If you want to cook the juiciest and best turkey ever, then Dad's Spatchcocked Turkey Recipe is what you need. Dad will show you how to spatchcock or butterfly your turkey, inject it and roast it to perfection.
Plus, an added bonus to cooking your turkey this way is that it cooks in record time, like 80 minutes.
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How to Spatchcock a Turkey
The process of spatchcocking a turkey is relatively easy. Once you have done it once you will be able to do it again with ease. There are a few important tools you will need though. The first is a nice sharp knife. This is used to score the meat and make the initial cut.
Most importantly, you need is a good set of heavy-duty kitchen shears. The bones are really too difficult to cut through with a knife, it can be done but it is not easy. Instead you use kitchen shears and snap right through everything.
Step 1
Make sure your turkey is thawed. This will be near impossible to do on a frozen bird. Remove anything on the inside of the bird and place it with the breasts down on a cutting board.
Feel for the backbone of the turkey. Make a cut along the sides of the backbone from one end of the bird to the other. This will serve as a guide for cutting with the kitchen shears.
Step 2
Take your kitchen shears and cut along where you made your cuts with the knife. It will be difficult and you will need to use some strength and pressure.
This is why you need a heavy duty and sharp set of Kitchen Shears. Continue until you have removed the entire backbone from the turkey.
SAVE the backbone! You can roast it and then make a fantastic turkey stock to start your gravy with.
Step 3
Flip the bird over and spread it out as flat as you can get it. Now, with both hands in a CPR type motion push down on the breasts until you hear a crack.
Once you do continue to push down and get the bird to lay as flat as possible.
That is it! You just spatchcocked a turkey.
Just Inject and Roast
To prepare the injection put the butter, olive oil, minced garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaves in a small pot and place it over medium heat. Once the butter has melted reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes strain it into a new container and discard the spices. Let the mixture cool. Inject the butter mixture into the turkey. Make sure you hit the breasts, thighs and legs well. It is ok that some will run out.
Rub the butter mixture that has seeped out all over the turkey. This will allow your spices to stick better.
Mix the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and dried basil into a spice shaker and shake all over the bird on both sides. If you do not have a spice shaker you can just sprinkle or shake out of the individual containers.
Rough chop up the onion and celery. Line a full sheet pan with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and spread the chopped veggies out in the center. Place the wire cooling racks on top of the veggies. This will allow more separation and airflow and also make removing the bird easier when it is cooked.
Place the spatchcocked turkey on top of the wire racks, breast side up. Tuck the tips of the wings under the bird or they will most likely burn. Cook on the middle rack of the oven for 60-80 minutes. Times will vary depending on the size of the bird, your oven and the celestial tides.
The point is to make sure you have a reliable instant-read thermometer. In about 40-50 minutes pull the turkey out and check it. It will be done when the breast is 150 and the thighs are 165.
When the correct temps are reached pull it out and let it rest tented with foil for at least 30 minutes. The resting will make sure that all the juices don't just run out when you carve it.
The problems with the traditional way
When you roast a turkey the traditional way you run into a few issues. The main issue is that the breast cooks faster and dries out before the dark meat is done cooking. This is because the breast is at the top and exposed to the most heat while the dark meat is tucked away on the sides and the bottom of the bird.
Due to this you get uneven cooking, making it very hard to get everything to be moist and juicy.
A secondary issue with the upright cook is that the skin on the sides and the bottom of the bird get soggy. The crispy skin is one of Dad's favorite parts of eating roast turkey, so this is tantamount to crime to him.
Spatchcocking fixes all of this
Spatchcock just means to butterfly. To do this you simply remove the backbone of the turkey and lay the turkey flat when you cook it. By laying the turkey flat everything is evenly exposed to the heat.
Now the dark meat will cook just as fast as the white meat. Plus, since all the skin is facing up, it all becomes wonderfully crispy.
Cooking hot and fast
Dad is borrowing a term he has heard used in BBQ a lot, Hot and Fast. The traditional recipes for roast turkey usually have you cook at about 350 degrees for many hours. This would be considered low and slow.
When you have the bird laid flat it allows you to up the temperature considerably. This recipe has you cook at 450 degrees. On average a 10-12 pound bird will cook in about 80 minutes or less with this method. Get it, hot and fast.
