If you've been cooking your Thanksgiving turkey as a whole bird, you are missing out big time. There are several disadvantages to this method - it takes way longer to cook, you can't season it properly unless you brine it, brining it leaves a mushy texture, the dark meat cooks too slow meaning you'll get overcooked and dry white meat, it's really challenging to cut and carve, you end up with a bunch of wasted meat still on the bone, and you can't use the bones for stock until after Thanksgiving. Have I convinced you yet?!
The secret is to break down the bird in some fashion. You can either spatchcock it by removing the backbone. Or my favorite way is to break it down into all its parts like if it was a whole chicken. See my steps here. Now with all the turkey parts, you can follow the steps below to make the most incredibly delicious turkey in under 2 hours. After you give this a try for the first time, I can promise you will never go back to the old method of cooking a Thanksgiving turkey whole again.
Ingredients
- One 12-15 pound turkey
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
- 2 tbsp oil
- Stuffing like my Trail Mix Thanksgiving Stuffing (optional)
Directions
- 8-24 hours before cook time, break down the turkey into 2 breast halves, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, and 2 upper wings. Skin should remain on. No lower wings, wing tips, backbone, neck, breast plate, or other parts. Use those for stock.
- Dry off all the parts using paper towels and also dry off the tray or rack that they will sit in.
- Combine the salt, pepper, and garlic and rub evenly over all the parts. Each dark meat part needs a pinch and the larger breast needs two pinches. There should be enough for a 12 pound turkey. If you need more, just follow the ratio of seasonings or simply use extra salt and pepper.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 24 hours.
- Subtract 2.5 hours from when you want to eat. So if you want to eat at 5pm, start the next steps at 2pm.
- Remove the turkey parts from the fridge and allow the turkey to set out at room temperature for 1 hour.
- While you wait, prepare the stuffing and add to a large greased roasting pan. Or if not cooking with the stuffing, just grease a roasting pan or tray.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- After an hour at room temp, coat the turkey parts with oil and arrange them on top of the stuffing or directly on the pan or tray. If the parts start to overcrowd each other, grab a separate greased pan or tray to roast any parts that don't fit like. This Thanksgiving I roasted the breasts on top of the stuffing and roasted the thighs, drumsticks, and wing parts in a separate pan. This way the white meat cooks separately from the dark meat in case they come to temperature at different times.
- 2 hours before you want to eat, place the tray or pan in the oven and let cook for 30 minutes until the skin starts to brown.
- Reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes (so 60 minutes total).
- Now start checking the temperature of the meat ideally using an instant read digital thermometer. The turkey is done when the breast meat is 165 degrees or warmer and the thigh meat is 180 degrees or warmer. It should be around the 75 minute mark so 5-15 minutes longer.
- One good sign that the meat is cooked thoroughly is when you see the bones exposed on the drumsticks and wing parts.
- Remove the turkey from the oven and transfer the breasts to the pan with the dark meat. Cover the pan with foil and let rest 15-30 minutes. The residual heat will elevate the meat temperature to 165-170 for white meat and 180 for dark meat.
- If you cooked with stuffing underneath, give the stuffing a stir. Either turn the over off and stick back to keep warm, Or if the stuffing is too moist or you want a crispy top for better presentation, turn the oven up to 450 degrees or even turn the broiler on low and cook for another 5 minutes. Watch carefully though to make sure the stuffing top doesn't burn.
- Now my favorite part, transfer the turkey breast and and thigh meat and slice. You won't believe how easy it is to cut and serve the turkey meat this way.
- Leave the leg and wing parts whole for your family or guests to take/fight over.
- Now just wait for everyone to take their first bite and be blown away by how delicious turkey can actually be if prepared the right way.
Lessons Learned
- I used to do this recipe with the bone still on the breast. What I found is it took longer for the white meat to cook this way and it was harder to slice after it was done. I now take it off the bone before cooking which allows me to use the entire carcass for turkey stock.
- With the dark meat cut in separate parts it cooks a lot faster. I find that everything comes to temp at the same time but may also experiment with two variations. First, I may keep the thigh and leg together so it takes a bit longer and then use the upper wing part in the stock. Second, I may put the dark meat tray in 10-15 minutes later to see if that timing works better.
Inspiration
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