Jennie-O Just Settled the Debate: Should You Brine Your Thanksgiving Turkey?

Even if you prefer the sides or dessert, there’s nothing more important than the turkey on Thanksgiving—it is nicknamed Turkey Day, after all. But, of course, the centerpiece item is also one of the trickiest to make and has the most room for errors. Go figure.

There are so many questions when it comes to a Thanksgiving turkey. Should you brine it? How should you cook it? What about stuffing it? That’s why we turned to the experts at Jennie-O to answer our biggest turkey questions.

Not only has Jennie-O been selling turkeys for more than 80 years, but it’s also an official partner of one of Thanksgiving’s other largest mainstays: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Between driving down the parade route in the Big Turkey Spectacular float, offering a "1-800-TURKEYS" hotline for cooking emergencies, and providing the turkeys to be pardoned by the President at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation, it’s safe to say that Jennie-O is a Thanksgiving pro.

So, do the Thanksgiving pros think brining your turkey is necessary? Yes, yes, they do.

Why You Should Brine Your Thanksgiving Turkey

“There are more benefits than not to brining [your] turkey,” Chef Barry Greenberg, the culinary team lead at Hormel Foods (which owns Jennie-O), told Allrecipes. “You are almost guaranteed a delicious result when a turkey is brined and roasted properly.”

The two major benefits of a turkey brine are juiciness and flavor. 

Turkeys take a long time to cook, and leaving them in the oven for that long really sucks all the natural moisture out of the bird, which is already a pretty small amount since turkey is a lean meat. Literally no one wants to bite into a turkey that looks like it was cooked by the Griswold family, so that’s why you add a salty brine that’ll seep into the meat and help it retain the juices.

However, that brings us to our next question. Should you use a wet brine or a dry brine?

Using a Wet Brine vs. Dry Brine

“Both types of brines will produce juicy turkey,” Greenberg said. 

So, it really depends on which brine you prefer—or which one you have the time and space for.

A wet brine, which includes water and typically a few other seasonings, spices, or liquid, has more ingredients, while a dry brine takes more time (up to three days) to complete. Additionally, because the dry brine takes so long, you’ll need to keep it safely chilled in your refrigerator while it’s brining. Whereas because a wet brine only takes about eight hours, Greenberg likes to “use a picnic cooler with ice and a resealable bag large enough to hold your turkey” to save you precious fridge space.

No matter which brining method you choose, they’ll both add delicious flavor to your otherwise mild turkey.

“Brining is the opportunity to introduce a flavor element to your turkey,” Greenberg said. “Use this time to customize the result and highlight your cooking style. Use aromatics like fresh herbs, spice blends, chiles, or citrus.”

Greenberg’s favorite brine? A dry brine with garlic and citrus.

We know supporting the turkey brine might not have been what you wanted to hear. Yes, it does take a while and requires some extra prep steps—but most of us only make a turkey once a year, so why not ensure it’s as delicious as possible?