A few Thanksgivings ago, I had officially reached the end of my rope! I was FED UP with trying to cook a turkey AND all of the sides using just my one oven. (Unfortunately my dream of having a double oven has not yet been realized!) I would either have to make my sides hours ahead of time, or make the turkey early and leave the sides until the last second. Neither option was really working for me, so I started searching for a better solution.
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And I ended up finding just the thing to solve my problem—an electric roaster oven! This countertop roaster turns out perfectly roasted and juicy turkeys every time, leaving my oven free to use as I see fit! I’ve used my trusty electric roaster for the past few Thanksgivings and Christmases, and now I can’t imagine cooking holiday meals without it.
Today I’ll be sharing you my step-by-step method for cooking a turkey in an electric roaster. Give it a try, and discover the joy of having more oven space during the holidays!
Related: This Is The One Checklist You Need For Thanksgiving Dinner
How To Cook A Turkey In An Electric Roaster
You’ll need:
- Turkey
- 5-gallon bucket
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup sugar
- Electric roaster oven
- Seasoning salt
- Garlic powder
- Pepper
- Olive oil or butter
Directions:
Step 1 – Brine
Start by brining the turkey. (Brining before cooking isn’t technically necessary, but it does help minimize moisture loss. It’s also traditional, so I’ve stuck with it!)
Drop your turkey into a clean bucket and fill with cold water. Then pour 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of sugar into water bucket as well. Give it a good stir to dissolve, then place the bucket in your fridge. You might have to move some shelves around to make this possible!) Let the turkey brine for 24 hours.
Step 2 – Stuff & Season
When the brining is complete, remove the turkey from the bucket and rinse it under cold water. Then pat it dry using some paper towels, and make sure to wash your sink thoroughly!
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If you’ll be stuffing your turkey, now is the time to do so! Add 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound of turkey. (We usually cook our stuffing separately, so I’ll just cut up a couple of lemons and an onion and put them in the cavity of the bird instead.)
Next, rub down the exterior of the turkey with olive oil or butter, and season heavily with seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper.
Step 3 – Cook
Place the turkey into the roasting pan breast side up, and set the pan inside your electric roaster. Cover, and turn the roaster on to its highest heat setting (mine goes to 450°, but yours might be different). Set a timer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, turn the temperature on the roaster down to 325°, then cook until the turkey is done. (The total cook time will depend on the size of your particular turkey. I recommend using a calculator like this one from Butterball.com to determine your total cook time!)
Starting with an approximate cook time in mind is helpful, but the best way to know that the turkey is done is to use a meat thermometer. Shoot for a temperature of 180°F in the thigh area and 165°F in the breast (and stuffing, if applicable).
I like to use a meat thermometer with a remote temperature gauge (like this one), because I don’t have to remove the lid to check the temperature during cooking. Since roasters are so small, taking the lid off can cause a drastic drop in temperature inside, so the less you have to remove the lid, the better off you’ll be!
Another good reason to take the “hands off!” approach is that you’ll keep more of the delicious juices and drippings in the roaster. This method will yield all the juices you will need to make lots of delicious gravy!
My final tip for the roasting process is to start keeping an eye on the temperature EARLY. When I started using this roaster method to cook our Thanksgiving turkey a few years back, I was surprised to find that the turkey was cooking faster than I had been anticipating! But due to how early I had started checking the temperature, I was able to turn down the heat to keep it from drying out.
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Step 4 – Rest & Serve
When your turkey is done cooking, remove it from the roaster and tent it with a large piece of foil. Let the turkey rest for at least 20 minutes (or up to an hour), then carve and serve!
You’ll have a juicy and tender turkey, without it holding your oven hostage all day!
My family was originally pretty skeptical about this method, but the delicious results turned them all into believers! Even my son eldest son Erik, who normally doesn’t even like turkey, said this method has completely changed his opinion about Thanksgiving turkey! That is a ringing endorsement if I’ve ever heard one! :-)
What’s your best tip for dealing with limited oven space during the holidays?
