The Best Turkey with Creamy Gravy
Thanksgiving is coming which means Turkey Time!
I have great news for you! You all know I despise going to the grocery store! I don’t like wasting time driving to the store and waiting in line. This is why I get just about everything mailed to my front door! Including my Thanksgiving Turkey!
Thanksgiving can be stressful enough! I fill my freezer with healthy meats and turkey so I can just grab what I want to eat out and cook it up in no time! My favorite is to cook Butcherbox pre-made hamburger patties and my boys love them too!
Butcherbox now has free range TURKEY!
Click HERE to save time and get a the CURRENT Butcherbox Deal!
About Butcherbox Turkey:
- 8-12lbs
- All-natural* young turkey
- *All natural: no basting ingredients, no artificial ingredients, minimally processed
- No preservatives
- No antibiotics ever
- No added hormones
- Complete traceability to the farm
- Animal welfare certified
- IT IS NOT PASTURED
Click HERE to get a the CURRENT Butcherbox Deal!
Turkey with Bacon Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 12 pound turkey
- Redmond Real Salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large stalk celery diced
- 4 small sprigs thyme
- 10 slices sugar free bacon diced
- 8 tablespoons ghee or butter
- 4 tablespoons cream cheese softened (kite hill if dairy free)
- OPTIONAL: Serve with Cauliflower Mash click here
Instructions
- Preheat to 350 degrees F.
- Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey.
- Pat the turkey dry and season the outside and inside with salt and pepper.
- Place onions, celery, garlic and thyme inside the cavity.
- Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Put the turkey on a rack set in a large roasting pan and tuck the wings under the body.
- Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain, reserving the drippings in the skillet.
- Add the ghee or butter to the skillet with the drippings and stir until melted, then pour into a bowl and stir in the juice of 2 lemons. Rub mixture all over the turkey. Place into oven for 30 minutes. After every 30 minutes, baste the turkey with it the drippings. Roast for about 3 hours or until a thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees F.
- Remove from oven onto a serving tray to rest for at least 25 minutes before carving. Meanwhile, pour the drippings, bacon and bites from roasting pan onto a blender. Add cream cheese and purée until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
- Slice the turkey and serve with the gravy.
- Store extra turkey and gravy in separate air tight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. Turkey can be stored in the freezer for up to a month. Makes 9 servings (about 1/2 pound per person).
Nutrition
TESTIMONY OF THE DAY
Pam lost 130 pounds!!!
“I would like to thank Maria and Craig. In 2016, I was desperate. I was DOWN to 230 from 260+ but couldn’t lose more. I had tried every diet. At age 62, I had lost 100 lbs at least 4 times in my life (coming from an obese family). I needed a knee replacement and spinal lumbar surgery.
Then I started hearing about Keto and Maria Emmerich’s name popped up. I checked out her credentials and took a chance on a phone consultation. That started my new way of eating/life.
It was hard to change the way I saw food but, most of all, control my sugar addiction (which will always be a part of me). Honestly, there have been ups and downs. Sometimes, I’ve had periods of childish resentment, wanting to have unlimited sweets 24-7. That ended up with a 75 lb gain before I wrestled control back from my addiction. You learn a lot from these set-backs! Addiction never goes away.
But back to the point, Maria gave me all of the knowledge and support that became the basis for my Keto way of life. To this day, it still helps me weed through the true and false info I read on line! I love how she has Keto community spirit! My current weight is 123 lbs, ht is 5’3”, BMI 21.8. I take less medication. No longer pre- diabetic.
Thank you. You changed my life. God bless!” – Pam
Where is the bacon?
Updated above.
think your instructions got, um, side swiped? Instructions said “Place 1 inside the cavity along with onions, celery, garlic and thyme” – Um one What?
Also there isn’t instructions for the gravy, but that must be what the cream cheese is for?
And the pan instructions must be missing something as well?
That part is fixed. For the gravy, it is right in the direction step 7.
Meanwhile, pour the drippings and bites from roasting pan onto a blender. Add cream cheese and purée until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
Nevermind, it’s been fixed. But still, where is the bacon?
Updated above.
So, is bacon being fried before #6? Do you take the bacon out of the skillet and put back in gravy at end?
I fixed it above.
Oh, Maria, you missed the Canadian Thanksgiving…it was two days ago on the 14th!
Thanksgiving bounces around on the calendar…it is always the second Monday in October!
I love your cookbooks, I am wondering…could you add the volume of portions…a soup that serves, say, 10, is tough to judge.
And how about producing cookbooks that are standardized…cooking for one or two….with the ability to double or triple the ingredients. The current outcomes in your books cooked quantities are all over the map. It makes it near impossible for a single person to use your recipes!
And I am very sad…that your pressure cooker book does not include the use of a traditional pressure cooker…I bought one to prepare beef bone broth after reading Keto Adapted Christmas 2013. The instant pots was not yet in stores, here in Canada. Even finding a traditional pressure cooker to buy was a true culinary hunt!
Regards,
Gladys,
Toronto, Canada
So a couple of questions.
#1: What do you do with the bacon?
#2: In #6 you say to add butter to skillet with drippings. What drippings? (I’m guessing bacon fat from cooking the diced bacon?)
If that’s the case, do you do anything with the cooked bacon?
Lastly, in #7 I assume you mean bits not bites (referring to the fond?)
Also, there is always a huge variation in the amount of drippings I get when I roast a turkey. What quantity of drippings do you use for the amount of cream cheese in this recipe ?
10 pieces of COOKED bacon? Diced?
In #7 you talk about the gravy you say add the “bites” are you referring to the cooked, diced bacon?
The bacon part is still a little unclear.
I can’t wait to try this Gravy!
Thank you!
Sorry about that. I added it above.
This sounds amazing! I’m going to make it for Thanksgiving this year. In step 6, it says to drain the bacon on paper towels, but then I don’t see the bacon used anywhere (I do se the drippings used in 7). Does that mean to just discard the bacon (or use it in another recipe)? (I don’t want to miss out on any bacony goodness!) Thanks!
Thank you! You add it to the gravy. I fixed it above. 🙂
Awesome! Thanks!