How to Brine a Turkey

Brining is a process similar to marination in which meat is soaked in a salt solution (the brine) before cooking making the cooked meat moister by hydrating its muscle tissue before cooking. Brining has become increasingly popular of late due to it's ease, and adaptability. Here is a simple no-frills guide.

The beginning of the brine...


Brine Ingredients:

To make the brine, mix 1 cup of table salt in 1 gallon of water. You will need more than 1 gallon of water but that’s the ratio to aim for. One way of telling if you have enough salt in your brine is that a raw egg (uncracked, of course) will float in it.

Make sure that the salt is completely dissolved before adding the seasonings you like, making sure not to add anything that contains salt.

One of the best things about brines is you can create one that suits any fancy you may have! Sweet and spicy, herb and garlicky - whatever your heart desires.

Sweeten the Brine

Sugar is optional to any brine, but it works well to counteract the flavor of the salt. While you may choose a brine without sugar, it is recommended that you add sugar to maintain the flavor of the turkey. Any kind of "sweet" will work, it doesn't have to be plain sugar - try honey or molasses, or brown sugar.

Add up to 1 cup of sugar per gallon of brine. Like the salt you need to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved before progressing to the next step.

Get soakin'!

Place the turkey in your container and pour in enough brine to completely cover the turkey with an inch or two to spare. You do not want any part of the turkey above the surface of the brine. Now you put the whole thing in the refrigerator. If you are like me, making enough room in the fridge is the hardest part of this project.

The turkey should sit in the brine for about 1 hour per pound of turkey. Brining too long is much worse than not brining enough so watch the time!!!


Keep it cool.

Keep nasty little bacteria away from your turkey, they just love a dark warm place to breed in!

Don't have room in the refrigerator? Try a cooler. The cooler will help keep it cool and allow you to brine your turkey without taking up precious refrigerator space. If the weather is cool, but not freezing you can put the whole thing outside until you need the turkey if its warm, fill a half gallon milk carton with water and freeze it. Place this in the cooler with the turkey and brine and it will hold down the temperature during the brining process.


Get cookin'!

When you are ready to start cooking your turkey, remove it from the brine and rinse it off thoroughly in the sink with cold water until all traces of salt are off the surface inside and out. Safely discard the brine and cook your turkey as normal. You will notice the second you start to carve your turkey that the brining has helped it retain moisture. The first bite will sell you on brining turkeys forever.