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Easy Maple Brined Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing

Posted by Abel James | Last Updated: November 25, 2019

How to make our favorite Maple Brined Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing: bit.ly/rsttrky

Maple Brined Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing
 
Save Print
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
4 hours
Total time
4 hours 15 mins
 
Brining your turkey makes it juicy and perfectly salted… but brining with maple syrup also adds that element of sweetness that makes your taste buds jump!
Author: Abel James
Ingredients
  • 1 organic, free-range turkey (16 – 22 pounds), giblets removed
  • 8 – 10 quarts pure filtered water
  • 2 cups pure maple syrup
  • 2 cups sea salt
  • ¼ cup whole black peppercorns
  • 1 bunch fresh thyme
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 4 cups wild or brown rice, cooked
  • 1 apple, cored and chopped
  • 1 red onion, peeled and chopped
Instructions
Directions for brining (Start brining 1 day ahead):
  1. Place water, maple syrup, salt, peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaves into a large stockpot and bring to a boil, stirring, until the salt completely dissolves.
  2. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
  3. Line a second large stock pot (or bucket) with an extra-large roasting bag or unscented garbage bag. Place the turkey inside.
  4. Pour the brine over the turkey to completely cover. Close the bag and tie shut.
  5. Refrigerate overnight (up to 24 hours). If you don’t have room in the refrigerator, simply place the stockpot into a large wash sink or bucket filled with ice. Temperature must be kept at 40°F or below.
Directions for roasting:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Remove the turkey from the bag and pat dry. Discard brine.
  3. Stuff the cavity with chopped apple, chopped red onion, and cooked rice.
  4. Place turkey in a roasting pan fitted with a roasting rack and completely cover with foil. (For extra juicy breast meat, position your turkey breast-side down in the roasting rack.)
  5. Roast the turkey for 15 minutes per pound, removing the foil during the last hour for a crispy, golden skin. Example: If your turkey is 17 pounds, you'll cook it for a total of 4 hours and 15 minutes, or until a food thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg reaches at least 165°F.
  6. Carve turkey, and mix a bit of the drippings from the bottom of the pan in with the Wild Rice Stuffing from the cavity of the bird.
  7. Dig in.
Notes
After all the meat is carved from the turkey, add the leftover carcasses and bones to your slow cooker, fill with purified water, and add a splash of vinegar (about 1 tablespoon). Cook on low for at least 4 hours (up to 24 hours). This will make a delicious turkey soup stock that will be rich in minerals and protein, and can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or as a snack.
3.4.3177

If you’re anything like me, you’re already drooling thinking about your Thanksgiving feast…

Roast turkey wafting from the oven, sweet potatoes, cranberries— and don’t forget the stuffing!

How to make our favorite Maple Brined Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing: bit.ly/rsttrkyI dig stuffing, and as much as we’d all like to go on pretending that stuffing was invented by the Pilgrims and Native Americans on this day of gratitude… it wasn’t.

Stuffing the cavity of a roasted animal has been around since our wild ancestors first started, well, roasting animals!

How to make our favorite Maple Brined Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing: bit.ly/rsttrky

Once the organs are removed, it makes sense to fill the cavity with other things that could potentially be delicious. So, then our little Pilgrims opened up their bag of bread cubes—

Wait! No, they didn’t!

Let’s bust another myth. It’s very unlikely that Pilgrims stuffed their fowl with bread—wheat flour was rare in New England in 1621.

In fact, they may not have even had turkey, as wild pheasant, geese, and duck were much more abundant… but that’s for another conversation entirely.

Historians believe that the first Thanksgiving fowl would have been stuffed with nuts, onion, spices, organ meats, and perhaps apples, squash, or rice.

These ingredients are much closer to what our ancestors were stuffing their roasted meats with 500,000 years ago.

How to make our favorite Maple Brined Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing: bit.ly/rsttrky

In fact, the oldest known cookbook, Apicius de re Coquinaria, written in Rome in the early 1st Century A.D., records recipes for stuffed fowl, pig, and even dormouse (yes, mouse) consisting of chopped herbs, vegetables, nuts, and organ meats.

Today, we’d like to share our favorite turkey recipe stuffed with wild rice.

When your stuffing is flavored right, you don’t miss the stale bread at all.

How to make our favorite Maple Brined Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing: bit.ly/rsttrky

How Long To Cook Your Turkey

Roast the turkey at 350°F for 15 minutes per pound, removing the foil during the last hour for crispy, golden skin.

