Are you looking for an easy way to prepare your turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas? One of the easiest ways to prepare a turkey is by spatchcocking it. Smoked Spatchcock Turkey is a simple to follow recipe that doesn't require a lot of time, or babysitting to produce really exceptional results.
Table of Contents
Why You Should Spatchcock Your Holiday Turkey
There are a few reasons why this is my preferred method to smoke a turkey for the holidays.
- Smoked Spatchcock Turkey results in a more even cook - all of the parts of the bird come up to temp around the same time.
- This method makes it possible to cook the bird a little faster than smoking a whole turkey.
- Spatchcocking a turkey gives you easier access to all of the meat on the bird, making it much easier to apply your brine.
Recipe Rundown
| Prep Time: | 12 hours |
| Smoke Time: | 3-4 hours |
| Smoker Temperature: | 225° & 350° |
| Internal Temperature: | 160° |
| Wood Pellets: | Hickory, Maple, Blend |
| Servings: | 8-10 |
How to Make Smoked Spatchcock Turkey
Spatchcocking a turkey is easy to do. The day before you will smoke the turkey is when you should spatchcock it. Place the turkey on a cutting board with the spine on top. Using a sharp knife or kitchen shears cut along the entire length of one side of the spine. Repeat the process on the other side of the spine allowing you to completely remove it.
After removing the spine flip the turkey over, and while gripping both sides of the turkey breast with your fingers underneath, gently press down. This will pop a few bones and flatten out the bird.
How to Brine a Spatchcocked Turkey
After spatchcocking the turkey it's time to apply the brine.
I like to dry brine spatchcocked turkey. Dry brining involves liberally salting the underside of the bird, the skin, and underneath the skin. After applying the dry brine you place the bird in a large pan in your refrigerator for at least 12 hours, and up to 24 hours.
At the beginning of the dry brining process, the salt will pull moisture out of the turkey and sit on the skin, then the moisture will slowly get pulled back into the meat of the bird, pulling the seasonings with it. This results in some incredible flavor and moisture.
What Kind of Dry Brine Should I Use?
There are a few different ways to prepare your dry brine. My favorite dry brine is Jacobsen Salt Co's Savory Citrus Brine. I like this brine because it's pre-mixed and adds a little more flavor than just brining with kosher salt.
If you're using kosher salt to brine the bird that's ok! A 12-pound turkey will use about 3 Tbsp of kosher salt to effectively dry brine it.
When you are ready to start the smoking process, remove the bird from the refrigerator. Remove it from any juices, turn out the legs, and let sit out to air dry. I like to just set it out on a drying/cooling rack over a baking sheet while I get the smoker fired up. If you are in a hurry you can pat dry with paper towels.
Smoking a Spatchcocked Turkey
After the turkey has brined it's time to smoke it. Set up your smoker to smoke at 225 degrees using indirect heat. I like to use Hickory or Maple wood for turkey. Mesquite is a good option if you want a little more smoke flavor.
Place the spatchcocked turkey directly on your grill grates underside down, and let it smoke for 2 hours. After two hours adjust the temperature up on your smoker to 350 degrees. Place a temp probe in the thickest part of the turkey breast to monitor temps, and let the turkey cook until the internal temp hits 160.
The safe temperature on turkey is 165 degrees, but if you pull the turkey off the grill at 160 the carryover while it's resting will easily get the meat to 165 degrees.
If you'd like a little crispier skin you can combine a stick of melted butter with a tablespoon of bbq rub and brush it on the skin of the turkey when you turn the temp up to 350. When the internal temperature hits 150 crank the heat up to 450 and the skin will turn a nice golden brown color and have tons of great flavor.
I hope you consider this smoked spatchcock turkey recipe for your holiday dinner this year. It's a simple method that produces some really great results.
Smoked Spatchcock Turkey
Equipment
- Thermapen Mk4 Instant-read Thermometer for meat & more
- Jacobsen Salt Co. Pure Kosher Sea Salt, 1 Pound
- Smoke 2-Channel Alarm Thermometer | ThermoWorks
Ingredients
- 10-12 pound turkey
- 3 Tbsp kosher salt or dry brine
- 1-2 sticks melted butter depending on the size of your bird
- 1 Tbsp bbq rub
Instructions
- Spatchcock the turkey the day before you'll be smoking it by cutting and removing the spine.
- Flip the turkey over and gently press down by the breasts to flatten the bird.
- Apply the kosher salt or dry brine to the underside of the bird, the skin, and underneath the skin.
- Place the turkey on a cookie sheet uncovered and let it cool in the fridge for 12-24 hours.
- When you are ready to start the smoking process, remove the bird from the refrigerator. Remove it from any juices, turn out the legs, and let sit out to air dry.
- Place the turkey directly on the smoker grates, breast side up with the legs out.
- Smoke the turkey at 225 degrees for 2 hours.
- After the two hours, adjust the temperature up to 350 degrees and cook the turkey until the internal temperature hits 160 degrees.
- If you'd like a little crispier skin you can combine a stick of melted butter with a tablespoon of bbq rub and brush it on the skin of the turkey.
- Let the turkey rest for 15 minutes before slicing - this allows adequate time for the turkey to rise in temp to a safe eating temperature of 165 degrees.
Just a word of warning. If you are going to smoke your turkey for a couple hours at a lower temperature without a pan underneath then crank the temp to 450 there is a good chance you could get a grease fire. You could also get an unpleasant burnt flavor from all the grease burning off.
