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Easy, Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey with Primal Kitchen’s Avocado Oil and Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade
The bane of many American home cooks’ existence on the fourth Thursday of every year, the Thanksgiving turkey can evoke anxiety-riddled dreams days before the feast, cause smoky backyard fires when deep-fried carelessly, and be a lackluster, dry, and tasteless centerpiece when not prepared and cooked properly. Whether it’s a family affair or friendsgiving, every cook hopes to barge out of the humid, war-torn battlefield that was once a kitchen to present a bronzed, shiny bird with crackled, tan skin and moist, tender meat, place it on the dining table, savor the gasps and applause from ravenous guests, then collapse into a chair to chug a glass of chardonnay.
Save yourself the turkey drama this year and any frantic calls to turkey hotlines (yes, this is actually a thing) by learning this easy injection method. This recipe used a meat injector syringe to add Primal Kitchen’s acidic, herby, and well-seasoned Avocado Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette to the interior of the turkey, and slathered the bird in room-temperature melted butter to ensure even browning and plenty of moisture. This turkey cooking method doesn’t include adjusting oven temperatures, helicopter babysitting and basting in timed increments (only one round of basting with melted butter recommended in the last hour of roasting for our method), or flipping a half-cooked, dripping bird inelegantly in the roasting pan.
You might feel a bit like a mad scientist, plunging vinaigrette into the turkey, but it beats brining the bird for a day or two in a ridiculously large container that doesn’t fit in the refrigerator. Get that needle, buy the bird and two bottles of Primal Kitchen’s Avocado Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette.
Easy, Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey
Time: about 17 hours
Servings: 14–15
Nutritional information (per serving; approximate about 15 servings for a 14-pound bird):
Calories: 702
Carbs: 0.5 grams
Fat: 41 grams
Protein: 79 grams
What you need:
- 1 14-pound turkey (We used a ButcherBox all-natural turkey fed an all-vegetable diet)
- 1 ½ cups Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade*
- Plenty of salt
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 4 apples, sliced
- 4 carrots, cut into 3”-long pieces
- 4 celery stalks, cut into 3”-long pieces
- 12 garlic cloves, separated
- 6 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 10 stems fresh thyme
- 10 stems fresh sage
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
- Freshly cracked black pepper
*You’ll need 2 bottles of Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette for a 14-pound turkey.
Equipment
- 1 Meat Injector Syringe (The recipe used this one.)
- 1 large meat roasting pan with metal grate
- 1 roll aluminum foil
- 1 turkey baster
- Blender
- Meat thermometer
Instructions
The night before you roast the turkey…
- If frozen, make sure the turkey is thawed completely before starting preparation process.
- Remove giblets and neck from body cavity of turkey and rinse turkey thoroughly with cool water. Pat turkey dry completely with paper towels.
- Blitz Avocado Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette in a blender for 10–15 seconds.
- Pour vinaigrette into injection syringe, and start poking the needle into the flesh of the turkey and injecting the vinaigrette inside the bird.
- You want to insert the needle just far enough into the meat that the vinaigrette doesn’t just run out of the bird. Add more vinaigrette to the syringe as necessary until you’ve evenly injected vinaigrette all over the bird. Plan to make about 30–40 injections into a large bird.
The day you want to roast the turkey…
- Place the turkey in the refrigerator, covered, if desired, for about 12 hours to allow the vinaigrette to distribute throughout the bird.
- Remove turkey from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature on the counter, about 20 minutes or so.
- Season the turkey liberally inside and outside with salt.
- Place cut onions, apples, carrots, celery, garlic, and half of the herbs inside of the cavity of the turkey. Scatter any remaining fruit, veggies, and herbs onto the bottom of the turkey roasting pan.
- Place stuffed turkey on top of the roasting rack.
- Preheat oven to 325ºF.
- In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt better. Set aside to cool.
- Pour half of the melted butter on top of the bird. Massage butter onto the outside skin of the turkey with your hands so that it’s completely coated.
- Grind fresh cracked black pepper on top of the turkey.
- Place a tent of aluminum foil over the turkey and place in the oven. Roast for approximately 15 minutes per pound. For our 14-pound bird, we roasted it in the oven for about 3.5 hours total.
- About one hour before the cooking time is done for the size of your turkey, remove the aluminum foil tent.
- Baste the turkey with remaining melted butter, and allow to roast and brown for another hour.
- When the cooking time is complete, remove the turkey from the oven.
- Insert a meat thermometer inside the breast of the turkey (away from any bone) and read the temperature. A reading of 173ºF indicates that the turkey is fully cooked.
- Allow the turkey to rest for 20–30 minutes before carving (you can tent it with aluminum foil again to keep it warm).
Douse and dress with the best: PRIMAL KITCHEN® Avocado Oil and Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade! Organic red wine vinegar and organic stone ground mustard meet avocado oil for a deliciously zesty, flavorful dressing.
It’s easy being green with dressing this good! A classic oil and vinegar dressing upgrade, PRIMAL KITCHEN® Avocado Oil and Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade is made with pure avocado oil and high-quality, organic ingredients like organic red wine vinegar and organic stone ground mustard with no sugar*. Enhance the flavor of your fresh salad favorites, and let lean meats marinate for a bold taste with this classic oil and vinegar dressing upgrade.
