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I’ve been against roasting Thanksgiving turkeys in roasting bags this whole time. It seems to me an easy way to end up with a soggy-skinned bird, when we all seem to be striving for crispy skin. However, I also am against making judgements when I haven’t actually tried out the method. Last week, I purchased myself a roasting bag and put a whole turkey inside to roast. It did not result in flabby skin. It was surprisingly successful, actually. And the benefits might be something you’re interested in trying for yourself.
My priorities have always been speed and flavor. Getting a whole turkey cooked fast is already tough, so I usually spatchcock it which solves both problems. The turkey is splayed out flat so it cooks faster, and the legs and thighs receive equal exposure to the drying heat instead of being tucked away. This leads to better tasting skin on all parts of the turkey. However, you can’t stuff a spatchcocked turkey, and the truth is, a lot of folks like the traditional method—roasting it whole and stuffed.
The roasting bag allows you to do exactly that, and the primary allure is that you don’t have to clean up a nasty roasting rack and pan with semi-burnt drippings welded to the bottom. I used Reynold’s Oven Bags and according to the package, the bag keeps moisture in, resulting in "tender juicy meats."
To use the roasting bag, add a tablespoon of all-purpose flour to the bag and shake it around. This is emphasized in the package’s directions, but do make sure you do it. This bit of starch helps prevent the bag from scorching and tearing open. Load in the turkey and any roasting aromatics you want, like quartered onion, sprigs of thyme and sage, or lemon slices. Arrange them so they’re under the bird and place the bag in a deep roasting pan. Tie the opening with one of the included bag ties, cut a few vents in the top, and tuck the excess plastic down. Roast according to the package directions.
While I didn’t find that the bag made the turkey meat juicier than my regular dry brining preparations, it absolutely keeps moisture in. You can kind of see in the picture below that all the drippings and fat gather at the bottom in one big turkey balloon.
The drippings are already collected. With traditional roasting, taking the turkey out of the pan, removing the roasting vegetables so you can deglaze the pan for gravy can be annoying when you’re in a rush. The roasting bag keeps everything conveniently collected. If you’re strong enough or your turkey is small enough, you can lift the bag, snip the bottom and pour all the juices out into a pot. What you miss out on in fond (the browned bits on the bottom of the pan), you make up for in easier clean-up.
Crispy skin is no problem. As far as crispy skin goes, I found this to be no issue at all. The skin on the breast doesn’t become soggy because you still cut vents in the tops so much of the steam escapes. When the turkey is almost finished cooking, you can crisp the skin even further by taking the turkey out of the oven and cutting the top of the bag open just enough to expose the top and sides of the turkey. Don’t cut it open too much or the drippings may escape the bag. Return it to the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes to finish cooking and to crisp the skin further.
While the roasting bag truly lessens the cleaning issues I’ve had with classic roasting, the bag presents a couple annoying quirks.
The dismount. It’s hard to get the turkey out of the bag without dumping all the collected juice out into the roasting pan. I managed to do it, with only a little spillage but it was a struggle. I have two suggestions: Wait a good 30 to 40 minutes so you can easily handle the turkey without burning yourself, or just be OK with dumping the contents out into the roasting pan. Cleaning will still be easy because you’ve avoided the browned crusted bits.
Sticky edges. The only other annoying thing I ran into was that upon removing the turkey from the heat, the bag deflates, totally expected—but what I didn’t expect was that the plastic bag would adhere to the turkey’s legs and wings. I’m not exactly sure why, but those areas where the skin was somewhere in between crisp and soggy stuck right to the bag. I was able to disengage the skin with a pair of tongs but it was a fight I didn’t wish to have.
Taking the temperature. This was a problem until I realized it was easily solved. Just in case you find yourself wondering how you insert a thermometer when you’re roasting a turkey in a bag—you just stab through the bag. There’s no use searching for your vent holes; they’re in the wrong spots anyway. Just find the thickest part of the thigh and poke right through the plastic.
If you have had nightmare cleaning sessions due to burnt fond in your roasting pan, you will see roasting bags as a pure god-send. Even with some spilled turkey fat and juice, my roasting pan was no bother at all to clean. Furthermore, if you don’t like an overwhelming turkey smell in your house for three hours, the bag helps dim the aroma. And if you like to make your own gravy, but wish the drippings were easier to collect, you’ll enjoy using a roasting bag.
The bag isn’t perfect though. I don’t prefer it to my simple spatchcocking method, so if you already have something that works for you, stick with that for this Thanksgiving. Test out the roasting bag another time, and maybe on a more manageable chicken instead of a turkey.
