Ingredients
The following ingredients have 4 Servings
- 9 lb/4kg whole turkey
- ½ cup butter (125g)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
- salt and pepper
Instruction
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C in fan forced oven. Pat defrosted turkey dry with paper towels.
- Prepare the thyme and garlic butter and add salt and pepper. Using your hands, loosen the skin of the turkey from the turkey breast. Careful not to tear the skin. Rub garlic/thyme butter on the breast under the skin. Rub the remaining butter over the rest of the turkey, saving about 1 tablespoon for basting for later.
- Place turkey in a roasting pan breast side up. Loosely make a foil tent over the turkey.
- Place in preheated oven. After about 1 hour, remove the foil, spread the remaining garlic/thyme butter over the turkey. Baste the turkey with juices every 30 minutes until done. For a turkey this size, it takes 2-2½ hours to cook. The turkey is cooked when internal temperature is 165°F/75°C.
- If you have a larger size turkey or no thermometer, rule of thumb is to cook the turkey for 15 minutes per pound (or 30 minutes per kilogram). Remove the foil when the turkey is ⅔ of the way cooked, and keep basting.
- Remove turkey from oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes before carving.
