Turkey breast is difficult for a straightforward reason: it is done at 160°F and the thigh is not done until 175°F. You are cooking two different meats attached to each other, and by the time the dark meat is safe the breast has been sitting well past its best for half an hour.

Brining does not remove that problem. It widens the margin, so that thirty minutes of overcooking is survivable rather than ruinous. It is the single highest-value thing you can do to a turkey, and it costs a bag of salt and some fridge space.

Why this works

Salt does two things to meat, and only one of them is flavor.

The first is that salt denatures muscle proteins. It unwinds the tight protein structures so they hold water more loosely and lose less of it under heat. An unbrined turkey breast can shed 20 to 30 percent of its weight as moisture during roasting. A brined one sheds noticeably less, because the proteins are no longer contracting as hard.

The second is diffusion. Given time, salt moves from a high concentration to a low one, so it travels from the surface into the muscle. This is slow. Roughly a day for a turkey breast, which is why timing matters more than concentration. An hour in a very strong brine salts the outer few millimetres and nothing else. Twenty-four hours in a mild one seasons the meat all the way through.

A wet brine adds a third effect: the meat absorbs some of the brine solution itself, so it starts heavier. That is why wet-brined turkey is juicy but can taste slightly diluted, and why the skin struggles to crisp. There is more water in the system.

Wet or dry

Dry brine is better for most people. Salt rubbed onto the bird, left uncovered in the fridge. The salt draws moisture out, dissolves in it, and that concentrated solution is reabsorbed. The surface ends up dry, which is exactly what crisp skin needs. No bucket, no fridge Tetris, better skin.

Wet brine is the bird submerged in salted water. Slightly more forgiving on a very lean bird, and useful if you want to introduce aromatics through the flesh. Requires a container large enough to submerge a turkey and somewhere cold to keep it, which is the real obstacle.

If you have fridge space and 24 hours, dry brine. If you have a cooler, ice and no fridge space, wet brine.

What you need for dry brine

Salt, baking powder, pepper, herbs. That is the whole list.

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt per 5 lb of turkey (a 15 lb bird takes 3 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (optional, for the skin)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, sage or rosemary

What you need for wet brine

Salt, water, aromatics. The bucket does the work.

• 2 gallons (7.5L) cold water
• 2 cups (about 340g) kosher salt
• 1 cup (200g) brown sugar (optional)
• 2 heads garlic, halved
• 2 onions, quartered
• Small bunch each thyme and sage
• 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 2 oranges, halved

A note on salt

Kosher salt by volume, always. Table salt has much smaller crystals, so a cup of it weighs nearly twice as much as a cup of kosher salt. Use it by volume and you will produce an inedibly salty bird. If you only have table salt, halve the quantity, or better, weigh it.

How to make a dry brine

Rub, refrigerate uncovered, do not rinse.

1. Dry the bird. Remove giblets, pat the turkey completely dry inside and out with paper towel.
2. Mix and apply. Combine salt, pepper, herbs and the baking powder if using. Rub over the whole surface and inside the cavity. Get some under the breast skin if you can. Loosen it with your fingers from the neck end.
3. Refrigerate uncovered. On a rack over a tray, in the fridge, uncovered. 24 hours minimum, 48 is better, 72 is the maximum.
4. Do not rinse. The salt has gone into the meat. Rinsing only rewets the skin you have spent two days drying. Pat dry if it looks damp and roast.

How to make a wet brine

Dissolve, cool, submerge, rinse.

1. Dissolve. Heat 2 quarts of the water with the salt and sugar until fully dissolved. Add aromatics, take off the heat, cool completely.
2. Combine and chill. Add the remaining cold water. The brine must be below 40°F before the turkey goes in. Warm brine on raw poultry is a food-safety problem, not a shortcut.
3. Submerge. Turkey in, fully covered. A brining bag in a cooler works; a stockpot works; a clean bucket works. Weigh it down with a plate if it floats.
4. Cold, 12 to 18 hours. In the fridge, or in a cooler with ice packs holding it below 40°F.
5. Rinse and dry. Unlike the dry brine, this one you do rinse. Briefly, in cold water. Then pat very dry and leave uncovered in the fridge for a few hours if you can, or the skin will not crisp.