- Made with Avocado Oil, High-Quality Organic Red Wine Vinegar & Organic Ingredients
- Bold, Zesty Flavor
- Whole30 Approved®, Keto Certified & Paleo Friendly Sugar Free* ( *Not a low calorie food)
When you clean up your diet and start eating real food, it’s the sauces, dressing and toppings that can make an otherwise bland meal exciting. That’s why Mark Sisson created Primal Kitchen condiments and dressings—to add uncompromisingly delicious flavor to every single bite.
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My Kamado Joe’s New Best Friend – Primal Kitchen’s Hawaiian Style BBQ Sauce
When I complained to my husband Ryan about the fact that we can’t go out to eat, I was truly meaning it. Of course I miss the restaurant foods, especially BBQ! How can we make charcoal grilled steak, pulled pork, and lamb chops like the ones we eat at a professional BBQ place? No way. But! I was wrong. Because Ryan got a Kamado Joe’s! Yes, the big red baby. It is pretty pricy, but he loves it, and we use it everyday. So if you ask me is Kamado Joe’s worthy of the price? I will say yes for sure. From then on, I don’t miss BBQ restaurant at all. We tried steaks, ribs, whole duck… all come out amazing! And how about a pulled pork sandwich? I think we need a great BBQ sauce.
Primal Kitchen gives us a perfect solution when we find they have a Hawaiian BBQ Style Sauce, making our smoky pulled pork a nice tropical flavor, so yummy.
But what if you don’t have a Kamado Joe’s or if you don’t like pulled pork? Hawaiian BBQ Sauce is still a great sauce that you can use for many other things. Let’s take a closer look about this fantastic sauce.
Hawaiian Style BBQ Sauce
Add a little “aloha” to pulled pork or cauliflower bites with PRIMAL KITCHEN® Hawaiian Style BBQ Sauce! This island-inspired sauce is USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, Whole30 Approved® and Certified Paleo…and full of flavorful ingredients like organic pineapple juice and coconut aminos. Braise and glaze for huli huli chicken, or slather on salmon.
Take a tropical taste-trip to Hawaii with PRIMAL KITCHEN® Hawaiian Style BBQ Sauce! Infused with island-inspired, mouth-watering ingredients like coconut aminos, organic pineapple juice, and natural smoke flavor, this succulent sauce is savory and sweet. Slather onto gluten-free buns with cooked cubed pork for a Polynesian-fusion bao bun, baste grilled meats, or switch up a pineapple turkey teriyaki burger with this smoky, full-bodied sauce. USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified, this versatile sauce is made without high-fructose corn syrup, and is Whole30 Approved® and Certified Paleo.
- USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified
- Whole30 Approved®, Certified Paleo
- No High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Using this sauce for a Paleo and Whole30 Lettuce Cups
The quick, five-ingredient (seasoning and cilantro aside) Whole30 and paleo lettuce cups recipe is the perfect weeknight dinner recipe when you’re short one time, bothered from your commute, and starving. Simply chop a bell pepper, brown ground pork, stir together a few other ingredients, and dinner’s done. Primal Kitchen Hawaiian-Style BBQ Sauce accents the unctuous ground pork and sweetness of the red bell pepper and pineapple with smoky, savory, Island-kissed flavor. Scoop straight from the skillet, or pile atop of lettuce leaves, and devour.
Paleo and Whole30 Lettuce Cups
Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 cup red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup pineapple tidbits (no sugar added)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup Primal Kitchen Hawaiian-Style BBQ Sauce
- Butter lettuce, cleaned and separated into cups
- 1 teaspoon cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add ground pork. Break meat up with a wooden spoon or spatula. Cook meat until browned, stirring frequently, about 4–5 minutes.
- Remove meat from skillet and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
- Add diced red bell pepper to skillet and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add pineapple tidbits to the skillet and cook for 1 minute.
- Add pork back to the skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stir. Pour in BBQ sauce, and stir well.
- Serve the pork in lettuce cups. Sprinkle with cilantro, and serve.
Nutrition Info (per serving; about 3 ounces of the meat mixture):
Calories: 270
Carbs: 10 grams
Fat: 16 grams
Protein: 21 grams
Nutritional information calculated using Cronometer.
About Mark Sisson & PRIMAL KITCHEN®
Mark Sisson, New York Times bestselling author, media personality, ex-endurance athlete (5th place USA Marathon Championship, 4th place Hawaii Ironman finish) founded the PRIMALKITCHEN® brand in 2015. He has been educating the world on nutrition and the benefits of fat and protein for the last decade via his blog, MarksDailyApple.com.
With the launch of the PRIMAL KITCHEN® brand, Mark Sisson delivers on his mission to create uncompromisingly delicious condiments, sauces, cooking oils, collagen peptides and pantry staples that are made with fats we love and clean ingredients, and contain no dairy, gluten, grain, refined sugar or soy. PRIMAL KITCHEN is the maker of the #1 condiment in natural grocery, the #1 salad dressing brand in natural grocery, and #1 product in six key condiment categories in natural grocery: mayo, salad dressing, BBQ sauce, steak sauce, ketchup and avocado oil. As Mark would say, Eat Like Your Life Depends on It, because it does. Learn more at primalkitchen.com.
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