How to Stuff a Turkey with Apples: A Thanksgiving Tradition

This recipe for aromatic turkey with lemon, apple, and herb is simple to prepare and oozing with flavor. It’s moist, tender, and a great centerpiece for your holiday feast.

Tangled with Taste has republished this incredible turkey recipe post, which was first published in November 2016, to make it easier to “find.” ” .

©Tangled with Taste by TangledwithTaste. Originally published in October 2016, this recipe has been reposted for ease of access. Save it to your Holiday Feast board and follow Tangled with Taste on Pinterest for even more delicious recipes, tips, and inspiration!

After the “Butterflies in your Stomach” moment, find the full recipe—OUTLINED IN PINK—at the bottom of this post!

I don’t mean to brag, but I haven’t tried a better turkey recipe yet, especially considering the result! This is an amazingly easy yet incredibly delicious turkey recipe!

We brine our Thanksgiving turkey in an herb-lemon brine first—this is crucial—to keep it juicy and moist. This flavors the turkey meat. Plan for an hour per pound.

Next, we expertly season our turkey, stuff it with a delicious mixture of aromatic herbs and fruits, smear the skin with herb butter for extra moisture, and cook it until it is so tender that we can’t wait to eat it any longer. Plus I’ve got a secret for that oh-so-gorgeous-and-crispy skin without drying out the turkey meat!!!.

And find really great dinner table and quick and cute decor and activity ideas for your feast here.

(This is just a summary; the full recipe and instructions are located in the “Butterflies in your Stomach” section below.)

*Question: Without drying out the white meat, how can I cook my dark meat to perfection and get that crispy golden skin on my turkey?

*Answer: After stuffing the meat pocket, rub your bird’s skin down with your buttery fingers and a little extra oil right before putting it in the oven. Cook it for 30 minutes at a super high temperature. After that, remove your turkey from the oven and cover him with a foil hat to finish cooking. He’ll feel so dapper and taste so juicy. YAY!.

Square of aluminum foil, mold it around the breast (Only the breast! Leave the wings and legs exposed. ) of the Turkey (before the 500 degree roast). Remove molded aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Oil/Butter the turkey skin and roast at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Apply hat, and drop the temperature to 350 degrees for the remainder of the cooking time.

Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, and of course, delicious food. The centerpiece of the Thanksgiving table is often the turkey, and stuffing it with apples is a classic way to add flavor and moisture to the bird.

There are numerous ways to stuff apples into a turkey, but these are two common techniques:

Method 1: Using a Traditional Bread Stuffing

This method involves making a bread stuffing with apples, herbs, and other seasonings. After that, the stuffing is prepared independently of the turkey and placed inside the bird’s cavity before roasting.

Here is a recipe for a traditional bread stuffing with apples:

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground pork sausage
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 apples, chopped
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh sage
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. In a large skillet, brown the sausage and ground beef over medium heat. Drain off any excess fat.
  3. Add the onion, celery, carrots, apples, cranberries, walnuts, bread crumbs, parsley, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Stir to combine.
  4. Add the chicken broth and stir until the stuffing is moistened.
  5. Spoon the stuffing into the turkey cavity.
  6. Roast the turkey according to the recipe instructions.

Method 2: Using a Simple Apple-Sage Stuffing

This technique yields a tasty and flavorful stuffing but is quicker and simpler than the conventional method.

Here is a recipe for a simple apple-sage stuffing:

Ingredients:

  • 2 apples, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh sage
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, combine the apples, sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley, salt, and pepper.
  3. Add the chicken broth and stir until the stuffing is moistened.
  4. Spoon the stuffing into the turkey cavity.
  5. Roast the turkey according to the recipe instructions.

Tips for Stuffing a Turkey with Apples

  • Make sure the stuffing is cooked through before stuffing the turkey.
  • Don’t overstuff the turkey. The stuffing should be loose enough that it can expand as it cooks.
  • If you are using a pre-stuffed turkey, be sure to cook it to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
  • Let the turkey rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. This will allow the juices to redistribute and make the turkey easier to carve.

Additional Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What kind of apples are best for stuffing a turkey?

