I have a confession to write, but I am a little afraid I will lose some of my credibility as a Cook’n Newsletter Contributor… Here it goes: I have never, ever, in my whole life, cooked a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner (or any other occasion for that matter). Phew, I said it! Now you know my cooking experience is limited. The truth is, I have never needed to make one. We have always lived near family where someone else hosts the holiday dinners.

This year, I decided to try something crazy and make a small turkey for my family the day after Thanksgiving. If you read my articles regularly, you know that I love my Instant Pot. I decided to try cooking our turkey in the Instant Pot. I reviewed several Instant Pot turkey recipes online. Most had high reviews/ratings, and many people claimed that their Instant Pot turkey was more moist than other cooking methods they had tried. I was very pleased with how our little turkey turned out, so I thought I would share it with you. This recipe also includes an easy, awesome way to make gravy from the turkey.

Before you decide to try Instant Pot turkey, I suppose I should say that the Instant Pot will not cook a large holiday turkey. They just aren’t big enough! My 6-quart basic model could comfortably fit our 5lb turkey. I would imagine the larger, 8-quart version of the Instant Pot could fit a 7-10lb turkey. So, if you’re making Instant Pot turkey for a large crowd, you will probably need multiple pots with several small turkeys.

Here is the recipe I used… I created it based on a recipe I found on the website Crunchy, Creamy, Sweet.

Instant Pot Turkey with Gravy

5lb whole, bone-in turkey

2 cups chicken stock (or broth)

1 medium onion, cut into large chunks

2 celery stalks, cut into pieces

3 garlic cloves (or 3 tsp of dried garlic)

3 T olive oil

¾ tsp paprika

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

2 T corn starch

¼ cup cold water

Directions:

1. Pour 2 cups of chicken stock into the Instant Pot. Put the onion, celery and garlic in the pot. Place the metal trivet inside the pot. (The trivet comes with the Instant Pot).

2. Rinse the turkey, pat it dry with paper towels, and place on top of the trivet.

3. In a separate dish, mix together the olive oil, salt, and all of the other spices (minus the corn starch).

4. Using a basting brush, brush the turkey with the entire olive oil mixture.

5. Place the Instant Pot lid on top and secure. Make sure the seal is closed. Push the poultry button. Adjust the time to 30 minutes and make sure it is on “high pressure.” (If your turkey is frozen, adjust the time to 45 minutes).

6. When the time is up, let the pressure naturally release for 15-20 minutes. Release any remaining pressure. After opening the lid, use a meat thermometer to ensure the thickest part of the turkey is at least 165 degrees. If it isn’t done for some reason, put the lid back on and cook it for another few minutes.

7. When you are confident the turkey is cooked all the way through, remove the turkey and trivet.

8. To make the gravy, strain the rest of the pot contents through a sieve to remove the vegetable chunks. Reserve 2 cups of the strained broth. Put the strained broth back in the Instant Pot along with the 2 Tablespoons of corn starch and ¼ cup of cold water. Whisk together. Push the “saute” button and let the mixture cook until it thickens, about 5-10 minutes.

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Here is a picture of my carved Instant Pot turkey. The picture isn’t so great, but I promise it was delicious! Very moist and flavorful. The gravy also turned out awesome and was so easy to make.

I still have a long way to go to before becoming an experienced turkey roaster, but this was definitely a step in the right direction.