Garlic Rosemary Turkey

Do you eat turkey or ham at Christmas?  This was the recipe I used for our Thanksgiving turkey this year and even though that holiday has come and gone, I thought I'd post it, just in case you are a turkey eater at Christmas.  I tweaked this recipe from The Sister's Cafe and thought it had a great flavor.  The rosemary was delicious!  It got rave reviews from my family as well.  Our turkey was a 25 pound bird, so if yours isn't as big, you may not need all that butter mixture.  


Rosemary Garlic Turkey
adapted from: The Sister's Cafe


1/2 c. butter, softened
3 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. dried rosemary (or use fresh)
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 onion, cut into fourths
4 celery stalks


In a small bowl, mix together the softened butter, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.  Thaw your turkey according to the package directions.  Remove all the nasty stuff that you are supposed to remove.  Loosen the skin from the turkey by shoving your fingers in between the turkey and the skin.  Do this all around the breast area, as well as the top of the thighs.  Take the butter rub in your hand and rub it all around the top of the turkey (underneath the skin).  Rub butter in the cavity of the bird as well.  In fact, I just went ahead and rubbed that turkey all over with the butter.

When the turkey is good and buttered, cook it.  I cooked my turkey in a bag.  I followed the directions on the bag for how long to cook the turkey and at what temperature.  The only thing I did differently was that I followed my mother-in-law's advice and placed the turkey on top of the celery stalks and onion slices, inside the bag.  One tip that I have is to pay close attention to the temperature of your bird while it is cooking.  It cooked much faster in the bag than we expected and so, by the time we realized and then finished up the meal preparations, the turkey was a little over cooked.  It's OK though.  My family likes it that way so that we aren't nervous the whole time we are eating that we are going to end up with salmonella.  We're a little fanatical about our poultry.   Happy Thanksgiving! (or Merry Christmas!)