Simplify Thanksgiving Dinner ~ Roast a Turkey in 1/2 the Time & Serve Super Moist Dark & White Meat.

Roasting a turkey that has been broken down into its individual pieces, (a deconstructed turkey), takes much less time than roasting a whole bird, the white and dark meat cook up equally moist, and it takes less oven space. And having the turkey broth made in advance, for making the stuffing and gravy is a game changer. Win, win, win!!! There is certainly more than one way to deconstruct a turkey, but I will show you how I do it just in case I do something that you find helpful. Let's do this!!!

My timeline for roasting the turkey parts for dinner on Thursday is as follows:

Monday afternoon: deconstruct your fully thawed Turkey. Place the breast, leg and thigh meat in an air tight container and refrigerate. Place the Turkey carcass, wings, & neck on a foil lined cookie sheet, lightly oil & season, and roast at 375 degrees until golden brown, 75-90 minutes. Move the roasted carcass & juices to a roaster pan and add 2.5 gallons of water. Add 1.5 Tbs each: salt, onion powder, garlic powder, chicken base or bouillon, nutritional yeast, parsley, tomato powder or paste, & soy sauce. Add 1.5 cups each, sliced carrot, onion, celery, and mushrooms. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until Wednesday morning.

Wednesday morning: Turn off the roaster, remove the lid, and let the broth/carcass cool for 2 hours. Then strain and put in containers for the refrigerator. You should have a little over one gallon of broth to use for making your stuffing and gravy, and maybe enough for soup. It’s all about the broth baby!!!! And this homemade broth makes everything better.

Thursday: Pat dry and place the Turkey beast, thigh, & leg meat on a foil lined cookie sheet, lightly oil and season the meat, and insert the thermometer probes. Do not over crowd the meat - I actually put the white meat on one pan, and the dark meat on another. Roast at 375 degrees, uncovered, for one hour, then reduce to 350 degrees until done. I roast the white meat to 158 degrees and the dark meat to 180 degrees. When they reach your target temperature, remove from oven, cover with foil and let rest for 30 minutes before serving. The white meat will be done before the dark meat, and total roasting time for me was 2 hours & 20 minutes.

It is delicious every time. The Turkey takes one rack in my oven, and the sides get the other rack. When the Turkey comes out, the dinner rolls go in. The 30 minute rest time is perfect for getting everything else in the table. And carving the Turkey is a breeze!!!!

* Tip - do a test fit of the pans before hand to ensure they will fit on one rack. I used a 1/2 cookie sheet for the breast meat, and a slightly larger one for the dark meat.