One ‘hot' Thanksgiving: Turkeys get Flaming Hot Cheetos makeover

Food mashups can be the perfect answer to the traditional, boring holiday gathering. Reynolds Kitchens, the makers of the aluminum foil and cooking bags that help us create in the kitchen, have come up with some different recipes using popular snack foods to amp up the Thanksgiving turkey.

They're called "Flavor Blasted Turkeys" and use spicy cheese puffs (think Flaming Hot Cheetos), ranch-flavored corn chips (Ranch Fritos), or onion-flavored rings (Funyuns) to add an extra kick to Tom Turkey.

You start all three recipes the same. You put your chip of choice into a food processor or blender and crush them. You can also use the old fashioned rolling-pin/zip top bag technique and work out some holiday frustrations. As long as they're powered, you're fine.

Brush oil or butter on the bird to help the coating stick and cover the entire turkey, legs and all, with the crushed-up snack food.

This is where the technique changes depending on which chip you choose.

For Flaming Hot Cheetos turkey:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Put covered turkey in cooking bag.
• Place bag and turkey in 2-inch deep roasting pan.
• Cut 6 1/2-inch slits into bag and roast until turkey reaches internal temperature of 180 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh not touching a bone.
• When it reaches temperature, remove the turkey from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes in the bag, then slice open the bag, remove the turkey and serve.

For ranch-flavored turkey:

• Preheat oven to 325.
• Put turkey on aluminum foil that's tow and a half times longer than the turkey.
• Overlap foil ends and turn up the sides of the foil to seal in juices.
• Place turkey and foil into 2-inch deep roasting pan.
• Roast until turkey reaches internal temperature of 180 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh not touching a bone.
• Add 30 minutes to the time if turkey is stuffed.
• To brown the turkey and coating, turn back the foil for last 30 minutes of roasting.
• When it reaches temperature, remove the turkey from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes in the foil, then remove the turkey and serve.

For onion-flavored turkey:

• Preheat oven to 325.
• Lay a sheet of foil under turkey in roasting pan
• Make a foil tent, leaving an inch between the turkey and the foil for heat circulation. Crimp the tent to bottom foil along the long sides of pan.
• Roast until turkey reaches internal temperature of 180 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh not touching bone.
• Add 30 minutes to the time if turkey is stuffed.
• To brown the turkey, remove foil tent after one hour.
• When it reaches correct temperature, remove the turkey from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes covered in foil.

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Cox Media Group