Quick Turkey Brine

This simple but delicious brine gives your holiday turkey an unbelievable flavor and the most tender meat in a relatively short amount of time.

Prep: 15

Cook: 10

Brine 4

Total: 4 25

Yield:10 servings

Fill large saucepan with 1 gallon cold water. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring water to boil.
When water begins to boil, add salt, brown sugar, whole peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves. Remove saucepan from heat and stir ingredients together until salt and sugar have dissolved completely. Set saucepan aside.
Fill large container with remaining 2 gallons of very cold water. Pour brine mixture into cold water and stir quickly to incorporate, then let mixture sit until water has cooled completely. Add ice if needed to bring water below room temperature.
When water is cool, place turkey breast-side down in container with brine. Turkey must be completely submerged in brine.
Cover container and let turkey sit in brine at room temperature 3 to 4 hours. If preferred, refrigerate turkey in brine 6 to 8 hours instead. Be careful not to over-brine turkey.
After turkey has sat in brine for desired length of time, remove turkey from container and discard brine. Pat turkey completely dry with paper towels, then cook turkey immediately using desired method, or place turkey in roasting pan and refrigerate overnight to air dry.

Do not use this brine recipe if you're cooking a kosher turkey! Kosher turkeys are heavily salted already, and this brine will be too much on top of that.
It IS possible to over-brine a turkey, so don't leave it in the brine too long. If you over-brine it, the turkey will be incredibly salty. You also don't want to salt the brined turkey before cooking it like you would with a turkey that's not brined.
Make sure your container or brining bag is large enough to fit the entire turkey and 3 gallons of water.
The turkey must be fully submerged in the brine. If needed, place a heavy plate or can(s) on top of the turkey to weigh it down.
As written, this recipe yields enough brine for a turkey that weighs up to 10 pounds. For turkeys larger than 10 pounds, you'll want to increase the brine recipe to ensure the turkey can be fully covered. Not sure what size turkey you need? Use this easy formula to make sure you've got enough to feed the whole group!
Make it Keto: Use Brown Swerve instead of brown sugar.