Thanksgiving Herb Butter Roasted Turkey with White Wine Gravy
Last Updated on January 1, 2023 by Jacqueline Rafidi
Thanksgiving herb butter roasted turkey with white wine gravy. The quintessential addition to the Thanksgiving table.
I’m so excited to finally get this recipe to you! This is how I’ve been making turkey for years and it always comes out tender and juicy. There really isn’t any other way I’d want to enjoy my Thanksgiving turkey and the white wine gravy just takes it over the top! I don’t mind switching up the sides or the drinks but the turkey typically stays the same – simple ingredients and nothing fancy. I typically get a bird around 12-15 lbs and find that it comes out the juiciest.
Making this Thanksgiving herb butter roasted turkey with white wine gravy
Pat your turkey dry. SUPER important to be sure the herb butter adheres to the skin
Make your herbed butter with the room temp unsalted butter, add in your chopped herbs, orange zest, salt and pepper. This is going underneath the skin above the breast, and on the entire outside of the turkey.
Place the buttered turkey in a roasted pan above sliced onions and other veggies of choice and roast at 400F for an hour.
Reduce the heat to 350F, cover the turkey with aluminum foil and baste the turkey every 30 minutes for the remainder of the 2 hour cook time. Remove the turkey from the oven once it reaches 165-170F, cover with aluminum and let it rest while you prepare the gravy.
Strain out the drippings from the pan and place it in the fridge then separate the fat from the broth. Use the fat to make a roux for the gravy, add in the flour and whisk. Slowly add in the white wine, then the broth and continue whisking until desired consistency.
You can’t go wrong with this thanksgiving herb butter roasted turkey with white wine gravy and I just know you’re going to love it! To serve, you can either leave it whole on a serving platter and carve the pieces everyone wants on the spot. OR, you can take off the main pieces – breasts, legs, thighs, etc. And slice them all up so people can grab already cut pieces. Either way works.
You can decorate your platter with some of the same things you put in the roasting pan (not the ones FROM the roasting pan, but just the same ingredients). Pomegranates work beautifully here and so do cranberries. Herbs like the rosemary, thyme and sage. Also some greens like kale if you have any!
Have a happy holiday season and a blessed Thanksgiving!
What else to make for your Thanksgiving feast
Buttery garlic herb mashed potatoes
Classic stuffing
Fall fig salad with pecans and gorgonzola
Potatoes au gratin
Caramel pumpkin pecan cheesecake
Lemon parm blistered green beans
When you make this Thanksgiving herb butter roasted turkey with white wine gravy, comment down below and rate this recipe to let me know your thoughts! Also share a picture or tag me on Instagram @thebitewithjackie, I love seeing your remakes!
Thanksgiving Herb Butter Roasted Turkey with White Wine Gravy
Ingredients
For the turkey:
- 15 lb turkey giblets and neck removed
- ½ – ¾ cup unsalted butter 1 – 1 ½ sticks, room temperature
- 8-10 fresh sage leaves very finely chopped
- 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme very finely chopped
- 2-3 fresh rosemary very finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic grated
- 1 large yellow onion cut into rounds with the skin left on
- 3 carrots chopped in thirds
- 3 celery stalks chopped in thirds
- Zest from ½ orange
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Veggies and herbs for the pan and for stuffing the turkey. I use onions garlic, carrots, apples, oranges slices, celery, and more of the fresh herbs
For the gravy
- Drippings from the turkey
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- ¾ cup dry white wine I used pinot grigio
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Remove the turkey from the fridge about an hour before roasting so it can lose most of its chill.
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Add the sliced onions to the bottom of your roasting pan. Place the turkey right on top of the onions breast side up and thoroughly pat it dry. In a small bowl, mix together the room temperature butter, chopped sage, rosemary, thyme, grated garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper, including the cavity. Gently lift the skin of the turkey above the breast and place a generous dollop of the butter on each side. Use the remaining butter to coat the entire outside of the turkey. Add your veggies and herbs to the edges of the pan and the cavity of the turkey. Pour in your chicken broth and place in the oven for 1 hour.
- After an hour, lower the heat to 350F, baste the turkey, cover with aluminum and roast for another 2 hours, basting the turkey every 30-45 minutes during the cooking process. Remove the aluminum for the last 30 minutes of cooking. Once the internal temperature reads between 165-170, remove from the oven and let it rest covered with aluminum foil while you begin working on your gravy.
- Move the turkey from the roasting tray to a serving platter. Strain out all the drippings and broth into a bowl, this will be used to give the gravy tons of flavor. There should be about 4-5 cups of broth. Place it in the fridge (if it’s still hot from the oven, let it cool off first and place a towel or pot holder underneath it while in the fridge). This will help the fat rise to the top which we will use to create a roux for the gravy.
- Once the fat is separated, add it to a pan on medium high heat along with the 2 Tablespoons of butter and let it melt. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until the fat and butter completely soaks up the flour and it begins to cook down. Once the flour has cooked out for about 30 seconds, add in the wine and whisk again to fully incorporate.
- Slowly add in the drippings/broth from the turkey one ladleful at a time and continue whisking until your desired consistency. Remember that the gravy will thicken as it cools, so you can either reheat it or add more broth if you need to. Any remaining broth can be frozen or used for another meal.
- Carve the turkey, pour over the gravy and enjoy!