Timing by weight

Size determines time. Under-brining is ineffective; over-brining ruins the texture.

• Dry brine: 12 lb, 24 hours. 15 lb, 36 to 48 hours. 20 lb, 48 to 72 hours.
• Wet brine: 12 lb, 12 hours. 15 lb, 14 hours. 20 lb, 18 hours.
• Turkey breast only: dry brine 12 to 24 hours; wet brine 6 to 8.

Over-brining is a real failure and the wet brine is where it happens. Past about 24 hours the texture turns spongy and faintly cured. Dry brining is far more forgiving.

The details that decide it

Small things that separate a good brined turkey from a disappointing one.

• Do not brine a pre-brined bird. Most supermarket turkeys labelled self-basting, enhanced, or containing a solution have already been injected with salt water. Kosher turkeys are salted as part of the koshering process. Brining these produces something close to a ham. Read the label. If it lists anything beyond “turkey”, it is already done.
• Uncovered in the fridge is the point. A fridge is a dehumidifier. Twenty-four hours uncovered gives you a taut, dry skin that crisps properly, which no amount of butter can replicate.
• Sugar is optional and mostly cosmetic. It aids browning. It does not meaningfully help moisture retention.
• Do not stuff a brined bird. The cavity will be salty and the stuffing absorbs it. Bake the stuffing separately. It is better that way regardless. See sourdough stuffing.
• Adjust the gravy. Brined drippings are salty. Taste before adding any salt to the gravy.

Make ahead and storage

Neither brine is a day-of job.

The dry brine mix can be made weeks ahead in a jar. The wet brine can be made and cooled three days ahead. See make-ahead Thanksgiving dishes for where this sits in the countdown.

Remember to allow thawing time first: a frozen turkey needs roughly 24 hours per 4 to 5 lb in the fridge, so a 16 lb bird is four days. Then brine. Work backwards from Thursday and start earlier than feels necessary.

From my kitchen

I dry brine now, always, and I stopped wet brining the year I tried to fit a bucket containing a 20 lb turkey into a fridge that already had six casseroles in it. The skin is better, the flavor is more concentrated rather than diluted, and it takes up a rack rather than a shelf.

The baking powder is the one thing I would defend against skeptics. It raises the surface pH slightly, which accelerates browning, and it helps the skin dry. A quarter teaspoon per pound is enough. More and you can taste it.

Frequently asked questions

How long should you brine a turkey?

Dry brine 24 to 72 hours depending on size. 48 hours for a 15 lb bird. Wet brine 12 to 18 hours, and no longer, as the texture turns spongy past about a day.

Do you rinse a turkey after brining?

After a wet brine, yes. Briefly, then pat very dry. After a dry brine, no. The salt has already moved into the meat, and rinsing rewets the skin you spent two days drying out.

Can you brine a frozen or self-basting turkey?

Thaw it completely first. And do not brine a self-basting, enhanced or kosher turkey. Those are already salted, and brining them again produces something closer to ham. Check the ingredients list.

Wet brine or dry brine for turkey?

Dry brine for most people. It gives crisper skin, more concentrated flavor, and needs only a rack in the fridge rather than a container big enough to submerge a turkey.

How much salt do you use to brine a turkey?

Dry brine: one tablespoon of kosher salt per 5 lb of bird. Wet brine: one cup of kosher salt per gallon of water. Use kosher salt by volume. Table salt is roughly twice as dense and will over-salt badly.

The bottom line

Dry brine unless you cannot. One tablespoon of kosher salt per five pounds, rubbed on, uncovered in the fridge for two days, no rinsing. It widens the window between a done thigh and an overcooked breast, and it is the best thing you can do to a turkey for the price of a bag of salt.

Save this two days before — the brine has to start before you think it does.