Crispy Skin Slow Cooker turkey is the most succulent turkey, WITHOUT brine or marinating! Rubbed with a mixture of buttery herbs and garlic… and cooked slowly until tender and juicy, this turkey will have EVERYONE talking!
Fill your ovens with other important things this Thanksgiving and let your slow cooker take care of most of the work! This turkey couldn’t be easier, jucier, and I’m going to say it: wet.
SLOW COOKING TURKEY
The slow cooking turkey GUARANTEES juicy and succulent meat! Now, while I WISH a slow cooker can magically create a crispy, golden skin like this, your broiler will take care of that for the last 10-20 minutes this turkey needs to brown everything. All up? 4-5 hours of cooking time with your oven released for a good part of that time!
TURKEY BRINE?
Usually, a
turkey needs a good slow roast of 6 or more hours in its oven, sometimes leaving it there overnight to have it ready for the next day. Am I right?
Most often it is necessary to brine for a good 24 hours even before roasting. Also, if you leave it too long in brine, it will become too salty, OR if you use a less salty brine, you risk washing away the natural turkey flavors in the water.
Ah the DILEMMA. You need a bucket, a long list of brine ingredients, plus time.
HOW TO MAKE SLOW COOKING TURKEY
You’re going
- to need a small turkey of 8-10 pounds, or 4-5 kilos. This is to make sure it fits in your slow cooker bowl. He weighed 8 pounds.
- Remember to divide your herbal butter in half and refrigerate that half. You’re going to use the reserved butter later before roasting to add even MORE flavor to your turkey, and get that golden skin.
- I love using thyme and rosemary to slowly cook our turkey, but you can use sage leaves, oregano, parsley, any herb you like!
HOW TO GET A CRISPY SKIN
Dry your
- turkey with one or two sheets of paper towel and remove any stubborn feathers left behind
- Smother and spread herb butter EVERYWHERE.
- Place it in your cooking bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. I didn’t measure as salt and pepper is something I usually look at, but it should be about 1 tablespoon of sea salt and maybe 1/2 tablespoon of pepper.
- In order to have this turkey made fast, I cook it over HIGH heat, but you CAN cook it over low heat if you wish.
.
THE BEST PART
- Turn on your oven in the last 15 minutes of slow cooking to make your grill nice and warm.
- Place the roasting pan right next to your slow cooker. You will need to use TWO long tongs or carving forks, insert them into both ends of the turkey and remove it from your slow cooker and place it in the pan. It won’t crumble since the bird is whole, but just in case, do it slowly.
- So, remember that reserved butter? Yes, THAT herbal butter goes all over your turkey’s breast and legs, melting as soon as you spread it out with the back of your spoon or knife.
- Put your bird in the oven and crispy! THAT’S IT! I had ours under our grill for a good 10 minutes over medium-high heat (our oven has adjustable heat settings for roasting). If yours doesn’t just watch it.
- Your oven shelf should be in the bottom half of your oven to make sure your turkey isn’t too close to the heating element.
Then I changed the setting of the grill oven back to the oven so that it is MORE golden without burning it, for about 15 minutes.
SAUCE
ALL the flavors in the slow cooker bowl make this sauce, and let me tell you. You guys will be licking your dishes clean!
Made exactly like white sauce,
using leftover juices from the slow cooker instead of milk, butter and flour, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce to add flavor. It’s that easy
!
Want to try different turkey recipes? Try this crispy beer turkey OR this roast turkey with juicy herb sauce of bread and sauce!
SIDES!
SIDES!Crispy garlic Roasted potatoesGarlic with cheese Sweet potatoesBread leaf Garlic Parmesan Broccoli green beans
