How I Actually Cook Thanksgiving Turkey

It’s early November, which means it’s time to order the turkey. I call Whole Foods right after Halloween every year, and if you want to try what I’m about to tell you, call your store or your butcher this week too. You’ll see why.

Everyone who’s had my Thanksgiving turkey is amazed at how moist and delicious turkey can actually be. They ask how I do it. And when I tell them, they’re confused (“What the heck is sous vide?”), then amused (“You’re going to DEEP FRY the pieces? Like a Cajun fried turkey? Sorta?”), and then they taste it. And then they love it. It’s not dry, and it doesn’t need to be drowned in gravy to taste like something (though we have plenty of gravy, because the people at my table love their gravy).

Before this, turkey at my house was traditional roasted turkey. Sometimes we’d do it on the Kamado for a smoky flavor, and a couple of times I spatchcocked it, but it was always uninspiring and bland, an obligation instead of a centerpiece. I’ve always liked turkey, but more for the leftovers and the turkey sandwiches. Kevin’s dad, Jerry, made an amazing smoked turkey on the grill, and that was one of the rare really GOOD turkeys before this method. Otherwise, yeah, it was kind of “it’s Thanksgiving, we have turkey.”

Not anymore.

How I found it

I got my first sous vide cooker (an immersion circulator) for Christmas 2015, and like you do, I immediately started googling sous vide recipes. I came across a Serious Eats post about trying to sous vide a whole turkey, which went into depth about how cooking the whole bird in one go didn’t really work and cutting it up and doing the parts individually did. I don’t think that post is up anymore (the site’s changed a lot since then), but I bookmarked it as a “next Thanksgiving” possibility.

In October 2017 I finally did a full trial run with a turkey breast and turkey legs, plus a second set of legs that went overnight with extra duck fat to confit (that’s a different post). I posted to Facebook on October 17th, 2017: “Sous-vide for 4.5 hours and then 3 mins in 375 deg oil to crisp the skin. They’re not even cool enough to touch and Kevin is tearing into them. Holy wow these are good!”

The trial run worked, so I did it for Thanksgiving 2017, and I’ve done it every year since but three. In 2021 we tried something different: a rack of lamb and a turkey breast, both sous vided and then seared on the Kamado instead of fried. I was still experimenting back then, with the menus and with how different Thanksgiving and Christmas should be. In 2023 I smoked a spatchcocked turkey on the grill. And in 2024 Zach wanted the lamb again, so we did it one more time. Where we landed is that Thanksgiving stays mostly traditional and Christmas gets to be the fun, experimental one. Last year it was the full sous vide and fry again, and that’s where it’s staying.

The method’s changed a little since that first test (the bath times are shorter and I fry at 350°F now), and so has the equipment. I started out in a big plastic food service tub, moved up to my big stock pot, and then when I got my giant “Hello” pot from H Mart, that became the turkey pot. But the idea is the same: sous vide for perfect doneness, then high heat at the end for crispy skin.

The method

I order a kosher turkey from Whole Foods, usually around 12 to 14 pounds. Anything bigger is just too big; if I had a bigger crowd, I’d get two turkeys rather than one giant one. That’s plenty for the six to eight of us at my table, with leftovers. I ask them to part it so I get all the pieces, and I order two extra legs for the gravy.

The breasts, the thighs, and two of the legs get sous vided with the skin on. Everything else (wings, back, neck, and the extra legs) gets roasted for drippings, and then the roasted parts go into stock. The drippings and stock get set aside for gravy, which I make ahead, usually the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Each piece gets salt and pepper and goes into a vacuum-sealed quart bag with a healthy scoop of duck fat (about 2 heaping tablespoons per bag) and a sprig each of rosemary, thyme, and sage from my front garden bed. They stay green year-round here in Georgia, so I just go out and snip what I need. One breast per bag, two legs in one bag, two thighs in another.

Breasts go in at 145°F for 2 to 3 hours. Don’t go over 3 hours or the meat gets mushy. Thighs and legs go in at 165°F for 3 to 4 hours. The H Mart pot is big enough that I can do all the breasts in one round and the legs and thighs together in a second.

When each batch comes out of the water, the bags go straight into an ice bath to get cold fast, and then into the fridge. Sealed, they’ll keep for 3 to 4 days. I usually cook them on the Sunday or Monday before Thanksgiving for a Thursday fry, so the turkey is done before the week gets crazy.

About that 145°F. I know it’s lower than the 165°F you’ve heard for poultry. Sous vide is about time and temperature together: 165°F makes poultry safe almost instantly, and a lower temperature does the same job if you hold it there long enough. At 145°F that’s a matter of minutes once the meat is up to temperature, and two hours in the bath covers it with plenty to spare. The meat isn’t pink, just moist. If 145°F makes you nervous, go to 150°F or 155°F; it’ll still beat any roast turkey you’ve had. I’m sticking with 145°F.

I get my duck fat from Whole Foods too; they sell it in pint containers around the holidays. Can you tell the difference without it? I can. I don’t know if anyone else can, but I think it makes the turkey richer. If you can’t get it or don’t want to use it, butter or olive oil will still work, just not quite as rich.

The fry

On Thanksgiving Day, the bags go back into the sous vide at 145°F for about 30 minutes to warm through. Then I pull the pieces out, wipe off the juices and herb bits, and pat them as dry as I possibly can.

I tested the oven for this part: 450°F for about 15 minutes crisps the skin, and it’s doable, but it doesn’t get the skin evenly crispy all the way around. So we fry.

Is this the over-the-top method? Yes. Is it what we do every year? Also yes. Because it’s Thanksgiving, and when else can you legitimately go over the top with food?

We do it inside on the stove, in a big deep stock pot with about a gallon of peanut oil, which only fills it about a third of the way. That third is not a suggestion. Even patted dry, the turkey still has moisture in it, and the oil will bubble and foam up hard the second a piece goes in. We learned that the hard way the first year, when oil overflowed onto the stove and we had to stop everything, get it all off the burners, clean up an oily, greasy mess, pour fresh oil, and bring it back up to temperature. We were lucky it didn’t catch fire. The turkey was still amazing, but now we use the BIG pot.

We strain the duck fat out of the bags and add it to the frying oil for a little more flavor. The fat, NOT the juices. Juice going into 350°F oil is how you get a full-on boilover. Each piece fries at 350°F for 4 to 5 minutes, until the skin is crispy and browned. Clip a thermometer to the pot so you know where your oil is.

Kevin does the frying. Zach stands by prepared to use the fire blanket (mostly joking here, but we do keep one within reach).

Then I slice the breasts off the bone and arrange the slices, legs, and thighs on a platter with lettuce leaves and parsley (for looks, not for eating). There’s no anxiety about whether the turkey’s dry, or whether I’ve timed it right, or whether the breast is overcooked by the time the thighs are done. The hard part was finished days ago.

Turkey went from an obligation to the centerpiece. People ask if I’m making it. And as far as I know, I’m still the only one in my circle who does this; plenty of folks have said they should try it, and none of them have. Which means I get to keep making the best turkey at Thanksgiving.

A full recipe card with all the times and temperatures is coming after this year’s bird, with proper photos. In the meanwhile, go order your turkey.

P.S. The first year I had Callie, she decided she needed to investigate the fridge drawer while I had it open to put the chilled turkey bags in. Callie-cat has opinions about turkey.

P.P.S. My circulator is an older Anova without the Wi-Fi; the current version is here. The sealer is new this year, an Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Pro, because my FoodSaver finally died this October after ten years of faithful service.

P.P.P.S. Every year I think about doing two more breasts just for turkey sandwiches and leftovers. I might actually do it this year.