Try This Delicious Bacon Wrapped Turkey For Thanksgiving Or Christmas Because Everything Is Better With Bacon Grateful

Tired of your usual Thanksgiving turkey recipe? Give your holiday bird a bacon-wrapped update, with this recipe inspired by Better Homes & Gardens, and watch your family and friends drool when you bring it to the table! Bacon makes everything better, especially traditional recipes that deserve a prime place on our holiday menus but have become rather boring on the palate. The Thanksgiving turkey is one such holiday staple that needs a culinary revival. The beloved November holiday wouldn’t be complete without a turkey, and we’re thrilled to wrap it in strips of succulent, smoky bacon and give it a fancy new look and flavor. ALSO TRY: James Beard roasted turkey

Get under the turkey skin

Another innovative update to the traditional turkey recipe is slathering chopped bacon, onion and fresh sage directly on the turkey flesh. That means getting under the turkey skin. As the bird is cooking, the nuances of bacon, onion, and sage permeate the turkey meat, giving its savory taste exceptional depth. To prep the turkey, remove the giblets and neck bone from its cavity. You can discard these turkey parts or use them to make gravy. Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels. Loosen the breast skin of the turkey by sliding your fingers underneath it and carefully lifting the skin up from the turkey flesh without tearing the skin. Using your fingers, slide the chopped bacon, onion and sage mixture under the skin and rub it all over the breast and down toward the thighs.

Just stuff it!

The secret to adding flavor to your turkey is stuffing the cavity with tasty ingredients. Yes, we know that bread stuffing is traditional, but traditional does not necessarily mean tasty.

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Make butter and bacon mixture

Finely chop 2 slices of bacon. In a small bowl, combine chopped bacon, chopped onion and chopped fresh sage.

Apply butter and bacon mixture to turkey

Separate skin and rub mixture on the flesh of the turkey, underneath the skin.

Put onions and garlic inside the turkey

Salt and pepper the inside of the turkey cavity, then stuff it with fresh sage, sweet onion wedges, garlic cloves, orange slices and a bunch of fresh parsley. These yummy ingredients will give your turkey more flavor and make the turkey meat moist.

Get ready to roast

Secure the skin back over the turkey flesh, tuck the wings underneath its body, and tie the legs together with twine. Place the turkey breast-side up in a roasting pan.

Season the turkey

Generously brush the outside of the turkey with melted butter. Season it with salt and pepper. Weave bacon strips in a lattice pattern over the turkey breast and tuck fresh sage leaves underneath the bacon. As the turkey cooks, the bacon fat will melt into the turkey skin, and the bacon will caramelize into a covering of smoky goodness.

Roast turkey in the oven

Add extra orange slices, onions and garlic to the bottom of the roasting pan and pour in chicken broth. These last ingredients will steam their flavors into the turkey as it roasts. Loosely cover the roasting pan with foil and roast in the oven for 2-1/2 hours. Remove the foil and roast for an additional 30 minutes to 1-1/2 hours, until the internal temperature of the turkey thigh reaches 180F.

Let turkey rest

After roasting, remove the turkey from the oven. Allow the turkey to rest, covered with foil, for 20 minutes so the turkey juices can redistribute through the meat. This ensures that every delicious slab of roasted turkey will be at its best when you carve it.