Most home cooks baste a roasting turkey about every 30–60 minutes, starting after the first hour in the oven.
General guideline
- For a typical oven-roasted turkey, aim to baste roughly once an hour to balance moisture with keeping the oven hot enough for even cooking and crispy skin.
- If you want extra color and moisture, you can shorten that to every 30–45 minutes, especially during the last hour, but avoid more often than that so the oven doesn’t lose too much heat.
Practical tips
- Use pan juices, melted butter, or a mixture of fat and stock, and focus extra on the breast, which dries out fastest.
- If you’re using a high-heat method or your turkey is covered (bag or tightly tented), you can baste less frequently or even skip it, since the enclosed environment already helps retain moisture.
