How do I roast the turkey?
Plan your timing accordingly. Get started about three hours before dinnertime for an 8-12 pound turkey, and five hours before dinner for a 20-24 pound turkey. The rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound for 12 to 20 pound turkeys and 18 minutes per pound for a 22 to 30 pound turkey. But this is just a guideline. Use the thermometer, not the clock, to test your turkey’s doneness.

What you’ll need:

Turkey
Stuffing
Meat Thermometer
Roasting Pan
Poultry Rack (helpful, but not mandatory)
Aluminum Foil
Butter, Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Put the turkey in a pan, breast side up. If you also have a poultry rack, use it. It allows the heat to circulate all around the bird. Just don’t bother with those oven bags. They trap juices so that the lower half of your bird gets boiled, not roasted.
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over your bird, inside and out. Stuff, or don’t. Rub the skin with softened butter.
4. Stick your meat thermometer deep in the turkey’s outer thigh. Make sure it’s not touching bone.
5. Put the whole thing in the oven.
6. Every half hour, look in on your turkey and baste it with the juices that have dripped down into the pan or melted butter.
7. If your turkey breast starts looking too brown too soon, cover it with foil.
8. When the thermometer reaches 165 degrees, pull your turkey out of the oven and let it rest for half an hour; if you cut it right away, all its juices will drain out. Some guides advise cooking to 180 degrees, but that recommendation is made to compensate for errors like bad ovens and inaccurate thermometers. Bacteria die at 147 degrees, so get a good thermometer and relax.