UPDATED NOV 2022: You did what? How?
During our kitchen renovations, we decided to buy new appliances since the fridge and stove were both out of date. The fridge was quite small and the oven took 30 mins to warm up. We did our research and picked the Frigidaire Gallery for both appliances and a Fisher Paykel double drawer dishwasher, which we love by the way. I think I’ll do an entire segment on the renos. Who doesn’t love a good reno story (and the trials and tribulations that come with it).
For now, let’s talk turkey. I live in Canada and our Thanksgiving holiday is in October. Here’s what I cooked last year and sharing it to help cut your turkey cooking in half.
Cook your turkey in an air fry oven feature or stand alone air fry...
I have to admit I feared the Air Fry feature. Avoided it like the plague. I’ve never used it. Never even attempted the standalone ones. Tons of questions ran through my mind, such as:
I have a small family – my husband, my adult daughter, who lives on her own over 5 hours away, and her boyfriend and, unfortunately we lost our Jessy Bubs (a 16-yr old Jack Russell) on Oct 18, 2022. So no scraps for her.
Normally when I order a fresh turkey, I tell the market four people and extra (for soup and at least one left over).
It’s always really busy. I waited too long to buy the turkey last year and all they had left was a 12-pounder. I haven’t always bought turkey for Thanksgiving. Half the family loves it, the other half not so much. So I had a 50-50 chance people would love it (or hate it). Those that don’t like it much are very appreciative and kind and wouldn’t say anything anyway.
Back to the 12-pound turkey. . .
The young man at the market said, “It’s good for 7-8 hungry people.” I looked at him and replied “Ok, I’ll take it.” What the heck. To me, it didn’t look that big. In the end it wasn’t. It was just right.
I gathered everything else that I needed to “accessorize” the table. I eat pretty healthy 85% of the time. Wherever possible I stay away from white sugar, white flour, etc. You can skip to recipe here.
Thanksgiving dinner at our house
I looked up as many Frigidaire Gallery Air Fry recipes for cooking turkey that I could find. It was tougher than I thought. After scrolling a bunch, I combined some ingredients from one recipe and then from another. My biggest concern was…
…what temperature and for how long?
If you’ve cooked a turkey in the oven, you know the typical temp is 325 F or 350 F for roughly 11 to 13 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey. Ours was not stuffed. I like to cook the stuffing separately.
My turkey was fresh. On the day of the feast, Sunday morning just before noon, I cleaned the bird and prepared a coating for the skin and put it back in the fridge until a little closer to cooking time.
P.S. I totally forgot to take that beautiful little pouch filled with giblets, so it stayed in the turkey and got cooked. I removed it before I carved the turkey. Many people fry the giblets, cut them into small pieces and add to the stuffing. Or, keep the neck for soup stock.
Early coating
(I coated bird for about 3 hours, placed it uncovered in fridge)
Combine:
¼ cup of sea salt (or kosher salt or whatever you use)
½ cup of Ghee* (I substituted this for butter for the first time.)
1 Tbsp of sugar (I don’t really use sugar, so I substitute it with monk* sugar. It’s a little sweeter than sugar so I use less.
¼ cup of fresh sage (or 2 Tbs of ground)
¼ cup of fresh chopped thyme (or 2 Tbs of ground thyme)
4 cloves garlic minced (or 3 tsps)
½ tsp of fennel
Mix together and coat turkey
Place turkey in fridge, uncovered for up to 8 hours (if you have that much time. I only left it for 3 hours).
Brine coating
Remove turkey from refrigerator. Preheat Air Fryer at 350 F.
(For brine, pull skin back and stuff brine between skin and bird as far down as you can get it and only add a bit on the top. Experts say the drier the food item for the air fryer the better.
Combine:
¼ cup of ghee
¼ cup of fresh thyme finally chop (I use the stem and all) (or use 2 tbsp of dry)
2-3 tbsp of rosemary
2 tbsp of fennel
3-4 tbsp of garlic
Mix the ingredients, place turkey in pan (manufacturer suggests a darker pan. I had a brand new one so I used it anyway. This is what I used from Ikea. Note the rack sits high so bottom of pan catches turkey drippings. Worked just fine.
Lift turkey skin gently and add mixture as far down as you can with a tall wooden spoon. Add external thermometer, if you want to ensure internal temperature when cooked is 160-165F.
When oven is heated, add the turkey and set the timer for 2 hours. Check at the 1 hour mark to see how it’s coming along. You’ll be amazed. Check out mine below at the 1:06 left to go on the timer.
If your turkey is much smaller like 8-10 pounds or much larger (I think the Gallery’s capacity is 35 pounds – that’s huge), you would adjust the time up or down. Remember: it’s about 11 to 13 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey.
About an hour out, I started to cook the potatoes, carrots and creamed spinach. I didn’t feel like making homemade gravy, so I bought two packages of the gluten free Clubhouse turkey gravy. It did the trick.
Here’s the rest of the meal and how I made it:
Stuffing
As mentioned I used gluten free bread, and because my daughter is allergic to eggs, I didn’t use eggs bind the bread. In hindsight I could have used a replacement like 1 tbsp of chia seeds with 2.5 tbsp of water. Let it sit for like 10 mins, and voila one egg. Could have doubled the recipe for two eggs…but I didn’t bother to add either this time.
