Moist roasted turkey, stuffed or unstuffed, is easy to make in an oven roasting bag.

A roasted turkey is really quite simple to make. When you buy a turkey buy a turkey roasting bag as well, then no basting is required. However, my mother told me just this past Thanksgiving that my grandmother slow roasted hers, so I may try that next time.

I basically follow the directions on box.  If your turkey is frozen and you have a cold refrigerator, as I do, it takes about three or four days to thaw. I choose to thaw in a sink of cold water for a day. Once thawed, place one tablespoon of flour into the bag and shake it around. Then dab the moisture off the turkey with a paper towel and rub with butter. Put the turkey into the bag.

We mix together some onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and poultry seasoning. It is the paprika that makes it appear burnt though, so you may want to eliminate that one.

Sprinkle it onto the buttered turkey in the roasting bag.

Close up the bag with the closure included. Cut six small slits into the bag, as directed.

Be sure to tuck the bag into the roasting pan, so that it doesn’t touch the oven sides, as it will make a very bad smell, if it does. Since I don’t have a roasting pan, I buy the cheap foil ones and stabilize it by sitting it on a rimmed cookie sheet.

Put it in the oven and bake as directed by the directions with the oven bag.

This one took about two and a half hours. Usually I stuff it with a box or two of stovetop stuffing but I did not today. When you stuff it, it takes longer. This looks burnt but it is not. Paprika tends to turn the birds black when roasted.

It is done when the breast temperature is 165º. The one I made for Thanksgiving was about twenty-one pounds and did not come with a pop-up timer. That was the first time I had to use the thermometer to check for doneness and it was the moistest turkey ever. I think the pop-up timer makes it a bit more done and thus a bit drier. However, there is a lot of juice in the bag, so the meat can easily moistened.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

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