Cooking Turkey Overnight in Oven Bag
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Cooking turkey overnight in an oven bag is all about decreasing stress on the big day. This easy overnight turkey recipe ensures that in the morning you have the most mouthwateringly moist and tender turkey meat imaginable.
Cooking turkey overnight in an oven bag is a Thanksgiving dinner game-changer. This overnight turkey method is awfully easy and your entire bird will be moist, tender, and juicy, even the white meat! What’s more, the bird is done first thing when you wake up so you can use that super-rich broth and some of the meat to put into your dressing and turkey gravy for the big meal.
The instructions couldn’t be easier. Just remove the turkey giblets, pop your turkey in an oven bag with the flour, shove the butter you-know-where, and then roast the turkey overnight. Then on the day, you can use your oven to cook all those delicious Thanksgiving side dishes.
Before we dive into the recipe, I just wanna say that there’s no one right way to cook a turkey. This is just another method to add to your repertoire! Clearly, because there are a lot of different turkey recipes on Southern Plate. Like turkey on the grill, slow cooker turkey, and deep-fried turkey. This is just another method to add to your repertoire!
What You Need To Cook A Turkey Overnight
- Turkey
- Flour
- Butter
- You’ll also need an oven bag that’ll fit your turkey and a roaster pan so the turkey broth doesn’t overflow!
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Cook Turkey Overnight in an Oven Bag
Look in the turkey cavity and make sure there are no turkey giblets (bags of anything). If there are, remove those.
Grandmama always saves hers for giblet gravy. You do what your heart tells ya to do.
Put one tablespoon of flour in the oven bag, then shut it and shake it.
Place the turkey breast side down in the oven bag (the oven bag should now be sitting in your roasting pan).
Breast side down is key here for moist white meat. It may look funny but trust us!
Stick that butter where the sun don’t shine (up the little gobbler’s rear, sorry gobbler).
Seal the bag and cut a few small slits in the top.
Turn the oven to 250 and cook overnight.
I don’t put mine in until 10:30/11 and then take it out at about 6 in the morning. You want to cook it for about 7 hours but no more.
When you wake up, your entire house will smell like turkey and the broth will be SO RICH and wonderful!
At this stage, I recommend always using a thermometer to check the temp of the meat. 165 degrees F for the breast and 170 degrees F for the legs.
Slice the turkey and place it on a platter. Spoon the leftover turkey juices or broth over if you like.
Cover with cling wrap or foil and refrigerate until it’s time to serve.
Reheat it on low in the oven until warm and toasty. How long will depend on how thick you slice the turkey.
How To Store A Cooked Turkey
- Store leftover turkey in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- You can also freeze turkey leftovers for up to 3 months, either in an airtight container or double-wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
Recipe FAQs
Is it safe to cook a turkey overnight?
Yes, cooking turkey overnight is safe and highly recommended. Slow-roasting the turkey on low allows the meat to cook without releasing all the moisture. This equals the juiciest, most tender turkey imaginable.
What’s the lowest temperature you can cook a turkey overnight?
You really don’t want to go any lower than 250 degrees and you want to make sure the turkey reaches the desired temperatures above before serving.
How do you cook a turkey the night before and keep it moist?
The key to cooking turkey overnight and keeping it moist is to cook it in the oven bag. This traps the moisture inside.
How long does it take to cook a turkey overnight?
It takes 7 hours to cook a turkey overnight if you follow this recipe. When cooking turkey overnight, I also use the same cooking time whether it’s a 13lb turkey or a 20lb turkey.
Is it safe to leave a turkey in cold water overnight?
No, it’s not safe to leave a turkey to thaw in a sink of cold water overnight. You want to be awake to monitor its progress and then put it in the fridge once it’s thawed.
How do you serve an overnight turkey?
Here are some Thanksgiving side dish suggestions:
- Crockpot Cornbread Dressing
- Oven-Baked Mac and Cheese (Southern Plate favorite)
- Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Casserole
- Freezer Mashed Potatoes
- Fresh Green Beans
- 3 Bean Salad With Dressing
- Easy Creamed Corn
- Candied Carrots Recipe
- Homemade Dinner Rolls
- Roasted Asparagus
- Easy Turkey Gravy
Can we tempt you with these helpful recipes too?
