How to Control Saltiness After Brining (2024)

Time’s getting away from me! We spent all last week on pies, and it occurred to me this morning that I needed to run through what happens after brining the turkey. In years past, I’ve experienced a little trial-and-error with brining. While it unquestionably injects a lot of flavor in the turkey and helps it to retain a lot of juiciness and moisture, it also can result in saltier drippings, which can cause problems with both the stuffing (if you stuff your bird, which I don’t generally do) and the gravy, since the gravy is made from turkey drippings.

There are several things you can do to decrease the “over-salty” quality of your brined turkeys. The more of these tips you follow, the more you’ll be able to control the saltiness that can result from brining.

1. Use a fresh (i.e. non-frozen) turkey.

The reason for this is that most frozen turkeys are typically injected with a sodium solution to help them freeze well, and brining an already-injected turkey can often result in an inedible bird (I’ve learned this the hard way.) Fresh turkeys are typically not preserved this way. Be sure to check the package before you buy the turkey, too; some frozen turkeys are thawed out before they’re sold, so they can give the impression of being “fresh.” But if they say “Injected With Sodium Solution” (or anything resembling this), you won’t want to brine them—or, if you do brine them, decrease the time.

I will say that my friend Julie found frozen turkeys at Whole Foods that were injected with a sodium solution, but on a very small scale. We just decreased the amount of time we brined them (around 12 hours instead of 16-24) and they turned out great!

To make it easy, just read the labels and/or ask the meat department or butcher. Just keep in mind that if you brine a frozen turkey, you’ll want to use one with injected with a lower sodium percentage than average.

Whew. I’m exhausted.

2. After brining, rinse the turkey thoroughly under cold water for a few minutes.

Take the brined turkey out of the brining bag or pot (or whatever vessel you set it in for brining), then discard the brine and set the turkey in a clean sink. Turn on the water and move the turkey underneath the water, allowing the water to run all the way into the cavity, and even using your hands to rub the surface of the turkey as it rinses.

3. After rinsing, fill the sink with cold water and soak the turkey for fifteen minutes.

This will “purge” the excess salt that has built up in the skin and surface meat and just decrease the intensity of the salt in the drippings.

4. While making gravy, use the lowest sodium chicken broth you can find.

Well-known chicken broth brands sell “low sodium” versions, but always check the label. The low-sodium broth at Whole Foods, for instance, is much, much lower in salt than the low-sodium broth in stores. Remember, you can always add salt to the gravy, but you can’t take it out. You’ll need all the help you can get when combating the salt in the drippings.

Also, you can always make your own chicken stock before Thanksgiving: just throw a chicken into a big pot, add chopped onions, celery, and carrots, a few herbs, but absolutely zero salt. That’s the best way for you to ensure your stock/broth won’t be salty.

5. Boil the giblets in water until they’re cooked through, then keep the broth from the giblets and use it to thin the gravy as you cook it.

This will add a nice flavor and, again, zero salt.

Try those steps this year!

In case you missed it, here’s my homemade brine recipe:

My Favorite Turkey Brine