Last Updated on November 16, 2023 by Carne Diem
Origin: North American, American
Method: Stovetop
Jump to RecipeElevate your Thanksgiving or holiday turkey with this Apple Cider Turkey brine. This turkey brine recipe works wonderfully with whole turkeys, turkey breasts, or turkey legs, and is one of the best poultry brine recipes for smoked turkey. Our holiday turkey brine provides the perfect balance of salty, sweet, and savory making for an epic Thanksgiving turkey.
Table of contents
Why Brine Turkey?
Brining a turkey helps reduce moisture loss in the turkey during the cook. It is estimated that wet brining a turkey can decrease moisture loss by up to 40%, preventing that dreaded dry white meat. Brining is a well known technique for juicy turkey. It also has other benefits like decreasing the total cooking time of the turkey. The use of a simple turkey brine like this recipe, can help you keep that moisture locked into your Thanksgiving turkey
Making the Apple Cider Turkey Brine
To make the Apple Cider Brine for turkey, you will need apple cider, Kosher salt, brown sugar, plus some assorted spices, herbs, and aromatics. Prep your ingredients by cutting the oranges and apples into 8ths. Thinly slice the ginger and garlic.
Add the water and apple cider to a large pot along with the salt and brown sugar. Slowly bring the liquid to a boil, stirring frequently until all of the salt and sugar is dissolved.
Add the remaining ingredients, except the ice, to the pot and return to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the ice. Cover and place in the refrigerator until cooled.
Place your turkey in a large brining bag or brining bucket and cover with the brine. Seal and place in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours. If using a brining bag, we still find it helpful to place the bag in a bucket or large pot to help keep the brine coving as much of the turkey as possible. Be sure to use a heavy duty brining bag for your holiday turkey, you do not want to risk the brine leaking all over your refrigerator.
When you are ready to cook, remove the turkey from the brine and briefly rinse. Pat the outside of the turkey dry and use your favorite method for cooking the turkey. For us, there is nothing better than a brined and smoked turkey. For a super simple smoked turkey breast recipe give our Weekday Thanksgiving Smoked Turkey Breast a try.
What to Serve with your Apple Cider Brined Thanksgiving Turkey
Enjoy your super juicy and flavorful turkey. Serve it up with some of our other Thanksgiving favorites:
- Holiday Stuffing with Truffle Sausage
- Grilled Apple Cranberry Salad
- Fall Bourbon Blitz
- White Castle Holiday Stuffing
- Grilled Corn and Goat Cheese Salad
- Fried Boursin Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
Frequently Asked Questions
For a whole turkey you will want to have the turkey in the wet brine overnight or up to 24 hours. We do not recommend brining poultry for much longer that 24 hours because prolonged brining can result in a spongy texture to the meat. Prolonged brining may also result in the turkey being too salty. We simply prepare the Apple Cider Turkey Brine the day before then brine the turkey in the refrigerator overnight until the turkey is ready to go in the smoker or oven.
Wet brining turkey and other poultry does in fact decrease the overall cooking time, as the salt and moisture in the turkey helps speed heat transfer through the turkey. In general, expect a brined turkey to cook 1-2 minutes quicker per pound than an un-brined turkey. With any turkey, we recommend monitoring the cook with a temperature probe to be sure you are pulling the turkey out of the oven or off of the smoker when it is most juicy.
No, used turkey brine should be discarded and you need to make a new batch of brine for additional turkeys.
Adding ice helps to rapidly decrease the temperature of the cooked brine, bringing it out of the "danger zone" when bacterial growth is most likely to occur, much quicker. Meat should only ever be added to a cooled brine.
While it will not harm anything to brine a turkey breast, it is not typically necessary as long as you are removing the breast at the proper temperature. Brines are most helpful when you will be cooking whole birds where different sections of the meat will be finishing at different temperatures. In addition, most turkey breasts come shipped in a brine solution already.
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📖 Recipe
Apple Cider Turkey Brine
Equipment
- Large pot
- Brining bag or bucket
Ingredients
- 2 Quarts Apple Cider
- 1 Cup Kosher Salt
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Oranges cut into 8ths
- 1 Apple cut into 8ths
- 1 Inch Ginger sliced
- 10 Whole Cloves
- 4 Bay Leaves
- 4 Garlic Cloves sliced
- 1 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns
- 1 Sprig Sage about 10 leaves
- 2 Sprigs Thyme
- 4 Cups Water
- 6 Cups Ice
Instructions
- Prep your ingredients by cutting the oranges and apples into 8ths. Thinly slice the ginger and garlic.
- Add the water and apple cider to a large pot along with the salt and brown sugar. Slowly bring the liquid to a boil, stirring frequently until all of the salt and sugar is dissolved.
- Add the remaining ingredients, except the ice, to the pot and return to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the ice. Cover and place in the refrigerator until cooled.
- Place your turkey in a large brining bag or brining bucket and cover with the brine. Seal and place in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours. See note
- When you are ready to cook, remove the turkey from the brine and briefly rinse. Pat the outside of the turkey dry and use your favorite method for cooking the turkey.
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