Butterball's New Turkey Will Change How You Do Thanksgiving—I'm Genuinely Impressed

A glistening, golden brown turkey is the centerpiece of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it. It’s also the dish that causes the most stress. There’s a lot of thinking ahead involved—from thawing to brining to roasting to resting to carving—and no one likes a sad, dry turkey. Unlucky for us, turkey loves to be dry. It’s an uphill battle, and it’s stressful!

Not all of us want to spend days on a turkey, nursing it through every stage in hopes of producing a tasty main dish. Lucky for us, Butterball has released a new product that’s changing the game. In fact, I’d say this is the first major breakthrough in store-bought turkeys in recent memory. It low-key blew my mind.

A No-Thaw, No-Brine, No Nothing Turkey

Butterball’s Cook From Frozen Premium Whole Turkey is just what it says—a frozen turkey you just plop in a pan with no thawing, trussing, or hunting for giblets required. There’s no need to adjust the temperature, add special things to the pan or the cavity, or baste the turkey. You stick it in the oven and wait until it comes to temperature, and that’s it.

I recently tested this revolutionary turkey, and I must say I was genuinely impressed. I’ve tried all of the turkey tactics over the years, from roasting expensive heritage turkeys to spatchcocking to every kind of brining. I’ve often been met with good results, but all of these methods are involved. Plus, thawing a turkey can take days. The idea that I could have a juicy, tasty turkey with golden skin, and all I did was stick the frozen bird in a pan? A dream.

I certainly had my reservations. Would the white or dark meat end up dry? Would it take all day to roast? Would the skin crisp, and would it be flavorful? I was excited about the idea but wasn’t sure it would work in execution.

The folks at Butterball have clearly done their R&D on this one. The bird is injection brined, making it flavorful and just salty enough without any added ingredients. The temperature and cook time range were spot on. I served this to friends and everyone agreed it was an excellent turkey, no matter how it was prepared.

If you’re looking to take one stress-causer off your plate this Thanksgiving, I suggest picking up one of these new frozen turkeys. Just remember that you’ll need four to five hours to cook it in the oven, albeit totally hands-off.

Quick Tips for Making Butterball’s New Turkey

• Use a good meat thermometer. Even though this turkey is pretty foolproof, you can still under or overcook it. The only way to prevent that is to use a good meat thermometer. I like to use a Thermapen DOT that stays in the thickest part of the white meat the whole time, and the alarm alerts me when it reaches temperature. 
• Don’t cook it to 170°F. The packaging advises you cook the white meat until it reaches 170°F. This is because Butterball desperately doesn’t want you to get sick, so they made the temperature extra high in case you’re not reading the temperature correctly. My advice: get a good thermometer, check in multiple spots, and only cook until the white meat is 155°F. The temperature will continue to rise to 165°F as the turkey rests without drying out.
• Add the oil and thermometer halfway through. Because the bird is frozen, you can’t insert a thermometer at the start. It’ll take at least four hours to cook, so I suggest inserting the thermometer two to three hours into cooking. Use this as an opportunity to brush the bird with oil or butter, too, for extra crisp and shiny skin.

Butterball Cook from Frozen turkeys are available at Publix, Lowe’s, and Harris Teeter stores, as well as select Walmart and Kroger locations starting this November.