Should You Salt Your Turkey Before Roasting? The Pros and Cons

Roasting a turkey can be an intimidating task, especially if you only do it once a year for the holidays One of the big questions new turkey roasters often have is whether or not to salt the bird before it goes into the oven There are good arguments on both sides of this debate, so let’s take a look at the pros and cons of salting your turkey ahead of time.

The Case for Salting Before Roasting

Here are some of the benefits of salting your turkey prior to roasting

Enhances flavor throughout: Rubbing salt on the outside of the raw turkey will help infuse saltiness throughout the meat, rather than just on the exterior. The salt will penetrate deeper into the turkey as it rests.
Improves moisture: Salt helps retain moisture in turkey meat during roasting by dissolving some proteins. This allows the turkey to absorb and hold on to more juices as it cooks, keeping it tender and flavorful.
Boosts browning: Salt draws out moisture from the surface of the skin. This drying effect helps the skin brown and crisp up better in the oven.
Tenderizes: Salt breaks down muscle fibers in the meat through osmosis. This makes the turkey more tender and easy to chew.
Acts as a brine: Salting in advance can partially cure the turkey, similar to brining. This results in a more seasoned and juicy interior.

Reasons to Avoid Pre-Salting

However, salting your turkey ahead of time also comes with some potential downsides:

Can dry out meat: If too much salt is used or the turkey sits for too long, it can draw out excess moisture leading to dry, tough meat.
Difficult to control saltiness: It’s easy to over-salt a turkey if salting in advance, since you can’t taste test and adjust seasonings.
Skin can toughen: If left to sit salted for over 24 hours, the turkey skin can become overly dried out and chewy.
Timing is crucial: For best results, the salted turkey has to rest at least overnight. This requires advance planning which can be difficult.
No opportunity to layer flavors: Unlike seasoning right before roasting, pre-salting doesn’t allow you to add aromatics like herbs or spices to coat the turkey.

Best Practices for Salting Ahead of Time

If you do decide to salt your turkey in advance, follow these tips:

Use 1 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of turkey. Reduce to 1/2 teaspoon if using fine table salt.
Rub the salt evenly all over the turkey, including the cavity and underside.
Let the salted turkey rest in the fridge, uncovered, for 8-24 hours.
Pat the turkey dry before roasting to remove excess moisture drawn out by the salt.
Apply any additional seasonings like pepper, herbs, oil/butter right before putting it in the oven.

How to Salt a Turkey After It’s Roasted

If you don’t want to be constrained by the timing required to pre-salt a turkey, there’s a simple solution – just salt it after it’s fully roasted instead! Here are two easy methods:

Season the skin after roasting

Once the cooked turkey has rested about 20 minutes, pat the skin with paper towels to remove moisture. Use your fingers to rub kosher salt and any other spices or herbs you like onto the surface of the hot turkey skin. The heat helps them stick and infuse flavor.

Salt the sliced meat

After carving the roasted turkey, sprinkle salt over the sliced meat just before serving it to your guests. Kosher or sea salt works best for getting a bit of salty crunch in each bite without over-salting the dish. Add a dash of salt to the pan drippings for the gravy as well.

Whether or not you should salt your turkey prior to roasting comes down to your specific plans and preferences. If you have the time to let it rest overnight, salting in advance can undoubtedly amplify flavors and moisture when done properly. However, for easier timing or if you’re concerned about over-seasoning, you can always add salt after cooking instead. With a few trial runs, you’ll discover your own perfect turkey salting method for holiday feasts.

should you salt turkey before roasting

Season and Salt in One Step

I blend the salt with herbs, a little lemon juice, and olive oil to create a paste. The lemon balances the salt, the herbs boost the flavor, and the olive oil helps crisp the skin and season the meat.

Seasoning and salting the bird all at once saves me a step. I’m all about saving steps on Thanksgiving.
The flavors from additional ingredients are mixed in with salty juices and reabsorbed into the meat while it hangs out in the fridge for a day or more.
Just before I’m ready to roast the turkey, I stuff the cavity with a few fresh herbs, a quartered lemon or two, and an onion, truss it and pop in the oven. No rinsing required.

should you salt turkey before roasting

How Long to Dry Brine Turkey

I typically dry-brine for 48 hours for a luscious bird. You can, however, brine your turkey for up to 72 hours (and some of our testers actually preferred this!). The skin will look dry and desiccated after all that time in the fridge, but don’t worry, it will cook up beautifully.

Also, if you are short on time, because sometimes that’s just how holidays go, any little bit will help. Dry brining is worth the time, even if you only have half a day. Just make sure the bird isn’t frozen when you start out—otherwise it won’t absorb the flavors.

Should I put salt on my turkey before roasting?

FAQ

Does salt help keep a turkey moist?

A better word for this technique might just be salting. Since there’s no water, salting doesn’t increase the amount of water in the turkey to start, but the salt diffuses into the muscle tissue and breaks down some of its proteins, which helps it retain more water during cooking and seasons this seasonal treat.

Should a turkey be seasoned before roasting?

Yes! It doesn’t so much matter when you season your bird—whether it’s just before popping it in the oven or several days in advance for a brining—as long as you season it before it gets cooked. This is essential for the butter, herbs, and whatever other seasonings you use, to flavor the skin and meat of the turkey.

Why do you rub salt inside a turkey?

First, the salt draws out the meat juices through osmosis. Next, the salt dissolves into the juices, essentially turning into a “natural” brine even though there isn’t any added liquid.

Is brining a turkey really necessary?

As long as you are very careful about monitoring your bird, there’s no reason to brine or salt it in advance.

Why should you salt a Turkey before cooking?

Salting the turkey in advance helps to season it not only on the surface but also throughout the meat and helps to draw moisture out of the skin which results in a crispier texture. The salt also acts as a natural brine, helping to preserve the moisture in the meat, resulting in a more tender and juicy bird.

How do you salt a Turkey for Thanksgiving?

For the most flavorful turkey, consider salting the bird on Sunday for your Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. That way it gives the bird 4 to 5 days for the salt to work through the cells. Cover the turkey—over and under the skin as much as possible—with about 1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt per pound of meat. It will seem like a lot.

Should you salt roast a Turkey?

There’s also a helpful side benefit of salt-roasting: The crust keeps the turkey warm up to 30 minutes, freeing the oven for last-minute sides. When it’s finally time for dinner, crack open the salt crust tableside to share the complete experience of salt-roasting with your dinner guests, and then whisk the bird away to the kitchen for carving.

How do you salt a boneless turkey breast?

Boneless or bone-in turkey breast: Apply kosher salt (¾ teaspoon per pound) evenly between skin and meat, leaving skin attached, and let rest in refrigerator on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours. (Wrap with plastic wrap if salting for longer than 12 hours.) Brining works in much the same way as salting.