The most common reason turkey turns out dry is overcooking. Turkey breast contains much less fat than the legs, so once its internal temperature passes the target, its proteins quickly release moisture and the meat can dry out. The bird’s size can make this worse: the breast is thinner than the legs and cooks faster, but when a whole turkey is roasted in one piece, the breast may overcook while the legs finish.
Why do oven temperature and resting matter?
A very high oven temperature can also speed up drying. High heat browns the outside quickly before the inside has time to warm gradually, which can leave the outer layer overcooked. Roasting more slowly at a moderate temperature generally produces a juicier result. Slicing the turkey as soon as it comes out of the oven also increases moisture loss; cutting before the meat rests lets juices escape through the cut surface. Resting the turkey for at least 20 minutes gives the juices time to redistribute through the meat fibers.
How can you keep turkey from drying out?
Brining the turkey in salt water for a few hours before cooking can help its cells retain more moisture and significantly reduce dryness. Brushing melted butter over the breast or loosely covering it with foil can also help prevent that area from drying out too early. Monitoring the internal temperatures of the breast and legs separately with a food thermometer is the most reliable way to let the legs finish without overcooking the breast.
Does the size of the turkey matter?
A smaller turkey cooks faster than a larger one, so the difference in doneness between the breast and legs may be smaller; smaller turkeys generally have less trouble with drying out. With a large turkey, this difference can last for hours. Cooking the bird in pieces rather than whole can nearly eliminate the drying problem, since each piece can be removed from the oven when it reaches its target temperature. This method may be especially useful for large turkeys. Basting the turkey several times during cooking with pan juices or melted fat may also slow moisture loss from the surface, but this step alone does not provide the moisture retention that brining does.
Putting a cold turkey straight from the refrigerator into the oven may increase the difference between how quickly the outside and inside cook, raising the risk of dryness. Letting the turkey sit on the counter for a while before it goes into the oven reduces the difference between its internal and external temperatures. A larger turkey should sit out a little longer. Opening and closing the oven door often can also cause uneven temperature fluctuations. These fluctuations may extend cooking time while drying the surface of the meat more than necessary.
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