PW’s Homemade Turkey Brine

Ingredients

• 2 gallons Water
• 2 cups Apple Juice
• 2 cups Kosher Salt (can Decrease To 1 1/2 Cups If You're Concerned About Salt)
• 2 cups Brown Sugar
• 2 cloves Garlic, Crushed
• 5 pieces Bay Leaves
• 3 Tablespoons Black Peppercorns
• 1 Tablespoon Dried Rosemary
• 2 whole Peel Of Oranges (Sliced Off The Fruit, Avoiding As Much Of The White Pith As Possible, Then Roughly Chopped)

Preparation Instructions

(This is enough for a 20-lb fresh turkey. You can decrease the quantity for a smaller bird.)

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn off heat immediately, cover, and allow mixture to come to room temperature. Cool mixture in the fridge until you’re ready.

To brine the turkey, remove turkey from wrapper, remove gross bags, and rinse thoroughly under cool water.

Place the turkey into a plastic brining bag (available at many kitchen shops, maybe even stores like Target) or a very large pot.

Pour cool brine mixture over the top, adding extra cold water if you need more to cover. Seal bag or cover pot and allow turkey to brine in refrigerator for 8 to 18 hours before roasting.

Before roasting, remove turkey from brine and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Pat dry. Discard brine.

Notes:

When you brine your turkey, the drippings are quite salty. For this reason, it is VERY important that you use a no-sodium (or low-sodium) chicken broth when you make the turkey gravy. Also, I often will cut the drippings with the giblet water to decrease the saltiness.

Many frozen turkeys are injected with a sodium solution—it’s best NOT to brine these turkeys! Brining fresh turkeys is the way to go.