How To Cook A Thanksgiving Turkey: 5 Different Recipes And Cook Times

Thanksgiving means one thing…turkey. You spend weeks trying to find the perfect one for you and your family to devour. Before you start cooking, the most important tip is to make sure your turkey is thawed. If it’s your first time cooking the precious turkey for the family (or if you just want to find a new recipe), here is a list of five different ways to cook one to perfection.

1. Deep-Fried Turkey

Deep-frying a turkey comes with a disclaimer. Make sure you do it right because if not it can be really dangerous. This is for the person seeking a crunchy skin with a juicy center. A tip to make this taste even better is to inject the turkey with an additional flavoring of your choosing. Food Network offers a good Paula Deen recipe for the perfect deep-fried turkey.

Cook Time: 41 minutes.

2. Bacon-Wrapped Turkey

The best accessory to pair with a meal is bacon. When the bacon is being cooked the fat will drip down into the turkey allowing the turkey to stay moist and giving it a touch of bacon flavor. A recipe from Delish gives chefs a good bacon-wrapped turkey.

Cook Time: 3 hours and 10 minutes.

3. Beer-Can Turkey

Other things associated with Thanksgiving, aside from the turkey, are beer and football. A beer-can turkey will require a grill. You put the beer in the cavity and place it on the grill. The center will end up moist with a tasty flavor from the beer and the skin will be crunchy from the grill. Barbecue Bible has a great recipe for anyone wanting to try this way of cooking the turkey.

Cook Time: between 2 hours and 2 hours and 30 minutes.

4. Crock-Pot Turkey

If you’re having a small get together (2-4 people) a Crock-Pot turkey can be the best way to cook a turkey while relaxing or watching the football games. The other great thing about a slow cooker turkey is the way it will retain moisture and won’t taste dry at all. Just remember to put the turkey in the Crock-Pot about six to eight hours before you’re ready to eat. You can check out this slow cooker turkey recipe from The Recipe Rebel.

Cook Time: 7 hours and 30 minutes.

5. Turducken

A turkey stuffed with a duck and the duck with chicken may sound unusual but, Wide Open Spaces points out that this is a “Thanksgiving phenomenon.” This is for an advanced chef because cooking three different types of meat together is not easy. The Spruce Eats offers a good recipe to try.

Cook Time: 3 to 4 hours.