Classic Christmas Turkey with Stuffing
Celebrate Christmas with our Classic Christmas Turkey. It is generously stuffed with a savoury medley of leek, celery, garlic, and a fragrant blend of sage, parsley, rosemary, and thyme, and then perfectly roasted to golden perfection.
How long will it take?
4 ½ hours
What’s the serving size?
Serves 12
What do I need?
For the Stuffing
- ½ cup salted butter
- 2 leeks, halved, thinly sliced
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 400 g day old sourdough bread, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup fresh sage, chopped
- ¼ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp rosemary, chopped
- 1 tsp thyme leaves
- 1 ½ cups vegetable stock
For the Turkey
- 7 – 8 kg whole turkey
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- Salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ litres chicken stock, divided
How do I make it?
- Prepare stuffing by melting butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add leeks, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add bread to a bowl and pour over leek mixture. Add sage, parsley, rosemary, and thyme and toss to coat. Add vegetable stock and toss again. Set aside while you prepare the turkey.
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Pat turkey dry with paper towel and place breast-side up on a rack in a large roasting pan.
- Loosely fill the turkey cavity with stuffing. Rub skin with softened butter and season with salt and pepper.
- Add 2 cups of chicken stock to the roasting pan and loosely cover the turkey with foil. Cook for 2 ½ hours, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes. When the chicken stock has nearly evaporated add another 2 cups to the pan. Continue, adding stock as needed during the first 2 ½ hours of cooking, then remove the foil from the turkey and continue cooking for a further 1 ½ hours, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 75C.
- Remove turkey from oven and cover. Allow to rest for 30 minutes before carving.
TOP TIPS
- The bread for the stuffing needs to be at least one day old for best results. If your bread is not stale, add chopped bread to a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes in a 170C oven to dry it out before making the stuffing.
