Bacon Wrapped Thanksgiving Turkey

Bird is the word on Thanksgiving and bacon wrapped Thanksgiving turkey is the most delicious recipe to please family and friends with juicy and savory turkey on Thanksgiving!  A dry 15 pound turkey is a lot of turkey to suffer through, even with gravy, but the butter and bacon in the recipe work together to keep the turkey from drying out and lock in all the delicious herbs and seasonings.  The bacon lattice slowly crisps on the outside and looks amazing.  All of these elements come together to deliver one of the best turkeys you will ever eat.  So up your turkey game this year and try out this bacon wrapped thanksgiving turkey recipe.

Here is a picture of the bacon lattice pre-roast which ensures the bacon stays on the turkey throughout the cooking process.  Not only is it effective at locking in flavor, but it also looks amazing.  Enjoy!

Here are some other ideas for a big holiday meal:

Why not pair this dish with an amazing Scallop Brussel Sprout Salad for the big day.

Print Recipe

Bacon Wrapped Thanksgiving Turkey Yum

Bacon wrapped Thanksgiving turkey is the most delicious recipe to please family and friends with juicy and savory turkey on Thanksgiving!

Course

Fall, Meat

Cuisine

American

Prep Time

1 hour

Cook Time

4 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

• 13 lbs Turkey
• 2 lbs Thick cut bacon
• Butter mix:
• 2 Sticks butter 1 cup, softened at room temp
• 10 Sprigs Fresh Thyme leaves
• 5 Sprigs rosemary
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/3 cup Brown sugar
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper (to taste)
• For cooking the turkey:
• 1/2 onion quartered
• 1 Carrot cut into 3 pieces
• 3 Celery stalks cut into large pieces
• 10 Sprigs thyme
• 5 Sprigs rosemary
• 2 Bay leaves

Course Fall, Meat Cuisine American Prep Time 1 hour Cook Time 4 hours Servings people Ingredients 13 lbs Turkey 2 lbs Thick cut bacon Butter mix: 2 Sticks butter 1 cup, softened at room temp 10 Sprigs Fresh Thyme leaves 5 Sprigs rosemary 2 garlic cloves 1/3 cup Brown sugar Salt to taste Black pepper (to taste) For cooking the turkey: 1/2 onion quartered 1 Carrot cut into 3 pieces 3 Celery stalks cut into large pieces 10 Sprigs thyme 5 Sprigs rosemary 2 Bay leaves

Instructions

1. Thaw the Turkey! Make sure that the turkey is thawed and bring out of the fridge a couple hours before cooking to allow the temp to rise which will help the turkey cook faster.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F
3. Make the butter mix:
4. Mince garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Combine all ingredients together with butter in a bowl. Spread butter all over turkey, under skin, inside cavity.
5. Stuff the turkey:
6. Stuff the turkey cavity with the onion, carrot, celery, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves.
7. Bacon lattice:
8. Weave the bacon into a lattice on top of the turkey so that all of the breast meat is covered. Then cover the legs and wings with bacon as well.
9. Once you are ready to put the turkey in the over reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F and place the turkey inside.
10. Check in on the turkey after 1.5 hours. If the bacon is browning too quickly then place tin foil on the areas that are browning too quickly which will slow the cooking, but this will also slow the cooking of the turkey.
11. A 13 pound turkey will take 3-4 hours to cook. (13-15 minutes per pound). Try to minimize the time that you open the oven door as the heat release will increase the cooking time.
12. If the Turkey thigh cooks faster than the breast then place tin foil on the legs. For us the turkey thigh reached 175 after 3 hours so I placed tin foil on the legs to slow the cooking while the breast was still at 135. The turkey breast meat reached 163 at 4 hours.
13. Once the breast and leg meat reach the appropriate temperatures (165 for breast meat and 175 for thigh meat) remove the turkey and tilt up so that the juices from inside the bird flow into the pan. Then place the turkey on a cutting board and allow to rest for 15 minutes (at least) before carving.

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