Description
A Spatchcock Turkey is the miracle Thanksgiving recipe recipe you never knew you needed! Don’t be intimidated – learning how to spatchcock a turkey is much easier than it sounds & results in a perfectly juicy, evenly cooked, super flavorful Thanksgiving turkey that’s ready in less than 2 hours – freeing up your oven to make delicious Thanksgiving side dishes & pies!
Ingredients
- one 12–14 pound whole turkey, defrosted if frozen
Useful Equipment:
- large plastic cutting board
- sharp kitchen shears
- sharp chef’s knife
- rolling pin
- shallow roasting pan or full baking sheet (rimmed) fitted with a wire baking rack (see Recipe Notes)
Instructions
*REMINDER: If frozen, do not forget to begin thaw your turkey well before the day you plan on roasting it! If it is still frozen day-of, your turkey will not safely defrost & cook in time for dinner – it’s just not possible. The safest way to thaw a frozen turkey is by placing it in the coolest section of your refrigerator. The cool, controlled temperature will slowly thaw without any areas of the turkey being in the ‘danger’ temperature zone in which bacteria grow & multiply (between 40-140 degrees F). As a general rule of thumb, plan for 24 hours refrigerated thawing for every 4 pounds – so, a 12-14 pound turkey will require 3-4 days refrigerated thawing before it’s ready to be spatchcocked & roasted.
- Turkey prep: Remove the turkey from its packaging. There is no need to rinse your turkey (rinsing promotes cross-contamination). Instead, use paper towel to pat the surface of the turkey as dry as possible. If present, remove the neck & giblets from the cavity of the turkey. Discard or set aside for easy turkey gravy. Transfer the turkey to a large plastic cutting board atop a stable, sturdy surface. Place the turkey breast side facing down.
- Remove the back bone: Using very sharp kitchen shears or a sharp knife, carefully snip along each side of the turkey’s backbone until it’s completely detached. Discard or set aside for easy turkey gravy. [gallery size="full" columns="2" ids="22599,22601"]
- Split the breast plate: With the turkey still facing breast side down, carefully use your hands to stretch open the ribs of the turkey, revealing its inner cavity. Locate the top of the turkey’s breast plate directly behind the turkey breasts. Place the heel of a sharp chef’s knife in the center of the top of the breast plate. Use a rolling pin to carefully yet forcefully tap the spine of the knife, wedging the heel of the knife into the bone. Continue tapping until the bone cracks.
- Finish spatchcocking: Use your hands to stretch the inner cavity of the turkey as wide open as possible, then flip the turkey such that its breast side is facing up. Place your hands on the center of its breasts, on the breast bone. Use your body weight to apply pressure to the chest plate, cracking the bone all the way through such that the turkey lays flat – your turkey is spatchcocked & ready for roasting. Great job!!! (Note: If you have difficulty cracking the chest plate of the turkey, flip the turkey back over, running the tip of a sharp knife over the bone from within the open cavity – these score marks help ease up any resistance. Flip the bird back over & press down on it again.)
Notes
- Easy Roasted Spatchcock Turkey Recipes: With your turkey spatchcocked, it’s ready to roast or smoke! Use your recipe of choice to season & cook. We have 2 wonderful roasted spatchcock turkey recipes that you can check out here on PWWB – our readers have raved about them over the years, making them with great success!
- This Lemon Herb Butter Roast Spatchcock Turkey is perfect you love the flavor of garlic, rosemary, sage, & thyme.
- This Spatchcock Maple Glazed Turkey is a little cozier with a beautiful easy maple glaze.
- It’s not a turkey dinner without gravy! My Easy Turkey Gravy recipe makes use of your roast spatchcock turkey’s gloriously flavorful drippings to create the easiest, best turkey gravy you’ll ever make!
- Other Important Notes:
- Roasting Pan: You don’t need anything fancy, but it’s especially important to use a large, shallow roasting pan. The butterflied turkey needs to be able to lay completely flat in the roasting pan and the sides shouldn’t be so deep that they inhibit airflow around the turkey as it roasts. I use a simple 16×13-inch roasting pan with a 2 ½ inch depth, similar to this one. If you do not have a large, shallow roasting pan, you can also roast a spatchcock turkey on a full baking sheet (rimmed) fitted with a wire baking rack.
- Spatchcock Turkey FAQ: What size Thanksgiving turkey should I use? ⇢ For this spatchcock turkey recipe, I recommend using a turkey between 12-14 pounds. Because it lies flat as it roasts, a turkey larger than 14 pounds likely won’t fit in a conventional roasting pan. If you need more turkey to feed your guests, then try preparing two smaller spatchcock turkeys rather than one large bird. This will also help your turkey meat stay extra-juicy! Not sure how much turkey you’ll need to feed your dinner crowd? ⇢ The general rule of thumb is to aim for one pound of turkey per person.