How to brine a turkey safely: wet or dry, how much salt, and when to start

Brining is optional. A turkey cooked to 165°F and rested will be safe and good without it. People brine because salt changes how the meat holds water: USDA quotes a Texas A&M poultry scientist explaining that salt dissolves some muscle protein, and the salt and protein together reduce moisture loss during cooking. The cost is time, fridge space and one more raw-poultry job in a busy week. This page gives you the numbers so you can decide.

Step one: check the label

Before you buy salt, read the turkey's label. If it says basted, self-basting, or “contains up to …% of a solution,” it has already been injected with a solution that usually includes salt. USDA requires those words and an ingredient statement on any bird treated this way. Butterball says its turkeys are pre-brined. Kosher turkeys are salted as part of koshering, which Serious Eats notes has much the same effect as brining. For all of these, skip the brine. A second salting tends to make the meat, and the gravy made from its drippings, too salty.

A brine makes sense for a turkey labeled only as fresh or frozen with no added solution. See fresh vs. frozen turkey for what the other label words mean.

Wet brine or dry brine?

	Wet brine	Dry brine
USDA ratio	¾ cup table salt per gallon of water (3 tbsp per quart)	1 tbsp kosher or seasoned salt per 5 lb of turkey
Container	Food-grade plastic, stainless steel or glass, or a food-grade bag; turkey fully submerged and covered	Food-grade plastic bag, air pressed out, sealed
Time	At least overnight; no more than 2 days	Up to 2 days; massage every 8 to 12 hours
Fridge space	A lot: bird plus a gallon or more of liquid	Little more than the turkey itself
After	Remove the bird, discard the brine	Remove from the bag, pat dry

Sources: USDA FSIS, Poultry: Basting, Brining, and Marinating.

For a 16 lb turkey, the dry ratio works out to about 3 tablespoons of kosher salt. A wet brine needs enough liquid to cover the bird completely, which usually means more than a gallon, and a container big enough to hold the bird and the liquid.

For most home kitchens the dry brine is the practical choice: no sloshing, no extra gallons in the fridge, and the same 2-day window.

The safety rules

USDA's brining advice is short:

• Do not wash the turkey before brining. Washing spreads raw juices around the sink and counter. Our page on whether to wash a turkey has the study numbers.
• If your brine recipe is heated to dissolve the salt, cool it to room temperature before the turkey goes in, then refrigerate.
• Keep the turkey and brine at 40°F or below for the whole time. Never brine on the counter.
• Do not go longer than 2 days. USDA's 2-day limit counts from when the bird is thawed or bought fresh.
• Cover the container so it cannot splash other food in the fridge.
• Discard the used brine. Never reuse it or turn it into a sauce.
• If you stuff the bird, brine first, and cook immediately after stuffing.

Timing for Thursday, Nov. 26

The turkey must be fully thawed before it goes into a brine, and USDA counts the 2 days from that point. That makes the calendar:

Step	Date
Frozen 12 to 16 lb bird into the fridge to thaw	By Sat., Nov. 21
Start a 2-day brine (once fully thawed)	Tue., Nov. 24
Start an overnight brine	Wed., Nov. 25 (evening)
Out of the brine, patted dry, roasted	Thu., Nov. 26

The thaw guide has the dates for other weights.

Where it fits

Fridge space is the real constraint. A turkey in a bag of brine takes a full shelf for one to two days at the moment you are also storing make-ahead dishes. If it will not fit, USDA allows a cooler with ice, as long as it stays at 40°F or below; our fridge and cooler plan shows how to free space.

Cooking a brined turkey

Cook it as you would any turkey: oven no lower than 325°F, until 165°F in the thickest part of the breast, the innermost thigh and the innermost wing. Brined skin browns faster, so a loose foil tent after it colors helps. The cooking methods guide has the time tables, and the thermometer guide shows exactly where to probe. Taste the drippings before you salt the gravy.