Roast Spatchco*ck Turkey Recipe (2024)

A much better way to roast Thanksgiving turkey. White and dark meat came out juicy and correctly cooked at the same time (90 mins at 425-450). Dry brined for 2 days after butterflying. Put apple, onion, sage, thyme & parsley under and smeared compound butter under skin and over legs. Spatchco*cked turkeys are wider than whole ones (duh...). Our 18 pounder measured 18" by 14" -- bigger than most roasting pans. Cut panels from foil pans to build out the sides -- worked fine!

You can put your dressing in a roasting pan -- place split bird on rack and rest on roasting pan -- turkey drippings go into the dressing - YUM! Remove turkey and rack to rest while top of dressing crisps up a bit -- everything done, oven space saver and dressing has that stuffing taste from turkey drippings --

Yes, I have been using this recipe for years and I love it. The largest I have ever done was a 22 lb turkey 2 years ago. Use a meat thermometer and allow for extra time and you will be fine.

First, dry brined (just kosher salt) and covered with plastic wrap for about 12 hours; uncovered overnight to dry skin. Put softened butter and thyme sprigs under breast skin and rubbed entire surface with more softened butter. Apple, onion, carrot, celery, thyme, sage and lemon as base, 12 lb bird needed 1 hour 10 minutes. Tender and moist! Best ever!

Morning..I gave up wet brining years ago. To messy and IMO impacts texture of meat. A dry brine works wonders for all poultry. I've got a 22 lb butterflied turkey dry brining for last 3 days in the fridge. The recipe is in the NYT as 'Dry-Brined Turkey'..The Zuni Cafe recipe. An on-line search will give you some ideas and variations for a dry brined butterflied turkey. Mangia!

Google "The Butcher Carves A Turkey" for a way to get around that problem. Ray Venezia's advice on presentation makes for a real "WOW!" moment with your bird. Looks amazing, easy to serve.

Made this today - best turkey ever. I did the mix of vegetables - potatoes, carrots, parsnips, garlic, celery, chopped into small pieces. Olive oil, salt, pepper and a cup of white wine. The breast was so moist and the flavors permeated through the meat. I will never cook turkey any other way! And the 14.5lb bird took an hour and a half. So easy.......I had the butcher cut out the backbone for me so no struggles there.

I have spatchco*cked our turkey for 3 years. I like to make 2 turkeys as my oven is small, 27".Last year, I roasted the turkeys on a bed of tri-color carrots. The turkey turned out great and the carrots were delicious!!!

Since I learned about spatchco*cking, I haven't roasted a turkey or a chicken any other way. I look forward to trying the higher temperature to shorten the process even more. The only disadvantage is a less photogenic finished bird. I carve it in the kitchen and present it at the table ready to eat.

I spatchco*ck the night before and rub garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper & paprika w/ melted butter under the skin leaving it to dry brine in the fridge until 2 hours before dinner. Give it an hour to reach room temp, then cook as instructed. Check all over with an instant-read therm and this is the easiest, bestest way to cook a turkey! I roast the backbone ahead for the gravy. Also, spatchco*cking a turkey is not easy. You need a cleaver to get some of the bones to cooperate.

Made this w/ 13 lb organic turkey. Roasted 1 1/2 hours (20 min @ 450 & then 400) The meat was SO tender & moist - the skin ended up being a mahogany brown & super crisp! I added some onions, carrots & celery under the whole bird, & also added 2 cups of Duck broth to the bottom of the pan at around 45 min (as at this temp, most of the liquid was evaporating) Very EASY to cut the backbone out by the way!! Will do this every time now (unless I go all the way and debone it!)

I had a 30 pound turkey. Surprise delivery from my neighbor who raises turkeys. Freshly butchered yesterday. So I halved the turkey by removing the backbone altogether with kitchen shears. I roasted both sides according to the recipe. Best turkey I have ever had. Bones will now be roasted for bone broth. Thank you for this amazing recipe.

