The easiest Thanksgiving turkey bastes itself

This recipe is part of our Guide to Classic Thanksgiving, a collection of simple recipes for timeless holiday dishes to make this year and for years to come.

The perfect Thanksgiving turkey is one that is simple to prepare — prepped the day before you need it — and tastes great with no basting. This method stuffs seasoned butter under the skin of the turkey so the butter bastes the turkey meat while it roasts (this also helps get salt into the meat to effectively “brine” it from the inside). At the same time, it crisps up the skin on top beautifully.

Get the recipe:

Perfect Thanksgiving roast turkey

Time 6 hours, largely unattended, plus 1 day

Yields Serves 12