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Bring to your table all the flavors of Mexican food with this delicious Mexican Pavo adobado. This Mexican Thanksgiving Turkey roast is one of my most popular recipes on YouTube with over 2.8 million views. This Mexican oven-roasted turkey recipe is so good that people just come back year after year looking for the same recipe. The secret? is a combination of savory, salty, and sweet natural ingredients that make a fiesta in your paladar! are you ready for the best Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey recipe? Find more of my Mexican Turkey Recipes here.
Achiote marinade
The marinade is made with orange juice, annatto paste known in Mexico as achiote, guajillo pepper, and garlic. Where can I find achiote? The annatto paste (achiote) is easy to find at the Mexican or international aisle at your supermarket. A very popular brand is the Culantro and Annato from Goya, you can use that one if you can’t find plain annatto paste or as we call it in Mexico Achiote. Achiote is very used in the south of Mexico for so many popular dishes such as cochinita pibil and carnitas.
About Mexican Culture, thanksgiving and Turkeys!
In Mexico, we do not celebrate Thanksgiving but Christmas is the biggest celebration in the country and along with tamales, and champurrado many homes serve turkey during the Christmas dinner. Other popular meals for Christmas are bacalao, which is a fish cooked in tomatoes sauce with olives, peppers, and a lot of onion! it is delicious. Growing up we used to meet in my Abuelita’s home and on the menu, we always had a Creamy spaghetti with smoked oysters and corn kernels, Pierna de Cerdo, Turkey, and a beets salad with orange. The next day we will all meet again to eat the recalentado (leftovers) and we used to make tortas of turkey or bacalao (tortas are big Mexican sandwiches)
Is the Mexican Pavo Adobado recipe spicy?
A Colombian friend once told me that he did not believe when a Mexican told him that food was not spicy. I suppose it is not for us as we actually eat spicy candy as kids. This Mexican Pavo adobado is not spicy! I swear, not spicy turkey! the primary ingredient is the achiote which is not spicy and the orange juice, the recipe has some guajillo chile that is usually not spicy.
INGREDIENTS TO MAKE MEXICAN PAVO ADOBADO
- 7 ounces or 200 grams of guajillo or mirasol chili
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 cups orange juice or orange soda (the crush orange soda works wonderes in this recipe)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 teaspoon
- 1.5 ounces or 50 grams of annatto or annatto paste with coriander. Achiote or ahiote con culantro
- 2 cups of water
How to make Mexican Adobo Turkey Recipe step by step
- If your turkey is frozen and you need instructions on how to defrost it, enter here.
- We are going to start with 7 ounces or 200 grams of guajillo or mirasol chili, cut the stem and put them to soak in hot water 10 minutes they need to be all covered by the hot water the whole time.
- Place the chiles in the blender along with 2 cups of water. You can use the water you soaked them in. Blend well.
- Pass the liquified guajillo through a sieve to get rid of the skin and seeds of the chilies and we are going to return the pulp to the blender and throw the rest of the ingredients.
- Add 2 cups of orange juice or you can use orange soda, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1 and a half ounces of achiote paste or anatto paste, 4 garlic cloves and 1 spoon of salt.
- Blend everything together and this will be our turkey marinade.
ADOBO MEXICAN MARINADE FOR THANKSGIVING TURKEY
- Turkeys usually come tied by the legs, if not it is important you tight both legs together so it looks pretty on the table.
- Put your hand inside the turkey and scoop out the giblets.
- Separate the skin of the turkey little by little with a spoon, what we want is for the skin to serve as a bag to place the marinade. Try not to break the skin.
- Push the marinade into the skin of the turkey with the help of a spoon.
- Now, for the marinade, I would like to recommend you to use the turkey baking bags. These are special for the turkey to cook in the oven. You can find them in most of the supermarkets. I use the Reynods turkey ove bags.
- Place a spoonful of flour and sprinkle it all over the bag. Place the turkey inside. Place 1 tablespoons of salt on the turkey and add the chili pulp that you have left and bathe the turkey with it.
- Close the bag and place the turkey in the fridge. Every time you open the fridge, turn the bag over so that the turkey is marinating on all sides. The advantage of marinating the turkey in a bag inside the refrigerator is that it does not take up so much space and you can turn it so that it marinates evenly without having to dump it each time you bathe the turkey as if they have it on a tray.
- Preferably let it marinate for 24 hours. IF you don’t have a chance for at least 3 to 4 hours.
FOR HOW LONG SHOULD I COOK A MEXICAN TURKEY ROAST RECIPE?
- We are going to place the turkey in the oven at 350 f to 180 c to bake the turkey
- The cooking time depends on the weight of your turkey, enter here to see how long I should bake the turkey.
- If you bake the turkey in a bag it cooks much faster, remember to make 3 small incitions on the top of the bag so that a little steam can escape. If you have no baking bags you can also oven roast the turkey by covering it with aluminum foil, ensuring that the heat does not escape.
- Once your turkey is ready, be careful when removing the bag where you baked the turkey, sometimes it sticks a little to the skin, you can separate it using the turkey juices to soften the sking and separate it little by little.
- Bathe the turkey with the juice that it released and if you want to brown it a little you can put it without a bag for about 2 to 5 minutes in the oven. Remember to bathe well with the broth before putting it in the oven again.
- If you want it to have a shiny touch, you can add a little spray oil.
Ingredients
- 7 oz of guajillo chili
- 1 tsp of cumin
- 2 cups of orange juice
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp of salt
- 1.5 oz of annatto paste with coriander or achiote with culantro
- 2 cups of water
Instructions
- We are going to start with 7 ounces or 200 grams of guajillo or mirasol chili, cut the stem and put them to soak in hot water 10 minutes they need to be all covered by the hot water the whole time.
- Place the chiles in the blender along with 2 cups of water. You can use the water you soaked them in. Blend well.
- Pass the liquified guajillo through a sieve to get rid of the skin and seeds of the chilies and we are going to return the pulp to the blender and throw the rest of the ingredients.
- Add 2 cups of orange juice or you can use orange soda, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1 and a half ounces of achiote paste or anatto paste, 4 garlic cloves and 1 spoon of salt.
- Blend everything together and this will be our turkey marinade.
- Turkeys usually come tied by the legs, if not it is important you tight both legs together so it looks pretty on the table.
- Put your hand inside the turkey and scoop out the giblets.
- Separate the skin of the turkey little by little with a spoon, what we want is for the skin to serve as a bag to place the marinade. Try not to break the skin.Push the marinade into the skin of the turkey with the help of a spoon.
- Now, for the marinade, I would like to recommend you to use the turkey baking bags. These are special for the turkey to cook in the oven. You can find them in most of the supermarkets. I use the Reynods turkey ove bags.
- Place a spoonful of flour and sprinkle it all over the bag. Place the turkey inside. Place 1 tablespoons of salt on the turkey and add the chili pulp that you have left and bathe the turkey with it.
- Close the bag and place the turkey in the fridge. Every time you open the fridge, turn the bag over so that the turkey is marinating on all sides. The advantage of marinating the turkey in a bag inside the refrigerator is that it does not take up so much space and you can turn it so that it marinates evenly without having to dump it each time you bathe the turkey as if they have it on a tray.
- Preferably let it marinate for 24 hours. IF you don't have a chance for at least 3 to 4 hours.
Laura creates content in Spanish and English for a community of over 3 million followers and has been recognized as one of the most influential Latinas in the US, Latinos 40 under 40 in Chicago.
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