Lots of ways to prep a turkey
There are lots of kinds of turkeys and lots of ways to prep them to be cooked. You can buy expensive pre-brined turkeys. You can brine them yourself, or you can do what Dad does and inject them. Dad likes to inject his turkey with a homemade butter mixture.
This injection adds flavor and juiciness to the meat. Another nice thing is you don't need any special containers, or to do anything days ahead as you do with brining.
Dad's turkey this year was a run of the mill frozen bird from his local Sam's club. Thanks to the combination of the injection, the spices and cooking it spatchcocked everyone was raving about it. You don't need to overspend on a turkey to get an amazing result.
The only downside to spatchcock turkey
The only minor downside to cooking a turkey this way is that you don't end up with that "Normal Rockwell" picture-perfect bird to display.
This does not bother Dad in the least bit. Dad would much rather have a juicer and better turkey than the picture.
Spatchcocked Turkey Recipe
Equipment
- Knife
- Heavy Duty Kitchen Shears
- Full Sheet Pan
- Wire Cooling Racks
- Injector
- Digital Instant Read Thermometer
- Spice Shaker (Optional)
- Aluminum Foil
Ingredients
- 1 Turkey 8-12 Pound
- 1 Onion
- 6 Celery Stalks
- 2 tablespoon Garlic Powder
- 2 tablespoon Onion Powder
- 1 tablespoon Sea Salt
- 2 tablespoon Dried Basil
- 1 stick Butter For Butter Injection
- ¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil For Butter Injection
- 3 tablespoon Minced Garlic For Butter Injection
- 1 tablespoon Whole Black Peppercorns For Butter Injection
- 2 Bay Leaves For Butter Injection
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
- Spatchcock the Turkey as per the instructions above.
- Put the butter, olive oil, minced garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaves in a small pot and place it over medium heat. Once the butter has melted reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes strain it into a new container and discard the spices. Let the mixture cool.
- Using an injector inject the butter mixture into the turkey. Make sure you hit the breasts, thighs and legs well. It is ok that some will run out.
- Rub the butter mixture that has seeped out all over the turkey. This will allow your spices to stick better.
- Mix the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and dried basil into a spice shaker and shake all over the bird on both sides. If you do not have a spice shaker you can just sprinkle or shake out of the individual containers.
- Rough chop up the onion and celery.
- Line a full sheet pan with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and spread the chopped veggies out in the center.
- Place the wire cooling racks on top of the veggies. This will allow more separation and air flow and also make removing the bird easier when it is cooked.
- Place the spatchcocked turkey on top of the wire racks, breast side up. Tuck the tips of the wings under the bird, or they will most likely burn.
- Cook on the middle rack of the over for 60-80 minutes. Times will vary depending on the size of the bird, your oven and the celestial tides. The point is to make sure you have a reliable instant read thermometer. In about 40-50 minutes pull the turkey out and check it. It will be done when the breast is 150 and the thighs are 165.
- When the correct temps are reached pull it out and let it rest tented with foil for at least 30 minutes. The resting will make sure that all the juices don't just run out when you carve it.
Video
Notes
How to Spatchcock a Turkey
For detailed pictures please refer to the main post or to the video.Step 1
Make sure your turkey is thawed. This will be near impossible to do on a frozen bird. Remove anything on the inside of the bird and place it with the breasts down on a cutting board. Feel for the backbone of the turkey. Make a cut along the sides of the backbone from one end of the bird to the other. This will serve as a guide for cutting with the kitchen shears.Step 2
Take your kitchen shears and cut along where you made your cuts with the knife. It will be difficult and you will need to use some strength and pressure. This is why you need a heavy duty and sharp set of Kitchen Shears
. Continue until you have removed the entire backbone from the turkey.
SAVE the backbone! You can roast it and then make a fantastic turkey stock to start your gravy with.
Step 3
Flip the bird over and spread it out as flat as you can get it. Now, with both hands in a CPR type motion push down on the breasts until you hear a crack. Once you do continue to push down and get the bird to lay as flat as possible. That is it! You just spatchcocked a turkey.Nutrition
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You know what goes great with Turkey?
It would not be a holiday meal without cranberry sauce. Dad can show you how to make it in the instant pot in about 30 minutes.
Did you know Dad is on YouTube?
Go check out Dad's youtube channel for all kinds of great cooking videos and food-related content.
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