Customizing your own turkey brine is the best way to get the flavors you want. Here’s my recipe for the best Thanksgiving turkey brine.
If you have never brined your turkey for Thanksgiving, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TRYING IT! It’s very fast to put together a brine mix and today I wanted to share my mix recipe with you so you have plenty of time to gather the ingredients for your own!
You’ll need:
- sea salt
- raw sugar
- sage
- mixed green,white, black and pink peppercorns
- oregano
- thyme
- rosemary
- bay leaves
- sage
- dehydrated orange and apple
scroll down for measurements and recipe
In a big bowl mix everything together and store it in your pantry until ready to use. I usually put mine in a mason jar labeled “turkey brine.”
The day before Thanksgiving, bring a quart of water to a boil.
Add your brine mixture to the pot and let it boil for 5 minutes until all the salt and sugar dissolves.
From there, add it to a gallon of iced cold apple juice (you can just use water also), and half a bottle of white wine (whatever I have on hand that I drink).
Toss in a mixture of fresh herbs, fresh citrus, and apple slices and pour the whole brine over my turkey which is cleaned out and waiting in a brining bag that I keep in a 5 gallon bucket to make sure it doesn’t leak.
The turkey should be completely submerged in the brine. If it’s not, just add enough cold water until it is.
Refrigerate it overnight and let the brine do it’s thing.
You will never not brine a turkey again! Something magical happens when that bird is steeped in all the herby-salty-sweet goodness and that’s what takes your turkey from being just okay to spectacular!
I’m actually planning to walk you through my step-by-step instructions on how to prepare THE PERFECT TURKEY (find that post here), where a bunch of my friends and myself are throwing an online Thanksgiving dinner, so make sure you stick around for that! It’s going to be a great time 🙂
Do you brine your turkey for Thanksgiving, or have I persuaded you to give it a go?! I’d love to hear your thoughts and turkey tips in the comments below or on my Facebook page!
Talk to you soon friends, take care!
XO
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The Best Thanksgiving Turkey Brine
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 25 minutes
Description
The best Thanksgiving turkey brine is the most flavorful way to give your turkey lots of sweet and savory notes! You’ll never have a dry turkey again!
Ingredients
- 1 cup sea salt
- 1/2 cup raw sugar
- 2 tablespoons dried sage
- 2 tablespoons mixed green, white, black and pink peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons dried rosemary
- 2 tablespoons dried bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons dried sage
- 2 tablespoons dehydrated orange and apple
Instructions
Mix everything together and store in a sealed jar in the pantry for up to 6 months.
When ready to use for Thanksgiving, add it to a quart of boiling water until salt and sugar dissolve.
Mix the brine with cold water, wine, apple juice etc to cool down before submerging turkey in it.
You can add fresh garlic, onions, citrus, herbs etc. to add more fresh flavor to your turkey.
- Category: Thanksgiving
- Cuisine: Holiday
Keywords: Best Thanksgiving Turkey Brine, turkey brine, how to brine a turkey, moist turkey, flavorful turkey
I have never seen “dried orange and apple”–or at least I don’t think I have. I probably just don’t know what to look for. The recipe calls for 2 tb so I would imagine this to be chopped up dried fruit? I am a little confused, please help 🙂
It’s just dehydrated fruit that I find in the bulk section of my grocer.