Aromatic Spiced Turkey
Bring a new twist to your Thanksgiving table by making this delicious no-brine Spiced Persian Turkey. It's juicy, tasty and filled with aromatic spices that will take your Thanksgiving dinner to a whole new world!
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 4 hr
- Yield
- 15 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 turkey (About 11 pounds)
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 3 large carrots (cut into chunks)
- 6 celery stalks (cut into chunks)
- 2 tomatoes (cut into chunks)
- 3 lemons (cut into quarters)
- 3 onions (cut into quarters)
- 10 cloves garlic (peeled)
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 cup bloomed saffron (See notes)
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 1 cup walnuts (chopped)
- 1/2 cup barberries (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare your roasting pan.
- 2
Pat dry inside and outside of the turkey completely.
- 3
Compound butter:
- 4
Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl, using your hands, create space between the meat and the skin on the turkey and rub the compound butter everywhere under the skin and on the meat, especially the breast.
- 5
Stuff the turkey:
- 6
Mix the carrots, celery, tomatoes, lemons, onion and garlic in a large bowl. Stuff the turkey and sew it completely or seal it using toothpicks. Spread the rest on the vegetables at the bottom of the roasting pan.
- 7
Olive oil spice mix:
- 8
In a small bowl mix the olive oil with turmeric, paprika, bloomed saffron and salt. Brush it all over the turkey completely.
- 9
Place the turkey in the roasting pan and roast in the oven for one hour. Then cover it with aluminum foil and roast for another 2 1/2 hours. Brush it with olive oil mixture and baste the turkey every 30 minutes.
- 10
Insert a thermometer into the thigh, it should reach 170°F and then the turkey is done.
- 11
Cover with aluminum foil for 30 minutes and then carve.
- 12
Persian Caramelized Walnuts:
- 13
Heat olive oil in a pan, saute onion until translucent. Add in walnuts and stir for a minute. Add in the barberris, turmeric, salt and pomegranate molasses and cook for two minutes. Turn the heat off and add pomegranate arils.
- 14
Serve the turkey with Persian Caramelized Walnuts.