that everything gets seasoned. This is optional, but it’s a great opportunity to boost the flavor.
Pour chicken stock around sliced turkey, making sure to avoid any skin that you will want to get crisp under the broiler.
If you want to add some lemon juice to the turkey (see note below), slice a lemon in half and nestle it, cut-side up next to turkey slices.
Reseal the foil over the dish and bake until the turkey is just warmed through, about 15 to 20 minutes (it will continue to warm up under the broiler).
Remove the foil from the baking dish and turn on the oven’s broiler.
Slide turkey under the broiler. Keep a close eye on it and broil until the skin is deep golden brown and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes.
If using, lightly squeeze some juice from the lemon over turkey.
Serve warm.

Notes

Drumsticks and Wings - It’s important to slice the meat off the drumsticks and wings (rather than keeping them whole) along with the rest of the turkey. Bone-in pieces will take much longer to reheat than sliced breast meat and you want everything to reheat in about the same time.

Lemon - I like to add a bit of acidity and brightness to my roasted turkey with a light squeeze of fresh lemon juice. This is totally optional and will add a bit of lemon flavor, so skip it if you want to stick to the traditional / pure turkey flavor. So many dishes at the holiday meal are rich and heavy, I find the brightness of a little lemon balances things out.

Turkey or Chicken Stock - The added stock helps to lend some moisture to the turkey as it reheats. Since it will be sealed with foil, you don't need much. If you don't have stock available, water will work just fine.

Nutrition