Example: If your turkey is 17 pounds, you’ll cook it for a total of 4 hours and 15 minutes (or until a food thermometer reaches at least 165°F). Set your timer to remove the foil after 3 hours and 15 minutes, so it’ll get that nice golden crispy skin by roasting uncovered for the last hour in the oven.

We did the math for you! Here’s a Cook Time Chart based on the turkey’s weight:

  • 10-pound turkey: cook for a total of 2 hours and 30 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 1 hour and 30 minutes)
  • 11-pound turkey: cook for a total of 2 hours 45 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 1 hour and 45 minutes)
  • 12-pound turkey: cook for a total of 3 hours (set timer to remove foil after 2 hours)
  • 13-pound turkey: cook for a total of 3 hours 15 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 2 hours and 15 minutes)
  • 14-pound turkey: cook for a total of 3 hours 30 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 2 hours 30 minutes)
  • 15-pound turkey: cook for a total of 3 hours 45 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 2 hours 45 minutes)
  • 16-pound turkey: cook for a total of 4 hours (set timer to remove foil after 3 hours)
  • 17-pound turkey: cook for a total of 4 hours 15 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 3 hours 15 minutes)
  • 18-pound turkey: cook for a total of 4 hours 30 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 3 hours 30 minutes)
  • 19-pound turkey: cook for a total of 4 hours 45 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 3 hours 45 minutes)
  • 20-pound turkey: cook for a total of 5 hours (set timer to remove foil after 4 hours)
  • 21-pound turkey: cook for a total of 5 hours 15 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 4 hours 15 minutes)
  • 22-pound turkey: cook for a total of 5 hours 30 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 4 hours 30 minutes)
  • 23-pound turkey: cook for a total of 5 hours 45 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 4 hours 45 minutes)
  • 24-pound turkey: cook for a total of 6 hours (set timer to remove foil after 5 hours)
  • 25-pound turkey: cook for a total of 6 hours 15 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 5 hours 15 minutes)
  • 26-pound turkey: cook for a total of 6 hours 30 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 5 hours 30 minutes)
  • 27-pound turkey: cook for a total of 6 hours 45 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 5 hours 45 minutes)
  • 28-pound turkey: cook for a total of 7 hours (set timer to remove foil after 6 hours)
  • 29-pound turkey: cook for a total of 7 hours 15 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 6 hours 15 minutes)
  • 30-pound turkey: cook for a total of 7 hours 30 minutes (set timer to remove foil after 6 hours 30 minutes)

Be sure to use a food thermometer to tell if your turkey is done by inserting it into the thickest part of the leg to make sure it registers at least 165°F.

How To Make Turkey Broth

After all the meat is carved from the turkey, add the leftover carcasses and bones to your slow cooker, fill with purified water, and add a splash of vinegar (about 1 tablespoon).

Cook on low for at least 4 hours (up to 24 hours). This will make a delicious turkey soup stock that will be rich in minerals and protein, and can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or as a snack.

Need More Recipes for The Holidays?

If you’re looking for more recipes to round out your holiday party, check out the Fat-Burning Chef eCookbook and get our Wild Holiday Desserts eCookbook absolutely free when you order today!

If you love desserts as much as I do, you won’t be able to get through the holidays without indulging in pie. It’s time for cookies, cakes and muffins—and you can make them all Wild and Paleo-friendly when you use the hundreds of recipes in The Fat-Burning Chef!

What happens when you fill your holiday dessert table and cookie-exchange tray with fat-burning Wild Rum Balls and Coconut Chocolate Chip Macaroons, Red Velvet Cupcakes and spiced Pumpkin Bars?

People eat them, love them, and wonder how you can be losing weight eating such awesome food!

These desserts are Paleo-friendly and gluten-free, primarily grain-free and dairy-free, too! But before you indulge in dessert, check out the hundreds of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sides. PLUS, get Fat-Burning Chef now and we’ll also include our Holiday Feasts Meal Plan absolutely free!

Bake this turkey, and share your thoughts and pictures in a comments below, or on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Did you make this turkey? Leave a comment below to let us know how it turned out, and what else you enjoyed with your feast.

Share this with your friends!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. PATRICK HOWLEY says

    December 4, 2019 at 4:23 pm

    I have been following you for years. Love the podcasts. My wife did the turkey brine and recipe for Thanksgiving. Everyone at the table commented that it was the best turkey ever! Thank you.

    And I’m glad you, Alison and your dog recovered from that horrible CO poisoning. And thanks for posting of the dangers.

    Reply

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