Step 1

Ensure your turkey is fully thawed before you begin.

Step 2

Then preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Step 3

Start by drying your turkey with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, herbs, salt, and pepper.

Step 4

Stuff your turkey with the sweet onion, garlic, celery, and lemon.

Step 5

Generously baste your turkey with the mayo rub.

Step 6

Cook your turkey for at 450 degrees for the first 20 minutes,  then drop the heat down to 350 degrees and cook the meat until a meat thermometer stuck in the thigh or breast temps at 165 degrees.

Step 7

If you don’t have a wireless meat thermometer, this is a great investment as you can monitor the temp while the meat still stays in the oven. It will save you the extra cooking time (and the hassle) or having to keep opening the oven to temp your turkey. Check out the wireless meat thermometer that we (and thousands of other cooks) recommend.

Step 8

Roasting a turkey will take 2.5 to 3.5 hours, depending on the size of your bird. If the exterior of the turkey starts to get too brown, place tinfoil on the parts that you’d like to stop browning. For us, this was the wings and the legs.

Step 9

Once your turkey reaches 165 degrees. Remove it from the oven to let the meat rest while you prepare your gravy.

Step 10

To make gravy from your mayo roasted turkey, just whisk the pan drippings with a slurry of a few tablespoons of flour that has been mixed with chicken stock.

Step 11

Add an additional cup or two of chicken stock and whisk the mixture over medium-low heat to simmer. Once the gravy reaches your desired thickness, it is done.