The results of this time-saving technique for roasting a turkey (or chicken) results in an evenly cooked bird with wonderful crisp and uniformly browned skin. To make certain that the result is not dry meat check the temperature in the breasts and thighs and do not overcook above 155º. As it rests out of the oven it will continue to cook to 165º or even slightly above.

I first made this in 2016 and it’s the only way I make turkey now. I dry brine it for 2 days before cooking. Beware, it cooks faster than you think.

Made an 8lb turkey. Thighs at 165 degrees. Turkey nowhere near done. Read the notes and saw someone else saying 165 degrees is for the breast, 180 for the thighs. Back in the oven now…..

A 10lb turkey took about 2 hours. Dry brined for 2 days, one day covered by a bag, and one day to air dry in the refrigerator with no bag. Used garlic and thyme and slices of lemon. Turkey was beautifully browned and juicy. This is the best/easiest way to make a turkey.

This year, I am very thankful for this recipe! It was the best turkey I've ever prepared or eaten! And all the more amazing because I didn't do any of the normal prep work leading up to Thanksgiving because life got super hectic. This recipe really saved the day for the bird eaters who came to dinner!

First time with spatchco*cked turkey 11 pounds. Was disappointed in how much longer it took the Turkey to cook. Oven thermometer showed the correct temp for cooking but even after 2 hours thighs were still bloody and the breast meat mushy. I’ll try again but now know 45 minutes is way off.

During the 2 hours that the 12 pound turkey took to cook, I put it in different pans trying to max the heat! First a roasting pan...too high sides, then a foil pan,...still too high, finally a bake sheet. I added stock to the pan to get the drippings so I could make gravy. Very mis lead about the time. In the end also switched to convection to get the bird done as we were running late.

I watched the video how to spatchco*ck a turkey which was very misleading. No where does Mark say the weight of the bird or WHY the turkey cooks so much faster...or does it? I prepared a 12 pound turkey as directed and it took a full 2 hours to cook not 35 minutes for the one Mark cooked. I have an excellent oven and in the end, I put it on convection to hurry it along. Very disappointed. Loved the garlic and the turkey was flavorful.

Additional note...rubbing the turkey with butter and placing in a 450 oven set off the smoke alarm when I opened the oven! Just saying!!!!

Don't "drizzle" olive oil over the turkey unless you want the Fire Dept to come by. Olive oil and 450 degree oven don't mix.

Spatchco*cked turkey is definitely the way to go in the future. I made this yesterday and the outcome was perfect! Not the usual dried out breast and underdone dark meat. I roasted my 11 pound turkey on a rack at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, reduced heat to 325 degrees and roasted it for an additional 25 minutes. I used my heavy duty kitchen shears to remove the backbone, which I used to make stock.

Made an 11lb Turkey with some garlic and spices as indicated in the recipe. Came out perfect. Everyone who ate turkey, loved it. Even watched the video on How to Carve a turkey, which helped as well. NYTimes Cooking is Awesome.

Years ago I swore off roasting turkeys because they were always a big fail. This year I decided to try the spatchco*ck method using this recipe, the only change being that I dry brined it for two days. Otherwise followed as written. One half of the breast was pretty good, the other half had a weird texture. The legs were tough and game-y (and this was a "good"quality turkey). It roasted unevenly, for some reason. So, more or less an epic fail, but that's probably down to me.

Easiest to use poultry shears, cut the wishbone (no trying to press flat) and clip the wing. see this :60 video www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwZp9edhCMg17-20 pound takes ~90-105 minutes to get to 150 degrees deep in the breast. Under the rack, I put apples, sweet onions, carrots & celery along w both herbs fresh.As there is not much liquid in the bottom, I baste with chicken stock.Post cook, I strain the vegetables, put some of meat juice into the gravy and save the rest for stock

Just FYI this took WAYYYYY more than 45 minutes to cook