This recipe is brought to you by my amazing sponsor, Char-Broil. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep The Daley Plate going!

As a newlywed person who hadn’t been cooking turkey all my life, it always seemed to be such a daunting task. I was a daughter in law who wanted to impress the new family, a South African in America learning a new culture and quite frankly wasn’t ready to tackle hosting our first Thanksgiving by myself. We had an old creaky oven and I was completely unaware of dry brings vs. wet brining, resting time or even oven temperatures. Needless to say it was a disaster. We all picked at a dry, flavorless turkey as I sat there, flustered. I lost a lot of confidence because of it.

Over the next few years I picked up a few tips and tricks but never fully loved cooking the turkey in the oven. Seasoning the turkey with Cajun spices and frying it seemed like the only way it came out juicy and flavorful throughout, also highly appropriate because his family is from Louisiana. We invested in a turkey fryer and used it a few times but there were a few problems with this:

Buying a large heavy box of peanut oil just for a turkey seemed wasteful to me.

Cleaning out the fryer was tedious and I wasn’t sure where to discard the oil.

Two uses and we were done. I put it in the garage and it never got used again. We skipped Thanksgiving for the last three years, opting instead to eat at the homes of family members for a less stressful experience. Is that bad? ;-) I did love to entertain and this year decided to try again with the godsend that is The Big Easy® Oil-Less Turkey Fryer. Eureka!

Sometimes the pressure of the holidays and stressing over the turkey makes Thanksgiving more of an anxiety-filled event than it has to be, for amateur cooks and seasoned cooks alike. For this reason I’m listing a few ways to streamline the experience for us cooks who like things easy but want to make an effort to ensure that things come out well.

1. Make your grocery list early
Don’t wait until the last week to finalize your menu. Pick a few easy sides and write down those ingredients, separating them into perishable and non-perishable so that you know which to buy now and which to buy later (cream, butter and milk for example).

2. Set the table the night before
This is something that you can do in 15 minutes to save time on Thanksgiving day. Set out name cards, napkins, place glassware/dinnerware in the dishwasher so that they are sparkling, and make sure that any wines are refrigerated. Though we never celebrated Thanksgiving in South Africa, these are some things my mother always has us kids do before any family gathering.

3. Take the stress out of cooking the turkey so that you can focus on everything else!
I could tell you to cook as many sides as possible ahead of time, but honestly that won’t be necessary if you cook your turkey in The Big Easy® Oil-Less Turkey Fryer from Char-Broil! I used it to cook three turkeys within the last month and I can’t recommend it enough!

You use it outside, freeing up space in your oven for side dishes and counter space too!

Frying gives you the most delicious turkey, but The Big Easy® doesn’t need oil! Only a few tablespoons sprayed or rubbed onto the turkey itself. That means no messy clean-up job, no oil to discard and it’s healthier than conventional fryers.

Your turkey will cook faster and you’ll be able to easily see when it reaches 165F (USDA recommended temperature for poultry). There weren’t any hot spots or cold spots in the turkeys that I cooked, so it’s safe to say that The Big Easy® cooks evenly.

I’m adding my Cajun Fried Turkey below. Click here and use code DALEYPLATE to get 15% off your purchase of The Big Easy® Oil-Less Turkey Fryer which comes with a thorough grilling guide to help you cook other recipes as well. Visit www.charbroil.com for accessories that could allow you to prepare vegetables at the same time as the turkey.

Easiest Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe:

Ingredients:
Whole turkey, cavity cleaned
2-4 tablespoons peanut or olive oil depending on the size of your turkey
Cajun seasoning (equal parts salt, sugar, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and dried thyme)

Method:
On a clean surface or baking sheet, pat turkey dry and rub with oil to evenly cover the surface. Season the turkey thoroughly with Cajun seasoning and place inside the refrigerator for 2 hours or up to 12 hours (so you can prep this the day before!)

Ignite The Big Easy® and place turkey inside basket breast side up and insert included thermometer in thickest part of the breast. Cook the turkey until the internal temperature is 165F. The outside should be crisp and golden brown. Allow the turkey to rest for 5-10 minutes while the cooking basket cools before removing. Carve and enjoy! I serve mine with steamed green beans, sweet potato mash or my double cauliflower mash, butter pools and lots of gravy!