Make Ahead Roast Turkey with Gravy
Serves 2
20 mins prep
210 mins cook
120 mins Resting Time
0 mins total
A juicy roast turkey made in advance, carved and layered over a flavorful gravy ready to reheat right before the main event. This recipe saves so much time and stress on the big day making your holiday hosting much more enjoyable!
Turkey Gravy
Prepare the turkey…
An hour before you plan to roast the turkey, unwrap it, remove anything from inside the cavity and pat the turkey dry with paper towels
Let the turkey come to room temperature for a full hour
Roast the turkey…
Preheat your oven to 450° and place a rack on the second to lowest setting
Drain any liquids from the cavity of the turkey and transfer it onto a roasting pan
Tuck the wings under the turkey and use baking twine to tie the legs together
Re-dry the turkey skin with paper towels
Brush about 1/4 cup of olive oil over the entire turkey and season generously with your favorite seasoning
Pour 32 ounces of stock, beer or white wine into the base of the roasting pan and add 2 garlic bulbs (with the tops sliced off) and 2 halved oranges into the liquid
Roast the turkey uncovered at 450° for 45 minutes
Lightly cover the turkey with foil and reduce the oven’s temperature to 325°
Set a timer for 60 minutes and allow the oven’s temperature to slowly reduce to 325°
After 60 minutes, set a new timer for 60 minutes and baste the turkey with the pan drippings every 15 minutes during that 60 minutes
After roasting for a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes, a 14 pound turkey will be cooked through or close to it, so start keeping an eye on the internal temperature and when the turkey reaches 160° in the thickest part, remove it from the oven and let it rest lightly covered with foil for 20 minutes
Use tongs to carefully squeeze the garlic cloves out of the bulb and start your gravy while the turkey is resting
Make the gravy…
Place a saucepan over medium heat and melt 2 tablespoons of butter
While the butter is melting, whisk 1/4 cup of cornstarch into 1/2 cup of water until smooth in a separate bowl and set it aside for now
Place a strainer over the saucepan and carefully pour the liquid from the roasting pan thru it (discard the peels from the gravy and orange halves)
Bring the mixture to a low simmer
Stir in the cornstarch mixture and simmer until thickened
Taste and add salt and black pepper to taste
Assemble the turkey platter…
Ladle about 1/2” of gravy into a deep rimmed oven safe platter large enough to hold your carved turkey
Cover the remaining gravy and chill until ready to use
Once the turkey has rested, carve it and arrange the sliced and pieces in a single layer over the gravy
When all of the turkey has been carved, cover the platter tightly with foil and chill until ready to reheat
Reheating the turkey…
Bring the platter out of the refrigerator an hour before you plan on reheating it
Preheat your oven to 325°
Remove the foil from the platter and reheat the turkey in a 325° oven for 20-25 minutes or until hot
Reheat the leftover gravy over medium to medium low heat until steaming