I watched a uTube on using an electric roast pan while cooking Turkey, and it said 1 hour 15 minutes?… does this sound right for a 15 pound turkey?
According to the ButterBall calculator, a 15 pound turkey would take 3 to 3 1/2 hours to roast. An hour and a half doesn’t sound like enough time to me, but I’m not exactly an expert! Be sure to temp the turkey – that’s the only way to know for sure!
Can I roast a stuffed turkey in my electric roaster? This will be my first time roasting a turkey in my roaster & want to stuff the turkey with the basic bread stuffing. How will stuffing affect the cooking time?
It will take a little longer to cook, but you’ll still follow this exact same method! Just be sure to temp both the stuffing, and the turkey!
not only do I use my roaster for my turkey, but I have made hotdog chili in my roaster and my ham. Its just easier for me since my 3 kiddos have practice or games the day before Thanksgiving its a full day of basketball practice for 2 of them a community service day at the nursing home for my oldest daughter and her team and Christmas play practice for all three from 10-7 today I’m busy lol
When the turkey is done can it just sit in the roaster on the lowest heat setting until carving time?
There’s a lot of heat in there – this would only work if you slightly undercooked the turkey to account for that extra bit of cooking time. :-)
How do you “seal” the lid to the electric roaster around the cord of the remote cooking thermometer? It works great in my oven (which has a flexible seal). Thanks!
My roaster doesn’t really seal shut anyways, so it ends up being cracked a bit for the cord. My cord is quite skinny, though, so I haven’t had any issues with it!
Ahhh-haven’t used the roaster yet, that makes sense. I have the same thermometer that you have the link to above, so it should work. Thanks! Happy Turkey (roasting) Day!
Perfect! Happy Thanksgiving Melissa!
Oh thank you! I bought this kind of roaster 2 years ago for the same reason. A HUGE family and only a single oven. Been afraid to try, but your instructions seem sensible and I actually have a remote cooking thermometer. I was warned to use the roaster on a different electrical circuit so as not to blow a fuse with all that’s going on in the kitchen.
Best of luck, Lois, you’ll love it!
I bought one just now because even though I have 2 to Venus I have over 20 people coming. I am trying it out this Thursday on a chicken to see how fast it cooks so I can judge the time to Cook the turkey. Thanks for the idea. I bought it three your site as well.
If you don’y need to have crispy skin, I have started to roast my bird breast side down. That way is absorbs everything your seasonings have to offer! I used to hate white meat because it was so dry. This is great for any bird.
I’ve roasted a turkey breast down before in the regular oven and it’s good, but I don’t think it’s necessary in the Oster roaster, because it self bastes like a crockpot and stays very moist. But I’ll see how today’s thanksgiving turkey turns out. This is only my third time roasting a turkey in it, so I’ll let you know. I like crispy skin… a lot. Happy roasting.
Great idea! I make my mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, broccoli casserole all a couple of weeks before and freeze. I have been doing this for years and ever since my son accidentally put my 5lbs. of mashed potatoes in the freezer instead of the fridge as I had told him to. What a break!! This year I am looking into freezing the pies as well!!! Thanksgiving dinner is a breeze when all the shopping and cooking and dish cleaning is done weeks in advance!!! btw, no one seems to be able to tell the difference in the freezing of… Read more »
After reading a similar tip last year, I made a double batch of dressing on Thanksgiving and froze half of it for Christmas dinner. It turned out perfectly! If nothing else, you could saute your veggies and other dressing additions (sausage, apples, etc.) in advance and freeze to save lots of time and cleanup on the day itself.
That’s amazing! Sounds like you’ve got Thanksgiving all figured out!
My grandmother always did the turkey in a roaster. I remember, as a small child, asking where the turkey was and the reply was “in the laundry room” This was in the mid-50’s. Now I do a turkey breast or a half turkey in a crockpot using a glaze of cranberry sauce and orange juice.