Sugar-and-Spice Cured Turkey

12 Reviews
ADD YOUR REVIEW
Yield
Makes 8 to 10 servings
November 2002
RECIPE BY Southern Living

Ingredients

  • 1 (12-pound) whole turkey
  • 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons kosher or coarse-grain sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
  • 1 large onion, quartered
  • 2 (14-ounce) cans low-sodium chicken broth
  • Additional chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • Garnishes: fresh rosemary sprigs, apple slices, nuts

How to Make It

Step 1

Remove giblets and neck; rinse turkey with cold water. Pat dry. Tie legs together with string; tuck wingtips under. Combine brown sugar and next 6 ingredients. Rub over turkey. Cover with plastic wrap; chill 8 hours.

Step 2

Place turkey on a rack in a roasting pan, breast side up. Arrange onion quarters around turkey. Pour 2 cans broth in bottom of pan.

Step 3

Bake, loosely covered with foil, at 325° for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake 1 1/2 more hours or until meat thermometer registers 180°. (Cover with foil to prevent excessive browning, if necessary.) Remove onion; discard, reserving pan drippings. Let turkey stand 15 minutes before carving.

Step 4

Combine pan drippings and enough chicken broth to equal 2 cups in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour, and cook, whisking constantly, 5 minutes or until thickened. Serve with turkey. Garnish, if desired.

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Ratings & Reviews

alleycat's Review

Aussieman
November 20, 2013
I made this for Thanksgiving last year. It was moist and my guests loved it. However, my complaint was that the seasonings had not gotten into the meat of the bird, and I still felt I needed gravy for flavor. I will try brining my bird this year.

julieburck's Review

lmaton2
November 25, 2012
Very moist and flavorful, but didn't taste the spice from the rub much. I just cooked it in a turkey roaster covered so I didn't have to mess with covering/not covering it up. About 3 hours to cook. Definitely good enough for guests.

Jennielynsoper's Review

alleycat
November 26, 2011
Whole family loved the turkey! Super easy, after I put it in the oven the only thing I had to do was take the foil off after the first 1 1/2 hour and then tent it again later to prevent over browning. Really moist and just fell off the bones. I did a 21lb turkey so I doubled the ingredients for the rub and it did take longer ( as expected) ,cooked up perfectly in 5 hours. We will do this again!

arandrews81's Review

arandrews81
October 21, 2011
N/A

ellie58's Review

julieburck
December 26, 2010
Used this for a turkey breast, halfed the receipe. Easy to do and tasted great. The turkey breast was so moist and browned beautifully, did not really need gravy, but did make it. Very nice flavor. Will do this again.

tanrdn's Review

tanrdn
November 28, 2010
WOW! Incredible!

cindy0911's Review

Jennielynsoper
November 26, 2010
This recipe is wonderful. I used this recipe to cook our turkey for Thanksgiving 2010. It worked out just as the recipe said (I did have to recover the turkey in the last 30 minutes due to browning quickly). Everyone raved about how great it tasted and how moist it was. I'm passing this on to my Aunt so she can use this recipe for her Christmas turkey too.

katcar57's Review

ellie58
December 23, 2009
This was the best turkey I 've ever eaten and it was really easy to make. Very moist, turkey fell off the bone when lifted out of the pan.

lmaton2's Review

rharpole
November 28, 2009
I didn't think this turkey recipe's reviews could possibly be this good, but I tried it this year on my giant 20 lb. bird and OMG, it was amazing. My entire family thought it was the best turkey they've ever had. I didn't brine the bird, but did cover the breast for about half of the cooking time. I didn't baste it either. Couldn't have been easier. Also, mace can be replaced for about 4X the amount of nutmeg instead. Mace is hard to find sometimes and really expensive!

Aussieman's Review

cindy0911
November 27, 2009
WOW! Prepared this yesterday, what a great treat, moist, tender and this is a keeper recipe. The most important thing is to brine the bird. Love getting recipes from this site.