How Do You Cook a Pastured Turkey?
🦃The countdown is on to turkey day! 🦃
Every year, we get a ton of questions about how to cook one of our pastured turkeys.
The short answer: exactly as you would cook any other turkey. Except for one *IMPORTANT* difference.
**J&R Pierce Family Farm is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to allow sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. I often link to Amazon when recommending certain products, and if you choose to purchase, I may earn a small percentage of the sale. It costs you nothing extra, and all recommended products are ones that I personally vouch for.**
Do Pasture-Raised Turkeys Cook Faster?
Pastured turkeys don’t take nearly as long to cook as store bought turkeys. Conventional wisdom is that turkey takes about 12 to 15 minutes per pound to cook. If you bought a turkey from us, estimate 8-10 minutes per pound instead.
Why the range? It depends on the individual oven (believe it or not, ovens do not all cook uniformly and there’s some wiggle room here) but also on whether you’re stuffing your bird.
Personally, I don’t stuff and instead cook the stuffing separately. This is of course your choice, but I find that everyone’s stuffing recipe is different, so the density isn’t consistent, meaning it can throw off the cooking time for your bird.
There are also some food safety concerns associated with cooking the stuffing inside the bird, and I personally don’t find that it affects the final flavor of either the stuffing or the turkey that much to make it worth the risks. But it’s your choice!
Should You Brine and Baste Your Turkey?
Brining is an optional step, especially when you’re cooking a pastured bird that’s naturally a bit more moist anyway. However, I find that it injects a nice little bit of flavor into the turkey and reduces my work on Thanksgiving Day. Use whatever brining recipe you like.
A basic brine is four quarts of water to one cup of kosher salt (adjusting to cover the size of turkey you have; a larger turkey will obviously require more brine solution). You can also throw some herbs into the brine; I like sage, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic, but again - your choice.
If you choose to brine, I recommend doing so about 24 hours before you plan to cook the turkey. This can take up a lot of space in the fridge, so again, it’s not necessary, but does help bring out the best possible flavors in the bird!
When you’re ready to cook, get that turkey in the oven (325 degrees is what I go for). I don’t do much to the bird before putting it in the oven. I make a simple herb butter rub on the outside, which really upgrades the flavor.
Then, to baste or not to baste? That is the question.
I don’t baste because I find that continually opening the oven door lets a lot of heat out and causes the bird to dry out faster. Again, pastured birds are naturally a bit juicier than store bought ones, so you shouldn’t need to baste. But this, again, is your choice!
What Temperature Should You Cook a Turkey To?
You’ll know your turkey is done when the internal temperature in the breast reads 165 and the thigh reads 180. Technically, the entire turkey is safe to eat at 165. So why the two different measurements?
Poultry is safe at 165, regardless of where the cut is coming from. However, leg meat (thighs and drums) contain more connective tissues, like collagen, that need to be broken down at a higher temperature to dissolve properly and not be as chewy.
Unfortunately, the problem is that you may find that if you cook the breast to a temperature higher than 165, it becomes a bit overdone.
My recommendation? If you’re not sure, carve off a tiny piece of thigh once the breast reads 165 and see if it’s cooked to your liking. If it’s still a bit too tough, carve the breasts off the turkey and throw the legs back in the oven to cook them up a bit more. It’s a couple extra steps, sure, but for the people in your family who prefer the dark meat, it’s worth the extra effort.\
How to Serve Your Pastured Turkey
Once the turkey is done, don’t dive in and carve it right away (unless you’ve already carved the breasts, as described above). Let it rest for an extra 30 to 40 minutes if you can, since this will help the bird get as moist as possible.
I know, the wait is tough - have an extra glass of wine to pass the time if you need to, or go watch the football game. They say a watched pot never boils but a watched turkey never…flies away? I don’t know. Either way, give it some time!
Then, dig in! And remember to save the carcass to make some turkey soup later on in the week. You can always freeze it if you’re getting sick of leftovers.
A happy (early) Thanksgiving from all of us here at J&R Pierce Family Farm!
