Small Whole Turkey- How to Prepare and Cook

Looking for advice on cooking a simple Small Whole Turkey, this recipe is for making a Perfect tender whole Turkey between 2kg to 4kg (4lb - 8lb). We take you through every step of making the best Roast Turkey Christmas Dinner! From where to buy a small turkey, whether to buy fresh or frozen and how to safely defrost a frozen whole turkey. To what to stuff with, how to remove a wishbone and string the poultry. And finally, of course, the temperature and cooking times and how to carve?

📝 Ingredients

• 3.6 kg Turkey (If using frozen - make sure you leave enough time to defrost ahead of time.)
• 100 grams Unsalted butter (room temperature)
• Thyme (2 sprigs)
• Rosemary (2 sprigs)
• Salt and Pepper (season )
• 1 onion (chopped into quarters)
• 1 lemon (chopped in quarters)
• 1 handful Fresh Thyme & Rosemary
• 2 onions (cut in half )
• 2 carrots (cut into quarters)
• 500 ml chicken stock (or turkey / vegetable stock)
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil
• 3 tbsp Maple syrup
• 2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
• 2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary
• Salt and Pepper

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Room temperature: Remove the turkey and butter from the fridge and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before prepping the bird to cook.
2. 2Butter: With the softened butter, add rosemary and thyme leaves, salt and pepper and stir together
3. 3Dry: Preheat the oven at 180°C fan / 190°C / 375°F Gas mark 5Pat the turkey down inside and out with kitchen paper towel.Check inside the cavities and remove the giblets and neck joint.
4. 4Wishbone: Remove the wishbone see blog post for instructions on how we did this.
5. 5Cavity: Place the quatered lemon, onions and fresh herbs inside the empty cavity
6. 6Rub the butter under the turkey skin and all over the top of breast, legs and wings.
7. 7Truss the turkey with cooking string, see blog post for instructions on how to do this.
8. 8Rack: Place carrots and onions for the base of the turkey to sit on top of in the baking tray (or use a rack)
9. 9Stock: Place the turkey on top of the cut vegetables, season with salt and pepper and pour the chicken stock around the bottom of the tray, not over the turkey.
10. 10Roast: Lightly place foil over the top of the turkey and secure on long edge of roasting tin only. Leaving the small sides open. Place in the oven to cook covered, removing 40 minutes before the time given on the packet instructions to glaze as in next step.(for example, this 3.6kg turkey went in for 1 hr 40 mins covered and the final 40 minutes uncovered with glaze to brown) Check times on the packet for your size of the turkey and adjust accordingly
11. 11Glaze: Mix up the glaze ingredients
12. 12Brown: 40 minutes before the end of cooking time, remove the foil and baste the whole turkey with the glaze.Leave the foil off and place back in the oven and cook for the final 40 minutes allowing it to brown.
13. 13Rest: Once cooked, remove the turkey from the tray and place on to a chopping board. Cover loosely with tin foil allow to rest between 30 minutes to 1 hr 30 minutes before carving
14. 14Gravy: Keep the leftover cooking juices to make the turkey gravy - see blog post
15. 15Carve: When its time to carve, see blog post for instructions and pictures on how we did this.
16. 16Serve with all the usual trimmings and Enjoy!!