The Best Brining Bags and Buckets

A 16-pound turkey plus enough brine to submerge it is roughly two to three gallons of liquid and a bird. In the week of the holiday your fridge is already the fullest it will be all year.

That is the actual constraint, and it is why bags beat buckets for most people. A bag lies flat and takes one shelf. A bucket is a rigid cylinder that displaces a large volume of fridge you do not have.

If neither works, the honest answer is not a bigger container. It is a dry brine — salt rubbed on the skin, bird uncovered on a tray, 24 to 48 hours. It takes one shelf of a normal tray, it needs no container at all, and it produces crisper skin. See our brining guide.

A clean cooler is the standard answer when the fridge is full, and it works — but it only works if you keep the temperature honest.

1. Clean and sanitize the cooler thoroughly. It has held drinks and probably raw food before.
2. Bird in, brine in, then ice — enough to keep everything below 40F, and expect to top it up.
3. Sealed bags of ice are better than loose ice, because loose ice melts and dilutes the brine as it goes.
4. Put a thermometer in it and check it every few hours. This is the step that makes the difference between a cooler brine and a food-safety problem.
5. Keep it somewhere cool and out of the sun.

The rule underneath all of this is the same as everywhere else: below 40F, or you are in the danger zone.

Using a bag that is not food grade. A garbage bag is not a brining bag, whatever the internet says. They are not manufactured to food-contact standards.

Not putting the bag in a pan. The single most common brining disaster is a leak in a full fridge. A roasting pan underneath costs nothing.

Adding the bird to warm brine. If you dissolved the salt in hot water, chill the brine completely first. Warm brine on raw poultry is exactly what you are trying to avoid.

Reusing the brine. It has had a raw turkey in it. Pour it away.