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Spatchcocked Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe

Spatchcocked Thanksgiving Turkey

Families often gather for the traditional Thanksgiving Turkey or Christmas Turkey every years at least a couple of times (don’t forget Easter!!!). It’s a large enough animal that you can feed anywhere from 4 people with a Turkey Breast upto 30 people with a larger bird. Most people account for about 1lb per person of uncooked bird weight, so a 15 lb turkey would feed around 15 people.
Prep Time: 18 hours
Cook Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Poultry
Keyword: Different
Difficulty: Medium
Servings: 10
Author: Russell Bird

Instructions

Brining the Turkey

  • Add 1 cup of Kosmos Turkey brine to 1 gallon of water. Make sure the brine is cold and then place the turkey into the mixture making sure it is completely submerged, I like using a brining bag or large ziplock bag, but a 5 clean gallon bucket also works. Keep the bird in the brine for 1 hour per lb, so this bird will be 15 hours. Next remove the turkey from the brine and let it air dry in the fridge for at least 3 hours to firm up the skin again.

Prepping the Turkey

  • Preheat the smoker or BBQ to 350 degrees
    Spatchcock the turkey by flipping it breast side down and using a good pair of kitchen shears cut down both sides of the backbone to remove it completely. Set the neck and giblets aside and then flip the bird back over so the breasts are facing up. Now push down on the center of the bird until it is as flat as possible on the prep surface.

Seasoning the Turkey

  • Wipe the bird dry with paper towel, spray with duck fat, and then sprinkle with Little Louie Garlic Salt with Black Pepper all over. Make sure to do both the top and bottom of the bird and inside all the crevasses.

Smoking the Turkey

  • Place the turkey on the smoker with the breasts facing the hottest part of the grill or the direction the heat is coming from, but bones should be on the grill. Cook until you get an internal temperature inside both breasts of no less than 165 degrees. Keep your eye on the turkey for any spots that get too dark and you can wrap them in foil to protect them from the direct heat of the smoker. Once you hit the desired internal temperature, remove the turkey from the smoker and let rest for 30 minutes wrapped in foil.

Resting the Turkey

  • Turkeys that are brined will contain a tonne of moisture, so resting is a very important step, this will allow the juices to stay in the turkey as you begin to slice it. Nobody likes dry turkey, so I like to rest for 30 minutes at a minimum but longer is ok as well up to a maximum of 4 hours while maintaining food safe holding temperatures of at least 145 degrees.

Serving

  • I like to remove the legs, thighs and any dark meat from the carcass first and either shred or slice it then move on to the breasts. To remove the breasts you simply run your knife down the middle of the breast bone and continue cutting along the ribs until you have removed the entire breast from one side. Place the breast on the cutting board and slice into ¼ inch thick slices.

Presentation

  • I like to serve my turkey on a bed of kale, this will help hide and trap some of the juices that naturally run off the turkey, plus make it way more visually appealing. You can also garnish with optional seasonal decoration like gourds, decorative corn or maybe even a cornucopia and candy corn.
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