Asian Spiced Thanksgiving Turkey – (Oven Roast)
Put down the traditional roasted turkey this year and wow your guests with succulent Asian flavors! This unique Asian Spiced Thanksgiving Turkey Oven Roast packs a flavorful punch with curry butter slipped under the skin to infuse each tender bite with the iconic garlic-rosemary kick. Wrapped with bacons to make sure your turkey ends up with crispy skin and juicy tender white meat. Elevate your spread with the best Asian turkey you’ve ever tasted. I guarantee your guests will beg for seconds of this East-meets-West star!
What Makes Asian Spiced Thanksgiving Turkey ?
In this recipe, I combined the Asian spices that are commonly used to marinade poultry in Asia along with the Western techniques. This mean that I still made the butter rub for the turkey, drizzled some olive oil, and cover the turkey breast with bacon strips as butter burns easily.
How to Thaw Turkey for Roasting
The safest way to thaw a turkey is to keep it in the refrigerator. For this method, it takes about 24 hours to thaw 4 -5 pounds of turkey. Therefore If you get a 16 pounds turkey, it will take 4 days to thaw in the fridge. Honestly, I get my turkey the weekend before Thanksgiving, leave it in a plastic bag and store in the fridge so that by Thursday morning, the turkey is completely thawed. Once the turkey is thawed, make sure to pad the turkey dried with paper towel before seasoning it for crispy skin.
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How to Tell When the Turkey is Cooked
The done temperature for the whole turkey according to Butterball are 180 degrees Fahrenheit in thigh. The internal temperature for breast is 170 degrees Fahrenheit and 165 degrees Fahrenheit in stuffing. However, my easy method to tell without an oven proof thermometer or a fancy plastic pin that comes with certain brand of turkeys is to stab the turkey thigh. If the juice run clear and no reddish in color, your turkey is done!
Other Important Tips
- Resting time, the baking and the resting time outside the oven should be almost or the same as roasting time in the oven. Turkey (a huge chunk of meat) takes a long time to cool down. Don’t be scared of giving it a lot of rest time, it will still be warm. The juice from the roasting pan will have more time to go back into the turkey meat making it juicy on the inside and will be easier to carve. However, if you do not have time to rest after the roasting, don’t worry about it. At least, it cooks through and give you a delicious meal right?
- No need to skimp on salt. Even in this recipe, feel free to add as extra tablespoon of salt. You are roasting a big bird.
- Using some olive or vegetable oil on the skin along with the butter rub will help prevent the turkey skin from burning too quickly. I know I mentioned this earlier. It is imporant.
Side Dishes to Consider This Thanksgiving
Let me give you some recipes alert for this Thanksgiving for you to consider. These side dishes definitely are oven roasted turkey best friends!
- Easy Cranberry Orange Sauce : Comes in together in less than 15 minutes and no refined sugar added. Once you have this real thing, you won’t want to go back to the canned sauce!
- Butternut Squash Stuffing : This comes with Italian sausage, green apples, and other ingredients that makes this stuffing a great meal on its own as well. Truly an ultimate way to celebrate this harvest season.
- Filipino Macaroni Salad: Way to add another Asian/ Tropical flavor to your side dish!
Asian Spiced Thanksgiving Turkey – (Oven Roast)
Equipment
- 1 roasting pan
Ingredients
- 1 turkey Mine was about 16 -17 pounds
- 1 tsp peppercorn
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 2-3 Tbsp salt
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 stems fresh rosemary
- 1 lemongrass
- 5 -6 strips bacon
- 2 small onion
- 2 carrot
- 2 stalks celery
Instructions
- Make sure the turkey is thaw. The best way to thaw the turkey is to leave it in the wrap/package. Put in a big plastic bag or a roasting pan to thaw in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. (It takes about 24 hours to thaw every 5 pounds of turkey.)
- Take the bag of gizzards and neck out. Decide if you want to season and cook them or discard. Pad the turkey dried with paper towel.
- Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Cut a garlic head in half and drill some olive oil and a dash of salt. Wrap the garlic head with the tin foil and roast the garlic in the oven for about 30-40 minutes.
- Make the seasoning paste or curry butter. Grind black peppercorn and coriander seeds. Add the roasted garlic and grind them together into a paste. Mix with curry powder, butter, and a tablespoon of salt. Set it aside.
- Pad the turkey dried using paper towel.
- Loosen the skin over the breast meat and rub the curry butter between the skin and meat.
- Smother the curry butter all over the skin and drizzle some olive oil and cover with some bacon strips as the butter burns easily. Stuff the turkey with some onion, lemongrass for freshness, and rosemary. (Bruise the lemongrass with a knife or a rolling pin before stuffing it in the cavity will have more fragrance.)
- Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover the pan loosely with tin foil. Bake the turkey at 350 degrees 15 minutes for every pound of Turkey or 20 for every kilogram. After 2 hours, uncover the turkey and continue to bake until the turkey is cooked through.
- My turkey as seen in the video is 16 pounds so it took me 4 hours. The internal temperature should be around 160-165 degrees Fahrenheit.
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