Do you want to serve both turkey and ham for a big holiday meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas? Let me show you the easiest way to do it, so that both can be done at the same time.
How to Pull Off a Perfect Turkey & Ham Holiday Meal
Traditionally, in my family we never really had two meats at the same time for any holiday meal. It typically was just turkey for Thanksgiving and then ham for both Easter and Christmas. I have heard a lot of families that end up doing both turkey and ham. I thought that could be hard to cook both at the same time in one oven and have both come out perfectly cooked and juicy.
In the past, I have added my Instant Pot ham to a Thanksgiving meal at my in-laws. That works well. But I wondered what if you wanted to do both in the oven. What things would you need to consider to do a good job of cooking both meats. So I gave it a try myself this year.
I am going to lay out a timeline with some tips to help you pull off the perfect turkey & ham holiday meal.
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👀 What You Need to Know First
We first need to look at how ham and turkey are different. Unless you got yourself an already smoked turkey, you are going to be cooking a raw bird. The ham itself is already cooked. This is a big difference because the final temperature you need to is not the same.
🦃 The turkey must reach 165°F in the breast, and 180°F in the drumsticks and thighs.
🍖 While a ham is already fully cooked and only needs to get up to 140°F to be ready to heat. When you start going beyond that with a ham it will begin to dry out.
The challenge is to have both get to their final temperature at around the same time.
🦃 Best Turkey to Pick
When it comes to the turkey is going to be more about you prepare it than the one you select from the store. Although I do have to say that you need to pick a turkey that isn't too large. I think the 14 pound turkey is the ideal size. The best way to cook the turkey quickly is to spatchcock or butterfly it before you put it in the oven.
Here is what you want to do:
- This will reduce the vertical oven space the turkey needs, so that you can fit a ham in the oven as well.
- A spatchcocked turkey will cook quicker.
- The turkey will be juicier since it doesn't take as long to cook, less moisture will be lost.
The recipe I use every year is Alton Brown's Dry Brined Spatchcock Turkey. Check out that post to see all of my tips for preparing a turkey like this.
🍖 Best Ham to Pick
As for the ham, you should pick a ham that is a similar shape to a turkey that has been spatchcocked. That would mean to get a carving style ham. This is a boneless ham that is in a natural shape, it is not a reconstituted log. It is flat and thin and will cook faster in the oven than a bone-in ham.
On this occasion, I used the Kirkland Master Carve ham that you get from Costco stores. Unlike the fresh turkeys, they have these hams year round, so you can get them whenever your heart desires.
🕖 Timeline for Cooking
Let me take you step by step through this so you can get the turkey and the ham to be finished at roughly the same time. It is hard to be perfect but if you follow these tips, you should have success at pulling it off.
- Take turkey out of the fridge and let it sit out for 30 minutes prior to cooking. This will begin the process of raising the temperature of the turkey without putting it in the bacterial danger zone for very long.
- Arrange the oven racks to make sure you have room to fit both. The turkey will go on the top rack so you can brown it well, while the ham will go on the bottom rack so you can reheat it gently.
- Preheat the oven to 🌡️ 425°F
- Place the turkey into the oven for 30 minutes to brown the outer skin. While you are doing that take your ham out of the fridge.
- Reduce the temperature of the oven to 🌡️ 350°F.
- Wrap the ham completely in foil.
- Now add the ham to the oven.
- The turkey should need about another hour or so to finish cooking.
- Pull the turkey from the oven when it reaches an internal temperature of 🌡️ 155-157°F in the deepest part of the breast. The turkey will continue to increase in temperature until it reaches a safe 🌡️ 165°F. This is called carryover cooking. Keep monitoring the temperature of the turkey after you pulled it until it reaches 🌡️ 165°.
- Keep the ham going for another 30 minutes while the turkey rest, so the juices can redistribute.
- The ham needs to reach 🌡️ 140°F to be fully hot and reheat. During the last 10-15 minutes of cooking you can apply a glaze to further flavor the ham. You will remove the foil when you put on a glaze.
- Allow the ham to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. You can start carving the turkey while the ham rests. Then carve the ham next.
And that is how you can best pull off cooking a ham and turkey in the same oven without sacrificing time and quality of the meat.
🌡️ What Thermometer to Use to Track the Temperatures
I talk a lot about using thermometers. They are important to be able to track the temperatures and take out all the guesswork. What thermometer do I use? I have a thermometer that can track the temperature of both the turkey and the ham at the exact same time.
This is the Smoke X2 from ThermoWorks. It has two probes so I can track the temperature of both pieces of meat at the exact same time. Really convenient to have. You can find them on their website. They also sell some of their products on Amazon.
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