Entrees, Turkey: PW’s Homemade Turkey Brine

By LynnK

Pioneer Woman's favorite, highly-rated, turkey brine, good for up to a 20 pound turkey.

Ingredients

• 2 gallons Water
• 2 cups Apple Juice
• 2 cups Kosher Salt (can Decrease To 1 1/2 Cups If You're Concerned About Salt)
• 2 cups Brown Sugar
• 2 cloves Garlic, Crushed
• 5 pieces Bay Leaves
• 3 Tablespoons Black Peppercorns
• 1 Tablespoon Dried Rosemary
• 2 whole Peel Of Oranges (Sliced Off The Fruit, Avoiding As Much Of The White Pith As Possible, Then Roughly Chopped)
• 1 Whole Turkey
• (Many frozen turkeys are injected with a sodium solution—it may be best to use fresh, never frozen, turkeys. If your turkey has been injected with sodium, decrease the brining time to 12 hours.)

Details

Servings 1
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 30mins
Adapted from thepioneerwoman.com

Preparation

Step 1

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn off heat immediately, cover, and allow mixture to come to room temperature. Cool mixture in the fridge until you’re ready.

Place the turkey into a plastic brining bag (available at many kitchen shops, maybe even stores like Target) or a very large pot.

Pour cool brine mixture over the top, adding extra cold water if you need more to cover. Seal bag or cover pot and allow turkey to brine in refrigerator for 8 to 18 hours before roasting.

When you brine your turkey, the drippings are quite salty. For this reason, it is VERY important that you use a no-sodium (or low-sodium) chicken broth when you make the turkey gravy. Also, I often will cut the drippings with the giblet water to decrease the saltiness.