Bacon Basted Turkey

SERVES: 8

COOK TIME: 3 Hr 40 Min

Our Test Kitchen is busy creating new recipes using bacon, because its popularity has gone through the roof. Well, we've come up with a great spin on traditional turkey with our Bacon Basted Turkey, which offers a blend of traditional and new.

What You'll Need

1 (12- to 14-pound) turkey, thawed, if frozen
1 pound bacon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups hot turkey gravy

What to Do

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Remove neck and giblets from turkey and reserve them for another use or discard. Rinse turkey inside and out with cold water then pat dry and place in pan.
In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat until crisp; drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Pour bacon fat into a small bowl and add oil, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and salt; mix well.
Brush half the bacon-oil mixture on outside of turkey. Add enough water to roasting pan to fill it 1/4-inch deep. Cover turkey loosely with aluminum foil.
Roast turkey 3 hours, basting occasionally with bacon-oil mixture. Remove foil and roast about 30 more minutes, or until internal temperature of the thickest part of the thigh registers 180 degrees F. on a meat thermometer.
Meanwhile, crumble bacon coarsely and sprinkle half on turkey before serving. Stir remaining crumbled bacon into hot gravy, and serve.

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Linda 2763410

Nov 27, 2017

I made this recipe this Thanksgiving using mrgerie 2645418's method, and it was the best of any turkey I have ever eaten. It was moist and flavorful.

ToniH

Jan 26, 2014

Do you have more recipes where you use the grease from Bacon I don't have to fry bacon anymore but I cook with bacon grease a lot THANKS Hot Belly Bacon Grease I use bacon grease to cook corn bread grill steaks grill shrimp lots of vegetables love to fry squash in it to make a roux for gumbo beef tips beef stew crawfish pies etc I want to try some new recipes I love it and was very surprised that it's only calories per serving when I use it to season I know that it's a lot more calories when I make my gumbo but I make a huge pot at a time The kind that I use doesn't have any trans fats and I was shocked to see that it has NO salt I just love the bacon hickory flavor to things I just want to try some new…Read More recipes Wish that I would have had this turkey recipe for the holidays but glad that I found it Thanks for sharing

mrgerie 2645418

Nov 18, 2011

All the bacon flavor is on the skin, and now days about 80% do not eat the skin. What I thought of last summer with a chicken, and I did this last Thanksgiving to my turkey, was to separate the skin from the breast and slid bacon strips under the skin all the way to the front and keep adding all the to the back of the bird. The bacon keeps the meat moist and adds a lot of flavor. I received a lot of complements on the recipe.