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If you enjoy cooking turkey or chicken, then you should have a good turkey or chicken brine recipe in your back pocket. If you’re cooking turkey or chicken without brining, what are you doing?! Creating a brine is the best way to serve a juicy, tender, bite of protein. Continue reading as I share with you an easy all-purpose turkey /chicken brine recipe.
Different Types of Brine
There are two common types of brine used in cooking these birds. These cooking techniques are either a wet brine or a dry brine with salt. In this recipe I will share my wet brine recipe used for either chicken or turkey. There is no need for a basic dry brine recipe. For a dry brine, simply season your bird by covering it with kosher salt. When cooking any bird, turkey or chicken, there’s one key rule I always go by:
Wet brine for frying, smoking, or grilling. Dry brine for roasting.”
The only exception I make to the rule above is when it comes to baking. In my southern style baked turkey wing recipe. These flavors bake and melt together for a few hours, so there’s no need to brine my turkey wings.
The most basic wet brine recipe is 1 part salt, 1/2 part sugar, and water. However, we’re not basic cooks, so we’re going to elevate this recipe with various aromatics such as thyme, bay leaves, celery, garlic, lemons and more! In reality, you can add any seasoning to a basic brine recipe to create amazing infused flavors. For BBQ, try adding hickory smoke seasoning or BBQ seasoning for example.
BEST CONTAINER FOR BRINES
My Favorite Food Storage Container for Brines
I use the following food storage container for all of my brines. These work great for chicken wings, turkey, lamb and more!
Benefits of Turkey or Chicken Brine
With brining, the common key ingredient is salt. Salt not only seasons your protein, releasing flavors from the inside out, but over time, salt also breaks down protein enzymes. This breakdown causes the protein to retain more moisture in the cooking process, resulting in a more tender, juicy cut of meat. It also prevents surface-level flavors.
For this all-purpose turkey and/or chicken brine recipe, I recommend allowing the protein to chill in the brine mixture overnight for maximum flavor. However, a few hours prior to cooking will still increase the moisture retained in turkey and chicken if you’re low on time.
Tips for Making Wet Brine
- Dissolve ingredients in warm water, yet do not add turkey or chicken until brine mixture has completely cooled.
- You can quickly cool a warm brine mixture by adding ice cubes
- For storage and food safety, allow immersed turkey or chicken to chill in a temperature controlled environment such as the refrigerator.
Turkey and Chicken Brine Recipe
All Purpose Turkey & Chicken Brine Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 cups Water
- 1/2 cup Kosher Salt
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 2 tbsp Whole Peppercorns
- 1 tbsp Adobo All Purpose Seasoning
- 5 Garlic Cloves rough chopped
- 3 Celery Stalks cleaned, cut
- 1 Lemon cleaned, sliced
- 4 Sprigs of Thyme
- 2 Bay Leaves
Instructions
- Bring 2 cups of water up to boil. Upon boil, turn off heat, pour in salt, sugar, and Adobo seasoning. Stir until dissolved.
- Once dissolved add whole peppercorns, chopped garlic, chopped celery, lemon slices, thyme, and bay leaves. Combine and stir. Cool down mixture by adding the remaining 6 cups of cool water. Allow mixture to sit and cool before adding turkey or chicken.
- Take turkey or chicken, place it inside of a food storage container or storage bag. Pour cooled brine mixture into container or bag with the turkey/chicken. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. (TIP: If you use a Ziplock bag to submerge your protein in, I recommend placing this inside of a bowl to prevent leaks in your refrigerator.)
Nutrition
Brine Recipe Video Tutorial:
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I enjoy using it when cooking! As a takeaway, always remember to brine your birds before cooking!
I have yet to brine my poultry so I’m intrigued by this recipe to try it. Thanks for the clear instructions – looks like I’ll be brining my next chicken dinner!
We just deep fried our turkey for Thanksgiving, and I wasn’t happy with the brine we used. I can’t wait to try this one!
I love the zesty, bright lemon flavor in this brine. I’ll definitely be using it when I make my chicken this weekend. It looks great!
Ooh. I can’t wait to try this! I routinely brine my chicken and I always bring my turkey. It just makes them so much more tender and juicy.
I must be honest I have yet to brine my poultry but after reading and seeing this recipe, I’m going to do it now. It looks so favorable, and I bet it’s juicy indeed.
I must be honest I have yet to brine my poultry but after reading and seeing this recipe, I’m going to do it now. It looks so favorable, and I bet it’s juicy indeed. Gosh all those great ingredients.
This is so cool, although thanksgiving is gone we can still cook it for family weekend gathering. Thank you for sharing!
So interesting! I’ve never made brine before, but it seems like it would add a lot of flavor.
We never made brine too, but this recipe looks yummy and easy. I love lemons and celery. Thank you for sharing.
Whew! This chicken will definitely slap because of the lemons that are kind of marinating it. I look forward to trying out this recipe myself..
I can imagine the tasty lemony chicken after marinating it for hours. I will try your recipe! This could be the first time I will try a brine recipe. Does it also work with other meat such as beef?
We’ve always roasted our turkeys so I had no idea how to do a wet brine. Thanks for this delicious recipe!
Loved your simple poultry brine recipe! Even for a non-cook like me, the steps were easy to follow. The flavors were spot-on. Thanks for making a daunting task seem doable!
I love doing easy recipes! Thank you for sharing Turkey and Chicken Brine recipe. Appreciate your tip of adding ice cubes. That definitely makes sense.