You can stuff a turkey with any kind of apple, but Granny Smith or other tart apples will give the stuffing a nice flavor.

  • Can I stuff a turkey the day before Thanksgiving?

Yes, you can stuff a turkey the day before Thanksgiving Just be sure to cook it to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (74 degrees C) before serving

  • Can I use a different type of stuffing for a turkey?

Yes, you can use any type of stuffing you like for a turkey. Some popular options include sausage stuffing, cornbread stuffing, and wild rice stuffing.

Foil Hat for Turkey

With a square of tin foil you cover the breast of your turkey. This makes the white meat cook at a slower rate than your dark meat (which is what we want, because dark meat requires a longer cooking time usually).

There’s a how-to video for creating this hat at the bottom of the post, after the recipe!

You should brine your turkey 1.5 hours per pound. However that time changes under the following circumstances:

  • Fresh turkey: Only brine a fresh turkey (never one that has been frozen) for about an hour per pound.
  • Turkey in an 8% solution of salts and spices: occasionally frozen turkey (E2%80%99s from particular brands) has been slightly pre-brined (E2%80%9Cs) in an 8% solution. If that note is on it, cut your own brining time down to one hour per pound of turkey.
  • Pre-brined turkey: Certain retailers sale actually fully brined turkeys. If you have a turkey that has already been brined, you can skip that step and go straight to the herb butter and aromatics.

Best Turkey Recipe Ever

Growing up, my absolute favorite Holidays were the ones that involved Turkey. I love love love me some Turkey. As an adult I decided I needed to perfect the Turkey recipe. There was just so much untapped potential being used at the centerpiece of everyone’s Thanksgiving dinner each year!.

On the first Thanksgiving I spent without my husband’s and my families, I went crazy for that turkey, and I have to admit, it was amazing!

Seriously guys, it was amazing.

However, it took way more work than was needed. I’ve spent the 8 years since that time honing and perfecting my turkey recipe. It still takes time, but this turkey recipe is worth every single second. Each year I have people begging to know how I made such a juicy flavorful turkey.

Dear Readers, today, I will share the step by step with y’all.

how to stuff a turkey with apples

(This is just a summary; the full recipe and instructions are located in the “Butterflies in your Stomach” section below.)

  • The first step is to bring your turkey, and it’s a crucial one at that. Plan for AT LEAST one hour per pound. I prefer 1. 5 hours though for lots of flavor. To make moist, flavorful meat, a turkey is essentially brined by soaking it in a solution of salt, water, and herbs. You can purchase a turkey that has already been brined if you don’t have time for this step. I always brine the turkey myself because I like to add herbs and citrus, but most brines just contain water, sugar, and salt. Using an oven bag or brine bag, I prefer to brine my turkey before covering it with the brine. After that, shut it, put the bag in a cooler with ice inside, or, if there’s room inside your refrigerator, put it inside, and let it soak. Herbs and lemon, the primary component of our brine, go well with turkey. Hey everyone, brining is so simple and worth the work! When are herbs not the best thing ever, in my opinion?
  • Fat (bacon grease is another option) is the second explanation for the butter beneath the skin. Turkey is not a particularly fatty meat and dries out easily, so basting the meat with a little extra fat beneath the skin helps prevent drying out while it cooks. Then, when we are ready to actually roast our turkey, we do this sneaky little thing where we create this fabulous little pocket between the skin and the meat of the bird and fill that up with a delicious herb butter that flavors not only the meat but the skin too!
  • Then, to intensify the flavor and gently sweeten the savory meat, stuff the bird’s cavity with some steeped herbaceous aromatics.
  • Then, we bake it by throwing it into our roasting pan.

*Question: Without drying out the white meat, how can I cook my dark meat to perfection and get that crispy golden skin on my turkey?

*Answer: After stuffing the meat pocket, rub your bird’s skin down with your buttery fingers and a little extra oil right before putting it in the oven. Cook it for 30 minutes at a super high temperature. After that, remove your turkey from the oven and cover him with a foil hat to finish cooking. He’ll feel so dapper and taste so juicy. YAY!.

Stuffing the turkey with apples, onions, and celery

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