Easy Roast Turkey Crown
Cooking a Turkey Crown for your Christmas or Thanksgiving celebrations is easy when you know how. Here's your guide to getting perfectly cooked breast meat to serve to your guests!
Servings: 6 (As a guide, you will need a turkey that weighs about 2.5kg to serve 6)
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg Turkey crown (See notes re weights and cooking time)
For the butter:
- 200 g Salted butter At room temperature
- 20 g Fresh thyme leaves Leaves removed from stalks and finely chopped
- 20 g Fresh rosemary Leaves removed from stalks and finely chopped
- 1 Lemon Zested
- 1 Orange Zested
- Plenty of sea salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Remove the turkey from the fridge and set aside. Put the herb butter ingredients in a bowl and mash together well.
- Put the turkey into a well-lined roasting tin or a foil tray placed on a baking tray (to support it).
- Pat the turkey dry with kitchen roll, then use a small sharp knife to gently part the skin from the breasts at the highest point. Using a clean hand, separate the skin from the meat. Repeat on the other side of the bird too.
- Push about half of the herb butter under the skin of the turkey. You can use your hands on top of the skin to help push it down. Spread the rest of the butter over the top of the skin.
- When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 170℃ fan/190℃/Gas Mark 5/375F and cook according to the timings above (or on the turkey packaging), basing the cooking time on its weight. Baste half way through the cook time.
- When the turkey is cooked through, remove it from the oven but leave it in its tray (lots of juices will come out). Set aside somewhere not too chilly in the kitchen and keep it covered with foil.
- Pop a couple of clean tea towels on top of the foil to keep the heat in and let it rest for about 20 - 30 minutes.
- When you're ready to serve, pour the resting juices from the tray into your gravy (if you wish). Place the turkey on a platter and carve.
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Notes
Basting: Basting the meat with the cooking liquid helps to stop it drying out. Be aware that if you open the oven often the turkey may take longer to cook as the heat escapes.
Tin foil: I like to cook covered in tin foil in the oven, to make sure that the bird is not cooking too quickly. If an hour before the end of the cooking time you feel that the outside of the turkey and/or the bacon isn’t crispy, take the foil off to allow a crispy finish on the outside.
Cooking time: The British Poultry Council recommends cooking crowns for 20 minutes per kg + 70 minutes for under 4kgs, and 20 minutes per kg + 90 minutes for crowns over 4kg. You may find that the packaging on your turkey suggests a different oven temperature and cooking times. These are fine to follow, just make sure your turkey is cooked through before serving.
Temperature: Use your meat thermometer to gauge whether your turkey is cooked or not. Always check the thickest part of the meat (usually the thigh). It will be ready when its temperature is recorded at either:
- At 65°C for 10 minutes
- At 70°C for 2 minutes
- At 75°C for 30 seconds