- Leftover Turkey Recipes
- Turkey Hash Recipe
- 100+ Thanksgiving Dessert Ideas
- Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Dishes
- Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board
- Thanksgiving 2023 Menu
Ingredients
- 1 thawed turkey
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 stick butter
Instructions
- Look in the turkey cavity and make sure there are no giblets (bags of anything). If there are, remove those. Grandmama always saves hers for giblet gravy. You do what your heart tells ya to do.1 thawed turkey
- Put one tablespoon of flour in the oven bag, then shut it and shake it. Place the turkey breast side down in the oven bag (the oven bag should now be sitting in your roasting pan). Breast side down is key here for moist white meat. It may look funny but trust us!1 tablespoon flour, 1 thawed turkey
- Stick that butter where the sun don't shine (up the little gobbler's rear, sorry gobbler).1 stick butter
- Seal the bag and cut a few small slits in the top.
- Turn the oven to 250 and cook overnight. I don't put mine in until 10:30/11 and then take it out at about 6 in the morning. You want to cook it for about 7 hours but no more. When you wake up, your entire house will smell like turkey and the broth will be SO RICH and wonderful!
- Slice the turkey and place it on a platter. Spoon the leftover turkey juices or broth over if you like. Cover with cling wrap or foil and refrigerate until it's time to serve. Reheat it on low in the oven until warm and toasty. How long will depend on how thick you slice the turkey.
Notes
Nutrition
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Gratefully,
Stacey Lynn and The Southern Plate Family
Does the breast get brown cooking the turkey breast side down the entire time or do you recommend flipping the turkey to brown the breast? If so, at what point do you flip the turkey? Thanks!
Do you have a recipe for gravy for cornbread dressing
I use the Fool-Proof Giblet Gravy recipe from Womans Day (BTW, it never tastes like liver, or anything like that, but is delicious and I usually have enough for all the stuffing/dressing and mashed potatoes I make. The gravy is delicious, and you’ll be glad you tried it… toss in the boiled egg white for luck. (That must be what I remember my grandmother doing, my mom didn’t know what I was talking about.)
Ingredients:
Turkey neck and giblets, refrigerate liver until needed
6 cup(s) chicken broth
2 large onions, sliced
1 cup(s) sliced carrots
1 cup(s) dry white wine or water
1/2 cup(s) celery leaves
6 tablespoon(s) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
Turkey drippings
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Cut turkey neck and heart in half. Put into a large saucepan along with gizzard, chicken broth, onions, carrots, wine, and celery leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer gently, uncovered, 1 1/2 hours. Add liver; simmer 30 minutes more or until gizzard is very tender.
Remove giblets to a cutting board. Strain broth into a large cup measure, pressing vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard vegetables. Add extra water to broth if needed to make 6 cups. Chop giblets and neck meat. Refrigerate in covered container.
Mash butter and flour with a fork or back of a spoon until blended to a paste. Break into 4 chunks.
Bring broth to a boil in a medium-size saucepan. Reduce heat to low and gradually whisk in flour mixture, 1 chunk at a time, until well blended. Whisk until thickened and boiling. Boil 3 minutes to cook out floury taste.
After turkey is removed from roasting pan: Pour pan drippings into a 2-cup measure. Spoon fat off top and discard. Add enough water to equal 2 cups. Pour back into roasting pan. Stir in giblets and neck meat. Heat over medium-low heat, scraping up brown bits on bottom of pan, until hot. Season with salt and pepper.
Hi Christy, Hi neighbor!! I live here in Madison, Al. also!!I just wanted to tell you I have never cooked a turkey before ever! This Thanksgiving will be at my home for the first time. My father past away last year and my mama is not ready for Thanksgiving at her home yet since Daddy’s passing, SO being the oldest daughter it has been passed to me!! Anyway to make the long story short I went to Publix’s Monday after finding your site.. a friend turned me on too your WONDERFUL SITE!!! Bless her Lord!!! Bought a 10 lb turkey and bags and cooked it for Supper the next day.. had my sons their wife’s and all the grandkids over for Supper. I was told DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING!!! It was PERFECT!!! Thank you soooo much!!! You have saved our upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner this year!!!I love your site and I am going to the bookstore this weekend and find your wonderful book!!!
Hey Brenda, just wanted to ask if you cooked it overnight or during the day..for supper? I’ve never sliced up a turkey ‘ahead’ of time and refrigerated it until we’re ready for it….just wondering if ‘cold’ turkey is as good as hot. Anybody have comments? Thanks!
Thank you!!! It was my job to make the turkey this Christmas, my first ever and it was for my in-laws. I was feeling the stress… The smallest turkey I could find was 19.5 lbs… After being in the fridge for 4 days it was not near thawed Christmas eve. Thankfully, my SIL helped thaw turkey in the bathtub.
