To cook my turkey in the slow cooker?

[turkeymaster]

Long story short... My oven caught fire yesterday (of course) and now I'm wondering about cooking my turkey in the slow cooker...

I've hunted online for methods but there are mixed opinions and I'm not sure what's best to do...

How long would you cook a 3.5kg turkey in the slow cooker and on what setting? High low or medium

TIA mumsnetters

Do you have a bbq? Might have more success on that? Would the turkey even fit in the slow cooker. I do a chicken in mine and it’s grand but pale and a bit sweaty looking when it comes out.

How much turkey will you use? A sharp knife and some strong scissors will see it jointed and that might work better than trying to fit a whole turkey in. The rest can go into the freezer.

A weber kettle should fit it (to wit see me tomorrow am). A covered gas bbq might fit but I don’t know about the fuel use.

You can do it, I've done a chicken and it tasted nice, wasn't at all dry, but it doesn't look as nice as oven roasted does. No idea about timings, sorry, my slow cooker has a metal insert (it's one of those searing ones) and cooks quicker than most slow cookers.

have you googled "cook turkey in a microwave" ?
Loads of recipes come up, mostly just using the breast of the turkey.
Pressure cooker is another option.

If you can fit it in, I don't see why not. We do chicken in ours, and it comes out fine. For chicken I cook for 6 hours on low or 4 hours high if I forget to sort it out first thing, but that's not as tender. Turkey will need a long time, I'd guess at least 8 hours, so maybe use a plug timer to turn slow cooker on early.

I often put a large chicken in the slow cooker with a bit of tarragon on top. No liquid. put it on auto about 8am. Switch it off when i get home... so 7 ish. Not poisoned anyone yet. Looks a bit lame but tastes ok.

I've done a boned and rolled turkey in the slow cooker and it came out fine, actually very juicy and there were loads of juices left to make the gravy with. The skin is retrospectively but if you dont use that you will be fine. I had a huge turkey but boned and rolled it took up less space and I have a very large slow cooker anyway. I think I basically put it on just before I went to bed on high, then turned it down to low and left it there until it was time to take it out but we eat at 1.00.

I always cook my chicken in the slow cooker, I don't add any liquid just put it in, the meat is so tender and just falls apart.
I know you don't have an oven currently, but for others talking about the chicken being pale etc. I just put mine in the oven for half an hour whilst I'm cooking veg etc. Crisps and browns the skin up nicely.

Thanks all, I'm gonna give it a go, it's not a huge turkey so will fit and then I'll do what @Shesellsseashellsontheseashore suggests and grill the top to get it brown... my grill still works and the over heats from the bottom but it's just not effective.

So maybe I'll do 7h on high?

I did a goose in a slow cooker once, when our oven gave up on Christmas Day, right when I was about to stijck it in. It worked a treat, and the goose was much larger than your turkey!

Wow, how massive is your slow cooker?? If it fits then do it, it'll be lovely. For an extra juicy turkey brine it for 3-6 hours before cooking.

If you search the BBC website there is a video of someone doing it very successfully!

Nightmare I'd do it overnight and set clock to check it a couple of hours before you hope it'll be done (get up and stagger back to bed).

Do u have a neighbour who would lend oven this evening?

If you can't fit the turkey under the grill to brown it, can you hide the pasty skin by grilling the bacon separately (curved over something to be the right shape) and then stick that over the top? Our roast turkey normally comes to the table covered in bacon anyway....

BBQ

It's a thing to do a turkey overnight in the simmering oven of an Aga which is effectively just a slow cooker!

How did you get on?

@Shesellsseashellsontheseashore it was amazing! Put it in the slow cooker on high for 8 hours lol as we decided we'd rather it was over done than underdone and then browned it off under the grill... but it was the best turkey we've had!

Oh, hurrah! I'm glad your meal was lovely on the end