Maple Brined Turkey with Citrus and Herbs

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This recipe for Maple Brined Turkey builds layer after layer of flavor through dry-brining, buttering and roasting to make for a spectacular, richly delicious and wholesome Thanksgiving dinner.

While I’m always partial to the slow-roasted turkey recipe that’s been passed down on my husband’s side of the family for generations, with each new cook tweaking it ever so slightly, this Maple Brined Turkey brings a new vibrant option to the dinner table.

Making a Maple Brined Turkey

Making the Maple Dry Brine

If anything, making this maple brined turkey will teach you the pleasure of patience and the virtue of delayed gratification; that is, it begins with a three-day maple and citrus dry brine that infuses the meat with deep flavor and seasons it, too. Now, it’s not complicated recipe and you don’t need to know any special techniques, but you do need patience.  And you’ll be rewarded by a roasted turkey that is at once succulent and tender and deeply, resonantly flavorful.

After dry-brining the turkey for two days, you’ll allow the turkey to rest in your fridge uncovered so that its skin begins to dry out a bit.  This technique helps to build a pellicle, which makes for a nicer skin that positively grabs hold of flavor as it roasts.

Preparing the Citrus Herb Butter

You’ll also prepare a citrus- and herb-infused butter that you slip between the skin and meat of the bird’s breast.  Not only does this infuse the turkey breast with rich flavor from citrus zest and fresh herbs like thyme and sage, the fat in the butter helps to keep the bird’s breast moist while it roasts.

Stuffing the Turkey Keeps it Moist

Stuffing the turkey with oranges, lemons and onions also helps to keep the bird’s meat moist as it cooks, and helps to prevent it from overcooking and becoming too tough.

How to Choose the Right Maple for Your Turkey

Maple brings a rich and complex sweetness to both sweet and savory dishes, and it pairs particularly nicely with turkey as well as other fall flavors like root vegetables and autumn fruit. And in this recipe for Maple Brined Turkey, it stands up to the bright flavors of oranges, lemons and fresh garden herbs.

In choosing the right maple, you want to first ensure you’re using real maple syrup.  And the only ingredient on your bottle should be maple syrup.  Real maple tastes natural rich and subtly complex, owing to its many minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients all of which help to contribute not only to its dark color but also its flavor.

Grade A dark maple syrup, which is a slightly thick syrup about the consistency of honey, has a dark caramel like color and a robust flavor.  It’s this syrup that stands up well to roasted turkey.  Its deep, toffee-like notes marry beautifully with the savoriness of slow-roasted poultry where a lighter maple syrup can get lost.

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Maple Brined Turkey with Citrus and Herbs

Maple and coriander give this Maple Brined Turkey a deep richness while oranges, lemons and fresh herbs give it brightness. Cured with a maple citrus dry brine, this roasted turkey is packed with flavor.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Servings 6 to 8 people

Author Jenny McGruther

Ingredients

For the Dry Brine

• 1/2 cup coarse sea salt
• 1/4 cup Coomb's Organic Maple Sugar Granules
• 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground pink peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

For the Herb Butter

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Coomb's Grade A Dark Maple Syrup
• 2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest from 1 orange
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 2 teaspoons finely ground sea salt
• 1 shallot very finely chopped

For the Roasting Pan

• 1 12-14 pound Turkey
• 2 yellow onions quartered
• 1 orange halved
• 2 lemons halved
• 1 cup loosely packed sage leaves
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 5 sprigs thyme

Instructions

Three Days in Advance

• Mix all the ingredients for the dry brine together in a small mixing bowl.
• Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey, and pat it with a kitchen towel to remove any excess moisture. Set it on a rimmed baking tray that is small enough to fit in your refrigerator.
• Rub the turkey, inside and out, with the dry brine, and then cover it with plastic wrap and set it in your fridge.

One Day in Advance

• Remove the plastic wrap from your brining turkey, and allow it to sit uncovered in your refrigerator so that it can dry and begin to develop a pellicle.

On the Day of Roasting

• Heat the oven to 375 F.
• Prepare the Citrus Herb butter by spooning all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, and mashing with a spoon until the herbs, salt, itrus zest, and maple syrup are uniformly distributed through the butter.
• Loosen the turkey skin around the breast by slipping a knife between the skin and the flesh at the birds cavity. Spread the the butter between the skin and meat, and use any remaining butter to coat the outside of the bird along its breast and thighs.
• Arrange the bird in a roasting pan, and stuff its cavity with onions, oranges, lemons, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Arrange any remaining lemons, oranges or herbs around the bird.
• Place the bird in the oven. Turn down the heat to 325F and roast it until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 F, about 3 1/2 hours.
• When the bird reaches an internal temperature of 165 F, remove it from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving.

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