Lizbeth Scordo

Every Turkey Recipe You Need to Make a Perfect Thanksgiving Meal

Lizbeth Scordo

Mon, November 16, 2015 at 12:41 PM UTC

Smoked Turkey on the Grill — Russ Crandall, of the paleo diet-centric food blog The Domestic Man, shares an exhaustive step-by-step guide of how to smoke your turkey on the grill. Not only does this method ensure a great smokey flavor, it means your oven is free for side dish and dessert prep all day long. **Try the Smoked Turkey recipe.** *(Photo: Russ Crandall)*

Simple Roasted Turkey from Thomas Keller — This flavorful brine from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon restaurant. requires soaking for 24 hours so be sure to plan ahead. Try Thomas Keller’s Simple Roasted Turkey Recipe. (Photo: Stocksy)

Cider-Glazed Turkey with Pan Gravy — The secret to this flavorful and tender turkey is to dry brine it the day before its cooked. An herbed salt is rubbed all over the turkey, sealing in the moisture and penetrating the meat with flavor. The turkey is glazed with a buttery cider-rosemary syrup while roasting for a perfectly brown caramelized skin. **Try the Cider-Glazed Turkey recipe.** *(Photo: Diana Yen)*

This recipe calls for breaking down the whole turkey before cooking, which can be a lot less daunting then attempting the whole bird. The ingredient list is long, but the process is simple: You brine and smoke the breast and marinate and braise the legs, creating juicy, tender meat. **Get the recipe for Brined and Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey here**. *Photo: John Valls*

Super-Fast Roast Turkey? — Tyler Florence uses two ingenious tricks here. First, he removes the backbone (a process called spatchcocking that your butcher can do for you) which lets the oven’s heat into the cavity faster, cutting down on cooking time. Next, he pipes the stuffing under the skin, keeping it flavorful while protecting the breast. **Get the Super-Fast Roast Turkey recipe here**. *Photo: Tyler Florence*

Roast Turkey With Chestnut-Apple Stuffing? — As if the turkey weren’t flavorful enough thanks to the the aromatic shallot-sage butter it’s rubbed with, it’s also filled with a country bread stuffing made of fresh herbs, Fuji apples, and crumbled chestnuts. Open-fire roasting optional. **Learn how to make Food & Wine’s Roast Turkey With Chestnut-Apple Stuffing here**. *Photo: Con Poulos/Food & Wine*

This traditional Thanksgiving turkey is roasted with a New England stuffing with chopped apples and fragrant herbs that naturally soaks up all the drippings. To ensure the bird cooks evenly and moist, the recipe has you cover the bird in a cheesecloth that’s been saturated in butter while it roasts in the oven. **Get the Traditional Roast Turkey with Apple-Sage Dressing recipe**. (Photo: *Matthew Benson)*

Stuffed Herb-Rubbed Roast Turkey with Gravy — This recipe, from The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, has it all: moist breast and thigh meat; crisp, burnished skin; tasty gravy; and plenty of turkey-flavored stuffing, cooked (safely) inside the bird, to boot. **Try the Stuffed Herb-Rubbed Roast Turkey recipe.** (Photo: J. Kenji López-Alt)

Smoked Turkey — Soaking chunks of a fruit wood or hickory the night before cooking is the key to a good smoked turkey, as is starting *very* early on Thanksgiving morning. **Learn how to smoke a turkey here**. *Photo: StockFood/Michael Marquand*

Ready to go a little out-of-the-box this year? Your guests will be far from disappointed when you present this eye-popping stuffed and rolled turkey breast instead of a whole bird. It’s Giada DeLaurentiis’s play on a porchetta. **Get the recipe for Turkey Breast Porchetta here**. *Photo: Andrew Purcell*

If you’ve got the deep fryer in the garage and are ready to finally go Southern-style, this recipe holds your hand every step of the way. The most important tip? Make sure to do this outdoors! **Learn how to make a Deep-Fried Turkey here**. *Photo: Stocksy/Andrew Cebulka*

Russ Parsons’ Dry-Brined Turkey (a.k.a. The Judy Bird)? — The technique L.A. Times food editor Ross Parsons uses was inspired by the late Judy Rodgers, the beloved chef at San Francisco’s Zuni Café who dry brined her famous roast chicken. Parsons uses a salt rub that can be spiked with anything from smoked paprika to bay leaf and thyme. **Learn how to make The Judy Bird at Food52**. *Photo: James Ransom/Food52*

Leave it to Bobby Flay to come up with a creative, kicky glaze for the big bird made with pomegranate molasses, horseradish, and Dijon mustard. Some chicken stock in the bottom of the pan helps steam the turkey as it roasts. **Get the recipe for Food Network’s Black Pepper-Pomegranate Molasses Glazed Turkey here**. *Photo: Food Network*

Guess what? This turkey is wrapped in bacon. So there’s really nothing more to say. **Get Food52′s Bacon Bird with Turkey Neck Gravy recipe here**. *Photo: James Ransom/Food52*

Slow is an understatement. The bird has to air dry in the fridge for a couple of days and then requires 10 hours of cooking time at a low temp along with basting every few hours before the heat gets cranked up to crisp the skin. The outcome is well worth the effort. **Check out Food52′s Slow-Roasted Turkey here**. *Photo: Bobbi Lin/Food52*

If you’ve never made a Thanksgiving turkey before, this is your year and this is your recipe. You simply season it with salt and pepper, fill it with any aromatics of your choice, brush it with a little butter and then roast for a couple of hours. You can do it! **Get the recipe for World’s Simplest Thanksgiving Turkey recipe over at Food Network.com**. *Photo: Anita Calero/Food Network Magazine*

The cooking time is much less than a traditional recipe since the white and dark meats are cooked separately, which also helps keep the breast meat from drying out. Bonus: The legs can be braised up to two days ahead. **Get the recipe for Herbed Turkey Two Ways at Food & Wine**. *Photo: Quentin Bacon/Food & Wine*

To make sure her turkey gets that deep, golden-brown color, Ree Drummond takes her brined bird out of the oven halfway through to spread butter on it before it finishes cooking. **Get The Pioneer Woman’s Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey recipe at Food Network**. (*Photo: Food Network)*

If you’ve been living in America for more than a few weeks, you know that Thanksgiving is synonymous with turkey. And while we love all those side dishes, it’s the bird that takes center stage (or center table) every year. Much attention is paid to what kind of bird to buy (fresh if you can), how big it should be (one pound per person, which allows for leftovers), how best to thaw your bird if frozen (always in the refrigerator, never on the counter), and, of course, how to cook it.

For decades, if not centuries, roasting the turkey was the only acceptable way, and, indeed, the vast majority of Americans will roast their turkey this year as well. But in recent years, other methods have become trendy. Deep-frying a turkey may sound daunting, but many say it’s worth the effort. Smoking a turkey has also become popular in recent years. If you’re tight on time and want a guaranteed-to-be juicy turkey, spatchcocking is the way to go. Whether you’re an old pro at taking on turkeys or ready to take the plunge for the first time ever, here are recipes to choose from to make this year’s bird your best.

More Thanksgiving inspiration on Yahoo Food:

Do This First to Ensure a Perfect, Juicy Turkey

Behind the Scenes at the Butterball Help Line

How to Host an Amazing Friendsgiving

Freeze Your Feast: The Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving

5-Ingredient Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes for $5 Each