Spatchco*ck Turkey Recipe - Juicy Meat & Crispy Skin (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to crispy skin on turkey? ›

That trick is a sprinkling of baking powder, and it'll get you the crispiest, crackliest bites of fatty, salty skin imaginable, whether you're cooking just one thigh, a plate of wings, or an entire bird. Baking powder, it turns out, is good for quite a lot more than baking.

A spatchco*cked whole turkey will cook more quickly than a standard turkey. While the spatchco*ck turkey cooking time will depend on the size and oven temperature, 6 minutes per pound is a good rule of thumb. Depending on the size of the turkey, cook times are estimated between 60-90 minutes.

Crispy Turkey Skin Method: Start on High Heat, Finish on Low

The Themoworks blog advises cooking at 450°F for the first hour and then reducing the temperature to 325°F for the remainder of the cook time. FoodieCrush says to roast at 425°F for 45 minutes and then at 325°F until the turkey is done.

Rub the skin with fat.

Once you've carefully dried off the skin, the next step you can take to guarantee perfectly crispy turkey skin is to rub it with a fat, like butter or oil. Oil will yield a crispier skin than butter because butter is at least 20 percent water, while oil contains no water.

Dry skin – Pat skin dry with a paper towel or clean tea towels. The drier the skin, the better the crisping. Crispy anything doesn't like moisture because the moisture has to evaporate first before crispiness can start to happen, which takes a lot of energy.

Because turkey breast is especially lean, I like to rub softened fat beneath the skin just before roasting. It melts and gives the meat extra flavor, richness, and moisture. Duck fat is wonderful for this, and it fortifies the poultry flavors, but unsalted butter works well, too.

Spatchco*cked turkey roasting temp

Once your bird is well flattened, it's time to roast. Cook your bird at 425°F (218°C) until it reaches an internal temperature on your ChefAlarm^® of 155°F (68°C). (If that seems low, read our article on chicken internal temps—the same concepts apply to turkey as they do to chicken.

Spatchco*ck the turkey: Using a large knife or shears, cut the turkey open along the backbone on both sides, through the ribs, and remove the backbone. Flip the bird over and press down on the breastbone to flatten; this will allow the turkey to roast evenly making the perfect Traeger spatchco*ck turkey.

In my pellet smoker, the hottest area is directly over the burner so I positioned the turkey with the breast facing the opposite side of the smoker. How long does it take to smoke a turkey? Cooking at 325 degrees F, it will take around 10 minutes per pound.

If you notice this problem before the turkey is completely done, you can turn the heat of the oven way up for the final few minutes. A blast of heat from a 450ºF oven might be enough to crisp up the skin before serving.

Should you bake a turkey covered or uncovered? ›

To achieve a perfectly golden, juicy turkey, let the bird spend time both covered and uncovered in the oven. We recommend covering your bird for most of the cooking time to prevent it from drying out; then, during the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, remove the cover so the skin crisps in the hot oven.

Simply cut out the backbone — or ask your butcher to do it for you — and spread the bird out flat before roasting, a technique known as spatchco*cking that is commonly used with chickens. Roasted at 450 degrees, a 10-pound bird will be done in about 45 minutes.

Brine your turkey.

A proper brine will set you up for success and a dry brine takes a little bit of thought but not that much extra work and you'll end up with a turkey that's juicy, flavourful, and has extra crispy skin. We like to dry brine our turkey for around 2 days before.

A moist environment doesn't promote crisping. The solution is to expose the bottom part of the turkey to the dry heat of the oven. And the easiest way to do this is to spatchco*ck the bird. Not only does it get all that skin crispy, but gets you the best results in terms of cooking the bird.

Impart rich flavor and add moisture to your Thanksgiving turkey by adding a layer of butter under the skin before roasting. Learn how to do this simple (but genius) technique for a delicious Thanksgiving turkey.