How To Dry Brine A Turkey

Step 1

First get a baking sheet pan and cover it with foil. Place a baking rack inside of it and set it aside (your turkey will go on this to dry brine). Get the turkey out of the refrigerator. You will need to make sure your turkey is defrosted before you dry brine it. Place it on a large cutting board or in a large tray where you can easily access all surfaces of the bird.

Step 2

Measure out the salt (I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt – Amazon affiliate link) and put it in a small bowl. You’ll want to keep it separate from the rest of the salt in your container or box as you’ll be touching the turkey and salt back and forth, and would contaminate the rest of the salt.

Step 3

Use paper towels to dry off the turkey as best you can. Lift the skin on one section of the turkey – I usually start at the tail end of the turkey – and gently push your finger between the skin and the meat. You may need to make small sweeping motions with your finger to separate the two as sometimes there’s a thin membrane that attaches them together.

Step 4

Keep separating the skin from the meat all the way along up to the other end of the bird along both breasts – at this point your wrist will be under turkey skin, which will feel weird but is what should happen! The skin of the bird is fairly tough and unless you have very sharp fingernails it should stay intact.

Step 5

Next move on to thighs and legs, again separating the skin from the meat. This section is a little trickier as it can be hard to get to the wings, but just get down as far as you can. The further you get, the better, as it will allow you to put salt on more of the turkey’s surface area. You won’t do this for the wings as it’s much harder to get under the skin for not as much meat.

Step 6

Next, take a teaspoon or two of salt between your fingers, lift up part of the skin on the bird with the other hand and rub the salt directly on the meat of the bird underneath the skin. Repeat this step until the breasts, thighs, and legs are all salted. There should be a teaspoon or two of salt left over once this is done. Sprinkle half the remaining salt over the skin of the bird, rubbing the salt in with your hands. Sprinkle the last little bit over the inside of the bird (or in the bird if your turkey is not spatchcocked).

Step 7

Place the turkey on the wire rack that’s in the sheet pan and put it in the fridge to brine. Try to keep all of the turkey appendages on the sheet pan so they don’t poke out into other areas of your fridge. You may want to tuck the wings under the breasts as well. You can cover it loosely with plastic wrap if you’re worried about rubbing against the raw meat, but don’t cover it too tightly as you want the skin to dry out a bit.

Step 8

Leave the turkey in the fridge for at least 24 hours, but up to 72 hours (3 days). Be sure and remove it from the fridge at least 30 minutes before you plan to cook it, whichever method you choose.