If your drip tray doesn't drain off and your smoker is dirty before the cook, yes.
Do you pull the legs/thighs off when they hit 160 or do you let them keep cooking until the breast reaches 160?
Dark meat needs to hit a higher temperature (180F).
Your list of ingredients calls for 2 sticks of butter, but the instructions do not mention butter. What happens with the 2 sticks of butter?
It's mentioned in the description above, not the instructions: "If you’d like a little crispier skin you can combine a stick of melted butter with a tablespoon of bbq rub and brush it on the skin of the turkey when you turn the temp up to 350. When the internal temperature hits 150 crank the heat up to 450 and the skin will turn a nice golden brown color and have tons of great flavor."
Use the butter to baste the turkey. I personally add minced garlic and some bbq rub into mine
I always put a aluminum turkey sized pan on the grill grate just under the one the bird is on.
Fill it a third of the way with water or Apple juice or a combo of the two. This will add moisture to the bird and keep it from having a burnt taste from the drippings.
4 hour cook time…
Does it really take another two hours after you crank it to 350?
Definitely didn't need to turn heat up to 450 to get the skin golden brown. At internal temp of 150 I lifted lid on my pitboss to butter the skin and skin was already a golden brown but I was going by the directions and buttered the skin and turned heat up to 450. About 10 minutes later when internal temp reached 160 and temp of smoker was almost 450 I lifted lid to peak in and a nice grease fire was going. I closed lid (that kept flame down) and got my cutting board and got the turkey off the smoker. Bird was just a little chared on underside not bad could have been worse. I shut smoker off and closed lid and vent on stack to close off oxygen to fire and got a box of baking soda ready to dump on it if grease fire got worse. Lifting lid about every 5 minutes to check in the grease fire it was burning down and finally went out after 10 minutes so I didn't need to make a mess in my smoker with baking soda. I did read a post someone left about turning it up to 450 might cause a grease fire but I did it anyway. Lesson learned, turning heat up to 450 will cause a grease fire. Letting the turkey rest the residual heat got the internal temp up to 168.
Hello, after brining the turkey, do you rinse off the salt?
Always if it’s a wet brine good luck
For a Dry Brine like this suggests, no, don't rinse it off. The salt more than likely has already penetrated deep into the bird. Just enjoy the wonderful flavor.
I have a small barrel smoker, i tend to have great success at getting the temp to 250 and hold for hours. should I remove the bird from the smoker after 2 hours and place on the gas grill to reach the higher temps?
You can go either way, and it depends on how you feel about the skin. If you like the skin the way it is then I wouldn't change anything. If you're looking for a crispier skin then you might consider putting it briefly on the gas grill or trying to increase the temp on your smoker(which can be from a certain point, it doesn't have to be the entire time).
Looking to try your recipe, Ive order the Jacobsen Dry Brine. Do you add another BBQ Rub, if so which?
Also, trying to smoke this for our first time using our Pit Boss Vertical Smoker. Please share any guidance. thanks!!
I would still use a rub. A brine is something that happens before going on and should help but is different. If you signup for our newsletter it includes some of our rubs but there are also a lot of pre-made options out there that you can buy.
I like to use a wet brine: 1 gal water, 2-4 cups of apple cider, 2 cups of kosher salt, 2 cups of brown sugar, several slices of oranges, several cloves of garlic. I also smoke over a bed of vegetables (carrots, celery, potatoes, onions, and maybe a roasted pepper or two, three, ? with chicken stock) Keeps the bird very moist, and also makes for some delicious veggies. Use leftovers for soups.
I was hoping to try smoking a turkey for the first time this weekend. I have a 22lb bird and what I'm reading is that it may be too large to smoke because of the time required to push through to >140 degrees. If I spatchcocked the bird, would smoking work? I using a Traeger pellet grill that only has a single rack.
Smoking a turkey that big is certainly something you have to be cautious about. It can be done, but you won't want to go low and slow like a brisket. Spatchcocked it will cook faster and won't be as big of an issue.
Just did a 13lb turkey
225 high smoke for 2 hrs
kicked up to 350 and it was at 160 degrees (breast) in 1 1/2 hrs
3 1/2 hrs total - got done quicker than I thot
It is very good
After spachcocking ,why can't u cut bird in half at breast bone and smoke. I have a Traeger pellet. 17lb bird and , want it. All to fit. Plus a therm pro remote 2 probe thermometer.
That sounds like a great idea, just watch for bone chips when you cut it. In fact now that you mentioned that I will try it as well don't know when because my 11lb bird is almost ready. But next time definitely that way I get more left overs.
Avid smoker here. So this is just what I do, by no means am knocking your method.
I start my smoker at 375 allow that to settle in for about an hr to get a solid smoke/temp going. Place the bird third rack from center (I have 5racks) slide a drip tray underneath, with sliced sweet onion, navel orange, green apple and some thyme springs in a cider water bath about 1/3 full)
Smoke at 375 for 30mins. Lower temp to 225 and let go for about 5-5.5hrs. I use a mix of pecan and apple woods for my poultry; season minimally with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, and granulated garlic rubbed underneath skin and inside (spatchcocked bird) baste that babies outer skin in a thin layer of a irish butter and black garlic concoction I whip up; and viola the best damn smoked turkey with the most beautiful Carmel color you ever did see.
Never wrap in foil after it comes off and carve about 5-10mins after pulling out of smoker. I use an 18 pounder. Happy gobbles day to all 🦃💨💛
Is your bird spatchcocked? Those times seem quick for a 18 lb bird.