Orange-Ginger glazed turkey for your Thanksgiving Feast! This easy, flavorful approach to roasted Thanksgiving turkey is sure to please!
The holidays can be stressful in so many ways.
The way I see it, removing stressors as much as possible ensures you can enjoy a relaxing holiday.
One of the biggest triggers of stress around the holidays? Food. Particularly the preparation of it.
We all want the food that brings our family and friends together to be absolutely perfect, and as a result, we tend to over-think and over-complicate matters.
So let’s try to alleviate some of the pressure by getting a handle on the main focal point of the Thanksgiving feast: the turkey.
If you’re looking for tips on How to Roast the Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey, read my post from last year! I included all sorts of information in that post to ensure your turkey prep was fool-proof and stress-free.
While you can approach turkey in a myriad of ways, I generally take a very simple approach. The best way of ensuring your Thanksgiving turkey turns out perfectly is first starting with a quality turkey.
The way an animal is raised and harvested makes a significant difference in not only the taste and texture of the final product, but also its nutrient profile. For the past six years, I’ve gone with Diestel Turkey, which is a family owned and operated turkey ranch based out of Sonora, CA. Diestel turkeys are thoughtfully raised on sustainable ranches without antibiotics. They have both all-natural and organic options, and you can most definitely tell a difference in quality based on how well the animals are treated.
I’m not going to sugar-coat my opinion when it comes to animal products – quality matters.
Paying attention to the quality of your food is just as important as making the choice to eat a nourishing diet, because “eating healthy” doesn’t actually mean anything until you know what you’re consuming.
When it comes to turkey (everything from turkey deli meat to bacon to ground turkey or sausage), the only brand I consume is Diestel. This is a pretty powerful statement, but it’s one with years of tried and true experience. It is the cleanest, tastiest, easiest to digest animal protein I’ve ever consumed.
While our food industry is becoming cleaner as a result of consumer demand for better food, a lot of branding that can be misleading.
What may look like a health product may actually be right on par with less-than-stellar options. This goes to show the power of marketing and how some soothing neutral colors and a cheeky font can go a long way.
One of the reasons I love blogging is I can share the products I use and trust that are truly impactful when it comes to health. Products that are honest, real, responsible, and nutritious.
One little known fact about the meat industry is most meat companies are owned by venture capital firms, where all facets of the growing and processing are contracted out. There’s so much removal from the owners to the producers that there are easy breaches in quality.
Yes, even meat products with ranch-style packaging that give off a small business, homey feel, are owned by huge companies that are really only in it to diversify their portfolio.
That comment isn’t to harp on capitalism, but simply to drive home the point that you may think you’re supporting a quality, small family ranch, but you’re really not. One of the reasons I love Diestel products is I am always 100% confident a great deal of thought and care went into it from start to finish.
Okay, let’s talk turkey prep. This is so easy, I swear!
How to Make Glazed Turkey:
We take a 2-step approach to this turkey:
Step 1: Make a “slurry” by combining olive oil, paprika, garlic powder (<- omit if you’re on a Low-FODMAP diet), and sea salt, and spread this mixture over the turkey. As they say on the British Baking show, BAKE!
Step 2: Prepare the glaze and spread it on the bird 30 minutes before it has finished roasting.
Once the bird has finished roasting, be sure to allow it to rest at least 20 minutes to allow the juices to evenly distribute throughout the bird – this will generate a super tender result!
What to Serve with Thanksgiving Turkey:
I made my Crowd-Pleasing Roasted Vegetables and my Cranberry Sauce with Ginger and Maple <- SO bomb! If you’re looking for more side dish inspiration, check out my 20 Healthy Holiday Side Dishes!
Ready, set, ROAST!
Orange-Ginger Glazed Turkey
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder see note*
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 10-12 pound Diestel Turkey, mine was 11 pounds
Orange-Ginger Glaze
- 3/4 cup orange juice I used pulp-free store-bought
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos or liquid aminos
- zest of 2 oranges
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or honey
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Un-wrap the thawed turkey and rinse it off in the sink. Use a paper towel to pat it dry. Place the turkey in a roasting pan.
- Add the olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, and sea salt to a small blender and blend until completely combined. Spread this mixture over the turkey and allow it to sit for 15 minutes as it comes to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Roast turkey for 3 hours, or until the breast meat reaches 160 degrees F (remember the bird will continue "cooking" once it's out of the oven).
- While the turkey is roasting, make the orange-ginger glaze. Add all ingredients to a small saucepan or skillet and heat over medium. Bring to a full boil and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced to half its original volume.
- 30 minutes before the turkey has finished roasting, remove it from the oven, and brush the glaze over it. Continue roasting until finished.
- Remove the turkey from the oven and allow it to sit at least 15 minutes prior to slicing and serving.
love the orange ginger flavor, a really nice complement to the turkey, trying to decide whether to mix it up a bit this year from my regular recipe, this will help, thank you!
The quality of the food itself is extremely crucial. The turkey you recommend looks nice, especially when you use the orange ginger glaze, the color of the meat is perfect! ❤
– Natalie
I couldn’t agree more! I wish more folks held that philosophy – then there would be less chronic disease in our country. Thanks so much for the sweet note! Happy Thanksgiving!
I used your turkey recipe this Thanksgiving and I even bought the same turkey. I just could not bring myself to buy a cheap or mistreated turkey packed with hormones. The flavor in the glaze was delicious and the turkey was moist and tasty! Thank you for sharing this.
I’m so happy to hear it, Jenna!!! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
I whole-heartedly agree with you on your turkey choice for all the reasons you’ve listed. It’s got such incredible flavor too — you can taste the difference! I love the orange-ginger flavors that you’ve got going on here and this is one beautiful bird! It would definitely be a stand-out on the Thanksgiving table.
Thank you so much lady! I love and appreciate your mindset! xo
Perfect turkey! It isn’t easy knowing where your food comes from, even in our age of buying clean, organic foods. It’s nice to see the turkey surrounded by vegys, and not by breads and desserts. Great photos.
Thank you! xoxo