Best to get ahead of the Christmas chaos with Mary Berry's simple roast turkey recipe.

Perfecting the most delicious roast is key to making an extraordinarily tasty Christmas dinner.

Taking only 30 minutes to prepare, there's only eight ingredients needed for the best roast turkey – and that includes seasoning.

The roast turkey can even be prepared up to 12 hours ahead of cooking, if all you want to do is pop it in the oven for tomorrow.

Here's how to make Mary Berry's lemon and thyme roast turkey with her simple recipe.

Lemon and thyme roast turkey

• Prep: less than 30 mins
• Cooks in: over two hours
• Serves: 12 to 15 people

Ingredients

• 6kg oven-ready turkey
• 75g butter, softened
• One lemon, thinly sliced
• Three small thyme sprigs
• Two small onions, skin on and halved
• Six bay leaves
• Bunch of sage leaves
• Salt
• Need
• Cooking string
• Meat thermometer

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan/gas four). Loosen the skin over the breast of the turkey by slipping your fingers between the flesh and skin at the neck end, leaving the skin attached at the cavity end.

Spread two-thirds of the softened butter over the top of the breast under the skin, slip in the lemon slices and thyme sprigs.

Fill the body cavity with the onion halves and herbs, including the onion skins and top and tail of the sliced lemon. Tie the legs with cooking string and tuck the wings under the back of the bird.

Lightly grease the skin of the turkey with the remaining butter and season with salt. Sit the turkey on a rack in a large roasting tin.

Cook the turkey in the oven for about two to two hours and 15 minutes until golden brown, basting from time to time. Cover the bird with kitchen foil if it is getting too brown.

A meat thermometer pierced into the thickest part of the leg – between the drumstick and thigh – should read 65-70C when the turkey is fully cooked. Alternatively, pierce the thickest part of the leg with a sharp knife; if the juices run clear, it's fully cooked.

Cover the turkey with kitchen foil and lots of tea towels on top and leave to rest for 90 minutes.