My mom used to over-roast the turkey early, then carve it and put it back in the oven (covered with tin foil) to “stay warm” until serving. Truly horrible. Dry and tough every year.
I totally understand your wanting the turkey done ahead of time, to make it easier on you, but if you’re going to serve warmed over turkey as the main dish, here is what I advise, to keep it from being dry and tough.
Since you will not have that lovely crisp turkey skin (unless you remove it and re-crisp it in the oven or the airfryer right before serving, and not even then), I urge you to roast the bird breast down, with a continuous read thermometer probe in the bird - the type where there’s a probe with a long thin wire that leads to a small screen outside the oven. Don’t stuff it with stuffing - just season it, maybe throw a quartered onion into the cavity. Roast it breast down the entire time - the juices will run through the breast, constantly self-basting it. Start it in a preheated very hot oven, like 500 degrees, so it stays hot even once you put in the cool bird. Turn oven down to 450 and leave it to roast for 10-15 minutes, to kill surface bacteria. Then drop the temperature to 250 and leave it to slow roast (so that it doesn’t get tough). The safe temperature for turkey is 165 degrees instant read (usually tough and dry at this temp), but the reality is that Pasteurization (effective kill of bacteria) occurs at lower temps IF YOU HOLD THE TURKEY AT THAT TEMPERATURE for a few minutes. For example, held at 150 degrees for 5 minutes is safe, even if held at 145 degrees for 14 minutes, it is safe to eat, and a lot more tender and juicy. Reddit - Dive into anything
If you have the probe inserted deep into the middle of the breast meat, and you closely watch it as the temp gets above 130, turn off the oven as the temp gets into the high 140s, and then leave it in for at least 5 minutes after it hits 150, then take it out and let it rest for 30-40 min for the juices to be reabsorbed, you should have delicious, moist meat. Carve it, cover tightly with tin foil or seal it in zip lock bags, refrigerate overnight, and rewarm tightly covered in tin foil, with some reserved turkey juices, the next day, before serving.
But if it were me, I’d start the bird this way early in the AM on the day of, and slow roast it like this that morning into early afternoon. But I’ve got two ovens, and I can definitely see the advantage of getting it done the day before, to free up oven space. To me, the delicious smell of the slow-roasting turkey on the day, plus at least some crisp back skin, is just too much to pass up.
. Weather is supposed to be nice and our grill is plumbed in so no worry about running out of gas. Using this recipe: