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Herbed Butter Turkey with White Wine Gravy
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Herbed butter turkey with a white wine gravy

The perfect, classic, moist, flavorful main course for your thanksgiving.
Servings: 10

Ingredients

For the Turkey:

  • 1 20 lb turkey defrosted, neck and giblets removed
  • 3 sticks salted butter softened to room temp
  • 1/2 cup parsley chopped
  • 2 tbsp thyme stems removed, chopped
  • 3 tbsp rosemary stems removed, chopped
  • 1/4 cup sage chopped
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 large yellow onion peeled and cut in half
  • 1 lemon cut in half
  • 1 head garlic peeled and tips cut off
  • 6 thyme sprigs
  • 6 rosemary sprigs
  • 6 sage sprigs
  • 1 piece of cheesecloth
  • 6 cups chicken or turkey broth 2 32 oz containers

For the Gravy:

  • Pan drippings from your turkey fat strained out
  • 3/4 cup white wine divided
  • 6 tablespoons of flour
  • 6 tbsp salted butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 tbsp sage chopped
  • 2-3 cups chicken or turkey broth as needed

Instructions

Turkey:

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  • In a medium bowl, combine 2 sticks of the softened butter, chopped parsley, chopped thyme, chopped rosemary, chopped sage. Mix until the herbs are evenly spread out and it's well combined. 
  • Take your defrosted turkey (with neck and giblets removed) and pat dry. Place it in a large roasting pan. Lift the turkey skin off the meat and rub about 3/4 of the herbed butter mixture under the skin and on top of the skin. 
  • Rub the inside of the cavity with the salt and pepper. Now stuff it with the onion, lemon, garlic and the rosemary and thyme sprigs. 
  • In a saucepan, melt the remaining herbed butter and the third stick of butter. Take your cheese cloth and run it under a faucet to get it wet. Then wring out completely. Now take the cloth and submerge it in the melted butter, soaking up as much as you can. Lay that cheesecloth on top of the turkey. Pour any remaining melted butter on top of that. 
  • Pour the 2 containers of broth into the bottom of your pan and place in the oven. Roast at 450 degrees for 40 minutes. Then decrease temperature to 350 degrees and roast for a remaining 4 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. It's generally 15 minutes per pound. 
  • Remember to baste your turkey throughout the cooking process. I baste mine every 30 minutes because I'm in the kitchen anyways and it keeps the turkey incredibly moist. You can do every hour if you like. Rotate the pan once throughout the bake time.

Gravy:

  • Carefully ladle the pan drippings into a fat separator. Put the top lid on and pour into a medium bowl. Set aside. 
  • Using a medium pot, turn the heat to medium and add your butter. Melt it and then whisk in the flour. Cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add the white wine and cook until reduced down a bit. Slowly add the pan drippings into the pot. Keep whisking. 
  • Now add in the chopped sage, pepper and some chicken broth. I usually add about 1-2 cups. Cook 8-10 minutes stirring the whole time.
  • Taste your gravy and adjust flavors! If you want it thicker, add more flour. If you want it thinner, add more broth.