Spiced Turkey Brine Recipe
This spiced turkey brine recipe is the flavor boost you need to take a tender, juicy turkey to the next level. It’s recommended to brine turkey overnight, or at least a few hours in a salt water brine.
But, it’s practically just as easy to add in some spices to the brine to add extra flavor. It only takes a couple of minutes to do and the result is worth the extra effort.
A lot of these favorite spices (cardamom, cinnamon and allspice) are the same mulling spices that are used in flavorful festive drinks like mulled wine (glogg) and mulled hibiscus tea.
Keep these spices on hand especially during the fall and winter seasons for your cozy beverage and in this savory turkey brine recipe.
Content in this Post
Ingredients in Spiced Turkey Brine Recipe
You can add the following whole spices as is, or crush them slightly with a to release more flavor.
- Kosher Salt — one and a half cup of kosher salt.
- Cinnamon Sticks — use two cinnamon sticks, you can break them into pieces or use whole.
- Cardamom Pods — whole
- Allspice Berries — whole
- Fenugreek — dried leaves
- Peppercorns — whole
- Cumin Seeds — whole
- Coriander Seeds — whole
- Water — filtered water, four cups in the recipe, and then add more to fully submerge turkey in the stock pot.
And of course, you’ll need your turkey!
Your masala brined turkey is perfect to use in this masala spiced turkey recipe.
How To Organize Your Spices
These spices are used time and again in our savory recipes. We love to organize them in a masala dabba for quick and convenient access to our favorite spices.
A masala dabba is a container with several smaller containers in it, with one glass lid that covers them all. It’s a great way to keep your commonly used spices organized.
Just remove one lid and you can use small spoons to take portions of each spice. You won’t need to fuss to open seven separate containers – one lid keeps them all stored fresh.
You might find that having more than one masala dabba is useful to you. Organize each with spices that are often used together in recipes.
Or you organize them by keeping whole spices in one and ground spices in another. Either way, they are perfect for any spice lover.
How To Make Spiced Turkey Brine
Spiced turkey brine is so easy to do and is worth the few extra minutes of effort it takes to put together.
The first step is to put all of the ingredients (kosher salt and spices) into a medium saucepan with four cups of water and bring it to a boil.
Once you have reached a boil, stir the mixture to dissolve the salt into the brine.
Take the saucepan off of the heat and allow it to sufficiently cool. You can add some lukewarm water to the brine water to help speed up the cooling process.
Place turkey into a large and add the brine mixture to the stock pot. Add more water, as necessary, to fully cover the turkey.
Cover the stock pot with a lid and transfer the stock pot with turkey and brine into the fridge to sit overnight.
The following day, remove the turkey from the brine mixture, give the turkey a good rinse with fresh water and discard all of the brine ingredients.
What To Serve with Masala Spiced Turkey
You can use this spiced brine for your favorite turkey recipes. We especially love spiced brine with a masala spiced turkey to further enhance the flavors.
You can serve masala spiced turkey with your favorite turkey side dishes. The following are some great choices that go especially well with a masala spiced turkey:
- Sweet Potato Mash — this tastes like a classic oven roasted sweet potato casserole, but is made super fast in your Instant Pot!
- Spiced Cranberry Pineapple Sauce — Kashmiri chili and fresh ginger are the warming spices in this sweet and savory sauce.
- Mashed Potatoes — comforting and creamy, made easily in Instant Pot.
- Low Carb Stuffing With Okra — bread stuffing with stir fried okra, apples and berries, using low carb and gluten free Carbonaut bread.
Best Uses for Spiced Turkey Leftovers
The masala spiced turkey after first being placed in a spiced brine overnight, will lend some fantastic turkey leftovers.
- Leftover turkey tikka masala pita pizza
- Kebab chicken pita pizza (sub leftover spiced turkey for cooked chicken)
- Chicken salad sandwich without mayo (sub leftover turkey for cooked chicken)
- Instant Pot turkey mulligatawny soup
- Instant Pot turkey and wild rice soup
- turkey quesadillas
You’ll Also Love
Cook this amazingly tender, juicy, masala spiced turkey that begins with a spiced brine overnight, then gets rubbed with a yogurt based blend with fresh cilantro, garlic and ginger with masala spices.
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Spiced Turkey Brine Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 Cups Kosher Salt
- 4 Cups Water
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 15 Cardamom Pods
- 4 Allspice Berries, whole
- 1 tablespoon Fenugreek , dried leaves
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Seeds, whole
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds, whole
- 1 teaspoon Black Peppercorns, whole
Instructions
- Place kosher salt, and all spices in a large saucepan.
- Add water and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve salt. Remove from heat and set aside to allow to cool.
- Place turkey into a large stock pot. Pour spiced brine over turkey. Cover the stock pot with lid and place in the refrigerator to brine overnight.
- When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove the turkey from the spiced turkey brine. Rinse turkey well to remove the salt and transfer to a wire rack inside of an oven safe roasting pan . NOTE: It is important to discard all of the liquid and spices from the stock pot.
Additional Information
Nutrition
Note
The above nutritional values are estimates and should only be used as a guide. If you are following a specific diet or have dietary restrictions, please use your preferred nutritional calculator. If you have a food allergy please ensure that none of the listed ingredients are part of your restrictions. As well, always use a food thermometer to ensure safe cooking temperature of the food items.