Once bread was baked to brown a bit, I added:
1 chopped onion
2 finely chopped celery stalks
1 peeled and finely chopped carrot
Add to pan to with a touch of ghee until veggies become translucent.
Pour over bread mixture, add salt, pepper, sage, poultry seasoning, fresh thyme and fennel.
Mix well and add 1 cup of vegetable broth. Just eyeball it. If bread is still dry, keep adding a little bit more of the broth until all the bread is coated, but not drenched. Spray oil the bottom and sides of pan, and add stuffing. Do not cover.
BTW: I checked the timer on the turkey and at about the 20 mins left to cook, turning the pan around so I could fit two side by side and added the dressing next to it. The door did not close tightly, but it worked.
Lift turkey skin gently and add mixture as far down as you can with a tall wooden spoon. Add external thermometer, if you want to ensure internal temperature when cooked is 160-165F
When oven is heated, add the turkey and set the timer for 2 hours. Check at the 1 hour mark to see how it’s coming along. You’ll be amazed. Check out mine at the 1:06 left to go on the timer.
If your turkey is much smaller like 8-10 pounds or much larger (I think the Gallery’s capacity is 35 pounds – that’s huge), you would adjust the time up or down. Remember: it’s about 11 to 13 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey.
About an hour out, I started to cook the potatoes, carrots and creamed spinach. I didn’t feel like making homemade gravy, so I bought two packages of the gluten free Clubhouse turkey gravy. It did the trick.
Carrots
Boil carrots on medium and end when slightly undercooked. Drain water, add:
1/2 tsp of ghee or butter
¼ tsp of sugar (brown sugar is good for this, but I use monk* sugar). Stir a bit and let it sit on very low, covered, until ready to serve.
Potatoes
We love mash potatoes – who doesn’t?
I set some mashed potatoes aside for my daughter who’s allergic to dairy. But for the others, after I mashed the potatoes, I added:
1/4 cup of cream or milk
¼ cup of cream cheese
¼ cup of ghee or butter/margarine
Salt and pepper to taste.
I whip the potatoes with a wooden spoon, until perfectly smooth. I adjust the ingredients as I go along. Top with a few chives or green onions before serving.
Creamed spinach
This is my mother-in-law’s recipe and everyone loves it.
One or two packages of frozen chopped spinach. If you want just enough than 300g is plenty for 4 people. (Note: don’t use fresh spinach, not the same).
Thaw out spinach on stovetop on med-low.
When thawed, drain and return to stovetop, and add:
1/4 cup of cream
2 gloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp of dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
¼ cup of bread crumbs (regular or gluten free), and the ‘piece de resistance’
1 pinch of nutmeg.
Mix and let simmer for a good 10-15 mins, stirring often. Check to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
While turkey is chillin' in fridge...
While turkey is chillin’ 🙂 prepare your brine, and the rest of the food you will be serving (I prepped my stuffing ingredients, peeled and cut potatoes and carrots and placed them in water until I was ready to cook them. Due to dietary restrictions of a family member, I cut up all of the gluten free bread (one whole loaf) the night before and let it harden overnight for the stuffing. Put stuffing on a baking sheet, sprinkled a bit of sea salt and pepper, sage, garlic powder (healthier than garlic salt) and baked them in the office until just a bit brown.
Final thoughts...
Since we were celebrating my birthday a little early, my daughter bought a small carrot cake with the words “Thankful” on it – how perfect. So we didn’t have any other dessert (but we definitely could have :).
Later after that night, I made soup stock with some of the turkey bones and whatever meat was on them. Threw in half an onion, skin on, 2 stalks of celery, bay leaves and let it simmer-boil for a couple of hours. I let the pot sit overnight. Not ideal, but I had no room in my refrigerator.
In the morning, I removed all of the ingredients from the stock and placed them in a bowl to cool. I added an entire box of organic vegetable broth (you can use chicken broth too) and added the turkey pieces that had fallen off the bone, new, fresh diced carrots and celery, half an onion finely chopped (not the one I originally threw in), salt and pepper to taste. I didn’t have gluten free noodles, so I skipped them while I sent my daughter home with a care package of soup and left over Thanksgiving dinner, but later added the little noodles for me and my husband.
If you tried any of these recipes, especially the turkey in the Air Fry, let me know how you made out. Would you use the recipes again? Would you adjust any of the ingredients. Maybe your turkey was small enough to fit in a standalone airfryer. How did it turn out?
I bought the new Frigidaire gallery stove with air fryer several months ago. I absolutely love it. I use the air fryer all the time. I keep my great grandchildren while their mothers work. A 1 yr old and a 2 and 4 yr old. I use it for their lunch almost everyday. I also use it to cook my own meals.
I am cooking my Thanksgiving Turkey now. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Sorry for the delay in responding. How did your turkey turn out, Lana? What else have you cooked in it for the grandkids, like chicken fingers and fries :)? They must love them….
Hallelujah! At last! Someone who used an air fryer OVEN to cook a WHOLE turkey! Whew, I thought I was striking out on a virgin trail here. 😬 Thank you for posting your experience for the world to learn from. I have the same oven as you, so here goes! Blessings on you! 😊
I have to admit I was a little nervous. Like who waits until the day of the big event to try out a new feature? I thought what the heck? What could go wrong? ABSOLUTELY nothing went wrong. It was delish, and I’ve used it several more times. I’ve trye breaded fish cooked from frozen and I love the crispiness. What have you cooked in the air fryer, Becky?