So at 2:30am I put the turkey in, no oven bag, just the butter in the bumm, a cup of water in the pan and turkey upside down on a rack in the roasting pan and I lightly covered turkey with foil.
I started checking the temperature at 9:30am and it was not near done. I checked ever 30 minutes. I was worried it would dry out.
I cooked that sucker until 12:45 and it came out moist and delicious. I am commenting in case someone else ends up with an obscenely large bird and wonders if this method will work… it does.
Thank you soooo much for the wonderfully easy way to cook at turkey. Why doesn’t everyone cook them this way? Merry Christmas!
Just wanted you to know I tried this method for our Thanksgiving meal and it was FABULOUS! This will be the ONLY turkey cooking method this household will use from now on. My husband raved about how tender and easy to carve it was. Besides that, it was so nice to have the mess cleaned up before the guests arrived. I also made your Pecan pie…to die for…and crock pot cornbread stuffing…all going in my arsenal of tired & true Thanksgiving recipes. Thank you for sharing these with the rest of us. Keep ’em coming too.
My sister used to cook a turkey like this and it was delicious! However, the turkey council or some other food police came out and said it was not safe to keep your bird at that temp for so long. I am always scared now of killing my guests or giving them food poisoning. Have they changed their views or should we just take our chances?:D
My mother-in-law cooked her turkey like this, with this exception: She placed the turkey in a preheated 500 degree oven for an hour or so (don’t rememer exactly how long), then turned the oven off and let the turkey sit in the oven overnight. I think that’s the method that the experts were talking about. I never ate her turkey because I was afraid to….especially after the Christmas when it ran blood when we sliced it!!! I think this method (oven heated all night) is o.k., but I might check it out with my local agriculture extension agent before I try it. I’ve slow-cooked turkey breast in a crock pot, so I don’t see why this wouldn’t be o.k.
I would love to try this, but yes, the turkey police have recommended against this method because cooking under 32 degrees for this length time is dangerous. (Too much time at a temperature that is not hot enough) So either way–cooking in the oven low and slow overnight or placing in an oven that has been heated and then turned off and left in overnight—would not be recommended.
meant to say “under 325 degrees” not 32
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE will somebody tell me how to make that yummy stuffing in the pan, that everyone but this poor Yankee seems to know how to make. I will be eternally grateful. Those little squares of stuffing are totally beyond my comprehension. (thank you for the dixie cornbread recipe) LOVE IT!!
Dressing recipe- I boil a chicken and use the broth from it and the meat in my dressing. I make 2 pans of corn bread(10-12″ skillet), 6 biscuits, 4-6 slices of white loaf bread. Crumble these together. I usually do this a day ahead and put in gallon storage bags. Chicken cooked day before also. The morning of I mix breads, box of stove top stuffing(for seasonings) together. Add 2-3 eggs, 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, l large finely chopped or grated onion, chicken shreaded, and start with 1 cup of broth. Mix with hands in large bowl. Keep adding broth until you get it as moist as you like it. I like it almost mushy. Spread large pan with cooking spray. I cook mine 375 degrees for between 30 – 45 min. It depends on how deep your pan is and how you like it cooked. I have to cook several pans. Some like no onions, very dry and very moist. I try to please everyone. Hope this helps.
Jodi, I forget that some folks like celery, etc. in it also. Add what every you like. Since it is almost all cooked anyway. I taste on seasonings etc. Probably salt and pepper as you like. I usually put enough in my chicken that I don’t add very much. You might want to start with less poultry seasoning until you taste it. Hope you enjoy as much as we do.
I am so greatful to you for this recipe, I can taste it already. Maybe my in-laws will forgive me for all my yankeeness when I serve this with dinner 😀
Jodi
Here is a great cornbread dressing recipe…
1 cake of cornbread
1 Pan of bisquits ( I make homemade but if not, use good refridgerator kind)
stick of melted butter
sage, salt and pepper
Broth from cooked turkey
Boil chopped onions and celery in broth ( amount depends on your liking)
Boil neck and giblets (even liver if you like – I do!) till done, then chop up all meat and giblets when done.
Use big mixing pan like a stainless steel and crumble cornbread and bisquits. Add onions and celery, the meats and the butter. Start adding broth till you get a playdough effect. I like to use a little HOT water so it won’t be too greasy. Now add your sage and salt and pepper to taste. (I like to take lots of taste tests!) You will know when it is right when it holds it’s shape and has nice flavor. Spread into pan or pans and bake for about 30 min on 350. Turns out great everytime!
What kind of cornbread do you use?