Smoked Spatchcock Turkey

by | Nov 2, 2023 | Dinner, lunch

Smoked Spatchcock Turkey on white serving dish.
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Smoked Spatchcock Turkey on white serving dish.

Smoked Spatchcock Turkey

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Ingredients
  

  • Defrosted Turkey about one day in the fridge per 4-5 pounds
  • Apple Juice

Injectable Seasoning:

  • 2 Sticks Melted Butter
  • 1/2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 Tbsp Onion Powder
  • 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • 1/2 Tbsp Poultry seasoning we use McCormick brand It’s nice a powdery so the injector gets clogged less

Basting Sauce:

  • Melted Butter
  • Garlic Powder
  • Onion Powder
  • Cayenne Pepper
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Poultry seasoning we use McCormick brand
  • Honey to taste

Seasoning Blend:

  • We use 4-5 Tbsp of our house blend plus 2 Tbsp Poultry Seasoning:

Our House blend is the following mixed together in a jar: You can also just use these individually instead of mixing up a blend

  • 2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
  • 2 Tbsp Onion Powder
  • 1/2 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
  • Salt and Pepper to taste We do about 1/2 Tbsp Each, This will change depending on the Poultry season you use.

If you don’t want to mix up a jar of blend here are individual amounts for just a turkey (It’s about half the blend mix):

  • 2 Tbsp Poultry seasoning we use McCormick brand
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 Tbsp Onion Powder
  • 1-2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 1/2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
  • 1/2 Tbsp each Salt and Pepper”

Instructions
 

Method:

  • Prep for seasoning and injections: Take your defrosted turkey out of all packaging. You are going to want to set up on a clean and easy to clean counter.
  • Remove everything from the cavity, most have a package with the gizzards and livers stuffed in there.
  • Cut out the backbone, good kitchen scissors can do this easily, flip the bird over so that the breasts are facing up.
  • Apply downward pressure between the breast to crack the bone so that the turkey lays flat. You can score the breastbone from the underside to help it crack easier.
  • Injections: Mix all the ingredients for the injectable seasoning and inject you turkey. If you do not want to do injections you can use all the seasonings with a soften butter and rub it under the skin (See spathcock chicken recipe for meathod on that)
  • We do: 3 injections in each breast, a baby injection into each wing, 2 injections into each thigh, & 1 injection into the meaty part of the drumstick.
  • Fill in with more as you see needed for your size turkey.
  • After each injection we cover the injection spot with our finger and massage the area, this helps not have the sauce spill out as much and distribute the sauce throughout the meat so you are less likely to have pockets of sauce.
  • Liberally cover the Turkey in the seasoning mix and massage it into the bird. Let it set at least 30 minutes for the seasoning to adhere to the bird. We don't want it all falling off when we put it on the smoker.
  • We prep our turkey a day ahead and put it in the fridge overnight for a faster morning of cooking. If you put your turkey back in the fridge like we do, bring it out 30 minutes to an hour for the turkey to come up to room temp. If you forget or don't have time, no worries, add ~30 minutes to cook time.
  • Put it on the smoker with the breast facing away from the heat so that it is less prone to drying out. We also keep a bowl of water in the smoker to keep the environment steamy and moist.
  • We use our pellet smoker at 250ºF with a mix of Hickory, Oak, and Cherry. Any fruit wood is perfect for poultry. On an offset smoker we usually do a majority soaked fruit wood (apple or Cherry are our favorites) with a touch of Pecan or Mesquite wood.
  • A turkey needs to cook for about 30 minutes per pound at 250ºF. Every 30 to 45 minutes we quickly spritz the Turkey with Apple Juice.
  • Every 30 to 45 minutes we quickly spritz the Turkey with Apple Juice.
  • ~30 minutes before pulling the Turkey off the smoker based it with the basting sauce.
  • Your Turkey should reach an internal temperature (make sure you aren’t hitting a bone) of 165ºF before consuming. We usually pull our Turkey at 160ºF and tent it with foil for 20-30 minutes. We then re-temp it and the carry over cook almost always has the internal temp at 165ºF.

Notes

“Notes: Our Turkey is 12.5 pounds you may need a little more less seasoning depending on the size of your turkey.
Our Turkey took 4 days to full defrost (we keep our fridge colder than average)
and took roughly 5 hours. (saved a whole hour from traditional methods).