Both turkey brining techniques have their benefits—they’re easier than mid-roast basting, for one—but both also have drawbacks. The choice to dry brine or wet brine a turkey depends on how much time you have, how much space you can allot to the process, and how much effort you’re willing to give the showpiece of your Thanksgiving Day dinner.

Dry Brine vs. Wet Brine

Both techniques work the same way; they both infuse the turkey’s meat with salt, which breaks down muscle protein strands in the meat. Thus, the water is absorbed into the muscles. When the turkey is roasted, the muscles cannot contract because of the salt’s destruction of the protein strands. This reduces the amount of liquid that’s expelled from the bird, helping it retain moisture and leaving you with a deliciously juicy showstopper. The difference between the two brining options is in how the salt works. In a wet brine, a bath of salt-infused water saturates the meat. The water solution plumps the amount of liquid in the bird by as much as 40 percent, but the salt also helps the muscles retain the liquid during cooking. (That’s why you don’t see water coming out of the turkey when it’s cooked.) A dry brine, on the other hand, actually draws the turkey’s natural moisture out of the meat. Then, the salt mixes with the turkey’s juices and is reabsorbed into the meat. This very concentrated brine breaks down the muscle proteins and prevents them from squeezing out liquid during the cooking process. The salt is the magic of both techniques. You can use other flavoring ingredients—sugar, spices, and citrus zest are common—but they’re ancillary.

How to Dry Brine Turkey

  1. Create your salt brine. For every 2 pounds of turkey, pour out 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. An 8-pound turkey needs 4 tablespoons of salt. You can also add other dry spices to the dry brine mixture. Black pepper, paprika, sugar, rosemary, thyme, and oregano are all common. Make any combination you prefer, and combine well with the salt.
  2. Cover the turkey with dry brine. Thoroughly dry the surface of the turkey with paper towels. Gently sprinkle the salt over the surface of the turkey and inside the turkey’s cavity.
  3. Refrigerate. Place the turkey on a rack inside a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer the baking sheet with turkey into a refrigerator, and let the turkey brine uncovered for 12 to 24 hours.
  4. Brush and roast. After the brine is finished, you can brush off any remaining brine if you want. You can also leave the dry brine in place for extra flavor. Roast the turkey according to your recipe’s instructions. For extra moist meat: Rubbing butter between the turkey skin and meat is an easy “self-basting” technique. While the turkey roasts, the butter melts and helps flavor the turkey meat while also keeping it moist and delicious. If you want to do this, spread the better (seasoned or plain) under the skin before the dry brining process. The salt brine makes the turkey skin tough, which will make spreading butter after the brine more difficult.

How to Wet Brine Turkey

  1. Combine salt, water, and aromatics. The ratio of salt to water is the most important part of the turkey wet brine. A good rule of thumb is 1 cup of salt for every gallon of water. An 8- to 12-pound turkey will likely require 2 gallons of water to fully submerge the bird. Aromatics like bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic, whole allspice, hearty herbs (rosemary and thyme are good options), and citrus zest are commonly used in wet brines, too. You can also use sugar—use 1/4 cup for every cup of salt. When you’ve selected the ingredients you want, bring them to a boil with some of the liquid you’ve reserved for the brine. Let the infused liquid cool entirely, then add it to your brining vessel.
  2. Submerge turkey in the brine solution. Carefully remove any plastic wrappings from the turkey. Lower the bird into the brining solution. Place the pot, bucket, or other large vessel in the refrigerator or iced-down cooler. If the turkey floats above the water line (and it probably will), weigh it down with a clean plate or platter.
  3. Refrigerate. Let the turkey brine in the saltwater solution at least overnight (8 hours) or up to 24 hours. You must keep the turkey and brining liquid cool during the entire process.
  4. Remove and ready for roasting. After the brine is complete, remove the turkey from the solution. Discard the solution. Place the turkey on a rack in a rimmed baking pan. Pat dry with paper towels, and roast per your recipe’s instructions. For extra crispy skin: If you like the texture and juiciness of a wet brine turkey but adore crispy skin, you can take your bird preparation technique one step further and let the turkey dry in the fridge overnight. After you’ve removed the turkey from the brine and patted-off excess moisture, place the bird in the fridge uncovered. The air will help wick away any moisture on the surface of the turkey and in the skin. This will lead to delicious browning when roasted.

Pros and Cons of Choosing a Dry Brine vs. Wet Brine

Both a dry brine and a wet brine are effective ways to make meat moist and juicy. That makes the decision between the two come down to just a handful of factors.

  1. Space needs (and time demands): A turkey must be fully submerged in a large pot or bucket if you’re wet brining. That means the wet brine process will consume a large portion of your fridge at a time when fridge space is hot real estate. You can brine a turkey in a cooler, but you’ll have to carefully monitor the temperatures inside the cooler to ensure the turkey and brining solution stay below 40 F. Above that threshold bacteria will begin to multiply quickly. This can introduce the risk of foodborne illness. A dry brine, on the other hand, still requires valuable shelf space in your refrigerator, but you don’t have to contend with a large bucket or vessel of salt water and raw turkey juices.
  2. Flavor impact: A wet brine for turkey is a surefire way to add a lot of moisture. The problem is, however, that moisture is mainly water. This can leave your turkey very juicy, if not a bit watery. A richly-concentrated liquid like homemade chicken stock won’t do much good either. The turkey only picks up salt and water from the wet brine, which means any flavor impact from aromatics is minimal. A dry brine, however, imparts far more flavor directly into the meat because of the close contact between the spice mixture and turkey meat. The flavor is much richer and more intense.
  3. Comfort level: If handling a cumbersome and slippery 15- to 20-pound raw turkey doesn’t seem appealing, you’re not alone. The “ick” factor may be enough to deter even the most seasoned Thanksgiving cook from this technique. You’ll still have to remove the packaging and pat dry a turkey before you dry brine it, but you won’t have the issue of gripping a slimy bird in a vat of swirling meat juice.