Be Cautious When Using This Popular Spice With Roast Turkey

Turkey can be a flavorful blank canvas for creative minds in the kitchen. But cooking turkey, a notoriously dry meat, can prove difficult, and not all flavors are created equal on Thanksgiving's favorite bird. There is no shortage of spices, rubs, herbs, fruits, and vegetables to use on turkey, but paprika is one spice that should be used carefully.

Paprika's familiar smoky flavor and rich color is popular on many dishes and is even favored by celebrity foodie Alton Brown in a traditional chicken dinner. But paprika can also be quick to burn when it's exposed to heat. A teaspoon of paprika has a small amount of sugar, but it doesn't take long for sugar to burn once it reaches a certain temperature. Temperatures above 300 degrees Fahrenheit have the potential to start caramelizing the sugar in paprika and once temperatures have reached 350 degrees Fahrenheit or above, the potential for burning (and the bitter taste that accompanies it) is heightened. This can be especially true if a roast turkey is covered in paprika from the start and then put into a preheated oven, especially when some recipes call for roasting a turkey at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because a roast turkey takes several hours to cook, it's tempting to flavor a bird with spices and herbs before putting it in the oven so the flavor deepens during cooking. This is not the case with paprika — and in many cases, less is more.

It's important to note that paprika can be used with turkey when done with care. The longer paprika cooks, the color and flavor can fade, so adding it toward the end of cooking helps bring out its rich color and flavor. Cooks can add it to a traditional turkey meal in many ways or incorporate it in other turkey dishes or sides to pair with a freshly roasted turkey.

Recipes that take longer to cook, like a roast turkey, can use paprika in a baste, which can be applied after the bird has cooked for at least a few hours. Home cooks should also monitor the skin as it finishes cooking to avoid spice burns and bitter-tasting paprika.

Paprika can also be used as a garnish for faster-cooking turkey dishes like wings. A sprinkle of the spice over the wings during the last few minutes of cooking can add smoky flavor and extra color right before it's time to dig in. Even if paprika isn't put on the roast turkey itself, its flavor can still be imparted in a hearty turkey gravy where cooks who love the smoky flavor add as much or as little as they desire before serving.