I tried spatchcocking my turkey this year and it came out amazing. Beautifully browned and in half the time. I’ve tried quite a few recipes and this is one I will definitely keep using.
I found the injection makes for a very tasty and tender turkey as well. I’ve done it on the bbq, as well as the oven, and it comes out juicy regardless, no brining needed.
Note: If you do not want to give your kitchen a nice buttery coating (injection recipe), please use tepid or cool water mixed with the melted butter… apparently using hot will cause a nice reaction where it comes bursting out of the shaker and coats everything within a 10 foot radius with butter.
Just saying.
And get yourself a fresh turkey. It makes a difference. No butterball turkeys (waaaay too much grease in the bottom of the pan)! And having fresh means less hassle in trying to defrost the thing. If you don’t have a local butcher, then I’ve even ordered them from a grocery store.
Pour any drippings in the cookie tray into a saucepot. Add some water, sage, S&P, garlic powder, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and thicken to desired thickness with a flour slurry. If you don’t use a butterball, no need to strain the fat out. A bit of fat in the gravy is tasty! Cups of it, not so much.
Turkey Rub
Ingredients
- 3 tbs soft butter
- 2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp sage
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp crushed or minced garlic
Instructions
- Mix and rub onto bird.
Turkey Injection
Ingredients
- 1 c chicken broth oxo packet works fine with 1 c water
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp fine sage powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp finely ground pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Combine everything in a gravy shaker, shake to combine. Inject into breast, legs, lower thigh. Whatever I don't use, I pour into the bottom of the roaster.
Spatchcocked Turkey
Ingredients
- Turkey rub
- Turkey injection
- 15 lb turkey
- Heavy duty pair of shears
Instructions
- When you spatchcock a turkey, you're butterflying it.
- Take the turkey and flip breast side down. Cut along each side of the ridge from the tailbone to the neck.
- While the turkey is still breast side down, take a cleaver and give the inside of the "V" of the breastbone a really good whack or two. Enough to make it "snapable". Flip over breast side up, pull the sides out flat and flatten. (Its going to seem like you're giving the bird some heavy duty CPR.)
- Place some whole herbs on a large rack (I used a cookie cooling rack) and place the flattened turkey on it, breast side up. Tuck the wings in and snug up the legs a bit so it fits on the rack nicely
- Place the rack over a large cookie tray to catch any drippings.
- Bake at 350F for approximately 2 to 2.5 hours, until the internal temperature reaches at least 180.
Notes
