How to Cook Turkey in a Paper Bag
From reading the title of this blog post you’re likely wondering how the heck to cook turkey in a paper bag and have it turn out well. This was my first thought when, for the first time, I saw my mother-in-law put a turkey in a big paper bag and set into the oven.
Yet, if you follow these simple steps you will enjoy the juiciest turkey with perfectly crisp golden brown skin all with out having to baste your turkey once. Yes, that’s right, this is the plug and play of turkey cooking.
For this recipe I will tell you how to prepare your turkey, prepare the bag, how long to cook your turkey to so it’s moist and tender and I’m even throwing in the recipe for our delicious sausage meat stuffing to boot.
What You’ll Need for the Turkey:
1 Turkey (the rule of thumb is a turkey that allows for 1 lb. of raw turkey per person)
1 large paper bag (such as the one you get at the grocery or liquor store. Note: you want a paper bag without any ink on it—just a plain paper bag.)
1 brick of Crisco shortening
Wax paper
1 roaster pan big enough to fit your turkey into
Butcher’s twine to secure turkey legs
What You’ll Need for the Stuffing:
2 sausage meat chubs (found in frozen meat section)
1 Large onion, diced small
1 Large celery stalk, diced small
2 table spoons poultry season.
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 cups bread crumbs
2 eggs
Begin my preparing the sausage meat stuffing. Add all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix thoroughly with your hands to incorporate all the ingredients together. The trick is to make one very small patty (about the size of a quarter) and fry it up to taste test the mixture (trying raw could make you very sick so don’t do it!). From there you can adjust the salt or poultry seasoning to your own preferences.
Once you have your stuffing as you like it begin prepping the turkey. Remove the turkey from its wrapper, clean out the insides of any “giblets” and rinse the turkey well. Pat the turkey dry and set aside.
Using a square piece of wax paper collect a large dollop of the Crisco shortening and begin to coat the inside of your paper bag. Repeat this process until every side and bottom of the bag is thoroughly coated with the Crisco shortening (the bag should turn a darker shade where you’ve coated it enough—add more to lighter spots).
Repeat the shortening process with your turkey. Coat all the outer skin of the turkey with a thin layer of Crisco, making sure to get it in all those nooks and crannies like around the drumsticks/thighs areas. Now stuff your turkey with the sausage meat stuffing until the cavity is filled but not overflowing.
Truss your turkey (tie the legs together in front of the stuffed cavity) and gently place it into the “buttered” paper bag. Fold the opening of the bag several times and staple closed. Place the bagged turkey into the bottom of a roasting pan (no lid required) and cook at 325 degrees Fahrenheit using the weight/cooking chart below as your cooking time for your turkey.
For turkeys weighing 12 lbs and under cook for 15 minutes per pound (total weight as marked on label) per pound. So if your turkey weighs 10 pounds the cooking time is 10×15= 150 (minutes) divided by 60 (minutes in an hour) for a total of 2.5 hours of total cooking time.
Turkey’s weighing over 12 lbs. should be cooked at 12 minutes per pound.
When there is about 15 minutes left in cooking time pull out the bird and slit open the top of your paper bag. Place the turkey back into the oven to brown the skin for the remainder of the cooking time.
When your cooking time is done remove the bird from the oven, roaster and all, and allow the turkey to sit and rest for 20 minutes before carving. This lets the turkey pull its juices back in and makes for a moister bird. When the resting period is over remove your stuffing, carve your turkey and serve with your other tasty Thanksgiving foods.
Note: The reason this method works so well is the paper bag act like a wick and continually pulls up juices from the bottom of the pan, wicks it up to the top of the turkey and drips it back down onto the bird continually basting the turkey as it cooks. This is why you never have to base your turkey and why it turns out so darn moist and juicy. You’ll love this method so much that not only will you use it every year but when others ask you how to cook a turkey that’s so moist you’ll be able to tell them this fool proof method (or keep the secret for yourself—it’s up to you!)
Recommended Product:
Need a great roaster for your turkey in a bag? We love this one. Check it out:
