Spatchcocking means “to split and flatten” and is a technique for cooking a turkey. Learn how to make spatchcock smoked turkey on the grill this Thanksgiving!
If you’re tired of a giant turkey taking up too much time and room in your oven, you can cook it faster and free up space by trying this spatchcock smoked turkey technique. Start a new tradition and impress your family and friends this Thanksgiving with a new turkey recipe.
The turkey is butterflied (spatchcocked), rubbed with BBQ seasoning, and smoked over charcoal and cherry wood. Then finishes brushed with a beer butter glaze for crispier skin. The result is tender, juicy meat with loads of flavor.
Yes, spatchcock is a funny word, but you can cook a large turkey in less time with some serious flavor by following our tested spatchcocked turkey recipe.
Watch David Spatchcock and Smoke Turkey
What Is Spatchcock Turkey?
The term “spatchcock” is a 17th-century term with Italian influence, saying “dispatch the cock”, which means to open a chicken to cook it. Obviously, we are using a turkey instead of a chicken for this recipe. This spatchcock procedure requires that you split the turkey and remove the backbone so the bird can be opened and flattened out for more even and much faster cooking.
The Benefits of Spatchcock Turkey
The three main benefits of spatchcock turkey are:
- Shorter Cook Time: Spatchcocking, a turkey, cuts the cooking time in half, which means it doesn’t have to take all day or night to cook.
- Cooks More Evenly: Another benefit to spatchcock turkey is that you do not need to use a brine because there is no fear of the turkey drying out.
- More Space In The Grill or Smoker: depending on your grill or smoker, fitting a whole turkey up under the grill or smoker may be challenging. Spatchcock turkey lays flat, so you can get the grill or smoker lid down because if your lookin’, you ain’t cookin’!
Not to mention the presentation a spatchcock smoked turkey can make on your guests and its unique flavor!
How To Spatchcock A Turkey
Don’t let a fancy weird word intimidate you. Cutting this turkey to flatten it out is not hard at all. Unless you are really good with a carving knife, using a large sharp knife on such a large bird is a little scary. We recommend using a good set of kitchen shears to get the job done. The shears give you the leverage to cut through the turkey’s bones and make it much more manageable. Spatchcock your turkey in two easy steps.
STEP 1: Place the turkey breast side down on a clean work surface. Use kitchen shears to cut from the tail along both sides of the backbone. Remove the backbone and discard (or save it to make broth). You may need to snip the breastbone on each side to help crack the ribcage open so the turkey will be flatter.
STEP 2: Turn the turkey over so it is breast side up. Use your hands to flatten the turkey. Press down firmly to crack the rib cage. The turkey should now lay flat on the surface.
What Kind Of Wood For Smoking Turkey?
The best wood for smoking turkey includes alder, apple, cherry, maple, peach, and pecan. Pecan is more robust than most fruitwood but milder than oak mesquite or hickory, which has a stronger smoke flavor. Always use your favorite!
What You’ll Need To Smoke Turkey
We tested this recipe on both a 22-inch Weber and a 26-inch Weber charcoal grill. Use the same principles for this recipe and adapt them to whatever grill or smoker you have.
Turkey: We recommend using a bird between 10-15 pounds.
We tested this recipe with a 13-pound turkey and a 16-pound turkey. While the larger turkey cooks faster, spatchcocked than it would whole, it still took us about 8 hours to get a 16-pound turkey done. If you need to feed more people, use a larger turkey but remember it will take more time to smoke it to get the meat done.
BBQ Dry Rub: Any type of poultry rub or all-purpose BBQ Seasoning. Use your favorite dry rub. For this smoke, we used Dizzy Dust by Dizzy Pig.
Smoking Wood: We use cherry wood chunks to smoke our turkey. Cherry is one of our favorite smoking woods, but any fruitwood is ideal for poultry.
For the Beer Butter Glaze:
Butter: always use unsalted butter to control the amount of sodium.
Beer: 12-ounce beer, such as a Belgian-style or Pilsner. You can substitute the beer with apple juice if you don’t want to use alcohol.
Salt: we prefer Kosher salt, but any salt will work
Worcestershire sauce: for umami and rich flavor
Soy Sauce: provides more umami and a good balance of sweetness and saltiness.
Hot Sauce: Use your favorite. Cholula is our favorite hot sauce. Omit the hot sauce if you don’t care for it.
Sweetness: Honey or maple syrup give you sweetness without adding sugar to the glaze. Honey is a little thicker and richer than maple syrup.
Onion Powder: for a savory flavor without the chunks.
Garlic: one minced clove for a more savory flavor.
Sage: use a fresh sage leaf if you have one, or substitute with ½ teaspoon of dried sage.
How to Smoke a Spatchcock Turkey
Remove the turkey from the packaging, remove the neck and giblet bag, rinse, and pat dry all over with paper towels. Spatchcock your turkey in two easy steps.
STEP 1: Place the turkey breast side down on a clean work surface. Use kitchen shears to cut from the tail along both sides of the backbone. Remove the backbone and discard (or save it to make broth). Make two small cuts on each side of the breastbone.
STEP 2: Turn the turkey over so that it is skin-side up. Use your hands to flatten the turkey. Press down firmly to crack the breast. The turkey should now lay flat on the surface.
Season The Turkey
Once you have the turkey where it will lay flat, sprinkle the bone side with the bbq dry rub. It’s best to season the skin side once the turkey is situated on the grill grate.
Set Up The Charcoal Grill or Smoker
- Prepare the grill for indirect cooking and heat to 275-300 degrees F using charcoal and fruitwood chunks such as cherry, apple, or maple.
Smoke The Turkey:
- Place the turkey on the grill breast side up over indirect heat tucking the wings and arranging the legs, so the bird lays flat on the grill rack.
- Once the turkey is situated dust the turkey with a nice even layer of the BBQ dry rub.
- Smoke the turkey for about 1 ½ hours, only opening the chamber to add more wood chunks or charcoal.
- Once you get the color bark you like (outer rubbed skin), stop adding wood but continue to monitor the heat, adding charcoal as needed to maintain the heat. The longer you add wood, the darker the turkey will be. We stopped adding wood for our tests after approximately 2-2 ½ hours.
Make the Beer-Butter Glaze
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the beer, salt, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce, honey onion powder, garlic powder, and sage leaf into the melted butter. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Brush the Turkey With Glaze
When the turkey reaches approximately 145 degrees, begin to baste it with the glaze. Baste the turkey every 30 minutes and continue to smoke the turkey until the juices run clear and the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 165 degrees when read with an instant-read thermometer. The inner thigh should read between 175-180 degrees F.
Rest, Carve and Serve
Transfer the spatchcocked turkey to a large cutting board and let it rest tented with aluminum foil for 20-30 minutes before carving and serving. Cut into serving pieces and serve warm.
Storage and Reheating Smoked Turkey
Store leftovers sealed tightly in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To reheat, wrap the turkey in aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until warmed through.
Freezing: You can freeze smoked turkey sealed tightly in a freezer bag, sealing as much air as possible for up to 2-3 months.
Tips for Cooking Spatchcock Smoked Turkey
- Don’t discard the backbone and neck from the turkey. Use them to make broth for soup!
- You may need to snip the inside breastbone to help crack the breast so the turkey lays flat.
- You can change up the flavor of your turkey by using a different rub, brining the turkey (although it doesn’t need it), or changing what you baste it with.
- Use a probe thermometer to help monitor the internal temp of your turkey while it cooks. With Thermoworks Smoke, you can monitor both the ambient temperature of the grill grate as well the temperature of the bird.
- Foil-Wrapped Bricks: For even more time savings and even cooking, you can use foiled-covered bricks, which flatten the turkey even more. The bricks help even out the heat. The dark meat and white meat get ready at about the same time. We have used bricks with spatchcock chicken, but not in our test recipes for spatchcock turkey.
- Resting is key! Like other smoked meats, rest the turkey after removing it from the hot grill to retain moisture.
- We do not recommend a drip pan underneath the bird to catch the drippings. Ours caught some drippings, but there was a lot of rub and smut from the grill captured on the Weber grill too.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, kitchen shears make cutting the turkey easy. The turkey cooks so evenly. Nothing dries out, and the white meat and dark meat get done at the same time.
Because the spatchcock method cooks evenly, it’s not necessary. We tested this recipe more than once; the turkey was tender and juicy. Never dry.
The spatchcock method takes approximately 10-15 minutes per pound vs. 15-20 minutes per pound to get the bird done. However, always smoke meat according to temperature, not time. It’s more important that the meat is done, especially regarding poultry.
The turkey is done when the juices run clear and the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 165 degrees when read with an instant-read thermometer. The inner thigh should read between 175-180 degrees F.
Run and maintain the heat of your grill or smoker at 275-300 degrees F. Any hotter, and you may overcook the turkey.
As David mentioned in our video, we got a little enthusiastic towards the end of the cook. He struggled to maintain the heat with the high mountain winds that day. It was a long cook, but no way as long as it would have been with a whole turkey had we not spatchcocked it.
Other Smoked Turkey Recipes
- PECAN APPLEWOOD SMOKED TURKEY BREAST
- APPLEWOOD SMOKED TURKEY BREAST
- BRINED HICKORY-SMOKED TURKEY BREAST
We hope this spatchcock smoke turkey starts a new tradition at your house this Thanksgiving.
Wishing y’all a very Happy Thanksgiving, from our Mountain Kitchen to yours!
Spatchcock Smoked Turkey With Beer Butter Glaze
Useful Equipment:
- Butcher’s Twine only if you need to tuck the wings better
- Freezer Paper for an easy to clean work surface
Ingredients
- 15 pound whole turkey
- ½ cup BBQ Dry Rub more or less depending on the size of your bird. we used Dizzy Dust All-Purpose BBQ Seasoning by Dizzy Pig. Use your favorite dry rub
For the Beer Butter Glaze:
- 1 stick of unsalted butter
- 12 ounce beer such as a Belgian or Pilsner- can use apple juice
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Cholula
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 sage leaf fresh (or ½ teaspoon dried)
Instructions
Spatchcock the Turkey
- Remove the turkey from the packaging, remove the neck and giblet bag, rinse, and pat dry with paper towels.
- Place the turkey breast-side down on a clean work surface. Use kitchen shears to cut from the tail along both sides of the backbone. Remove the backbone and discard (or save it to make broth). Make two small cuts on each side of the breastbone.
- Turn the chicken over so that it is skin-side up. Use your hands to flatten the turkey. Press down firmly to crack the breast. The turkey should now lay flat on the surface.
Season The Turkey
- Once you have the turkey where it will lay flat, sprinkle the bone side with the bbq dry rub. It's best to season the skin side once the turkey is situated on the grill grate.
Set Up The Charcoal Grill or Smoker
- Prepare the grill for indirect cooking and heat to 275-300 degrees F using charcoal and fruitwood chunks such as cherry, apple, or maple.
Smoke The Turkey
- Place the turkey on the grill breast side up over indirect heat tucking the wings and arranging the legs, so the bird lays flat on the grill rack.
- Once the turkey is situated dust the turkey with a nice even layer of the BBQ dry rub.
- Smoke the turkey for about 1 ½ hours, only opening the chamber to add more wood chunks or charcoal.
- Once you get the color bark you like (outer rubbed skin), stop adding wood but continue to monitor the heat, adding charcoal as needed to maintain the heat. The longer you add wood, the darker the turkey will be. We stopped adding wood after approximately 2-2 ½ hours.
Make the Beer-Butter Glaze
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the beer, salt, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce, honey onion powder, garlic powder, and sage leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Brush the Turkey With Glaze
- When the turkey reaches approximately 145 degrees, brush it with the glaze. Baste the turkey every 30 minutes and continue to smoke the turkey until the juices run clear and the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 165 degrees when read with an instant-read thermometer. The inner thigh should read between 175-180 degrees F.
Rest, Carve and Serve
- Transfer the spatchcocked turkey to a large cutting board and let it rest tented with aluminum foil for 20-30 minutes before carving and serving. Cut into serving pieces and serve warm.
Notes
- Don’t discard the backbone and neck from the turkey. Use them to make broth for soup!
- You may need to snip the inside breastbone to help crack the breast, so the turkey lays flat.
- You can change up the flavor of your turkey by using a different rub, brining the turkey (although it doesn’t need it), or changing what you baste it with.
- Use a probe thermometer to help monitor the internal temp of your turkey while it cooks. With Thermoworks Smoke, you can monitor both the ambient temperature of the grill grate as well the temperature of the bird.
- Foil-Wrapped Bricks: For even more time savings and even cooking, you can use foiled-covered bricks, which flatten the turkey even more. The bricks help even out the heat. The dark meat and white meat get ready at about the same time. We have used bricks with spatchcock chicken, but not in our test recipes for spatchcock turkey.
- Resting is key! Like other smoked meats, rest the turkey after removing it from the hot grill to retain moisture.
- We do not recommend a drip pan underneath the bird to catch the drippings. Ours caught some drippings, but there was a lot of rub and smut from the grill captured on the Weber grill too.
- Use butcher’s twine to help tie back wings if needed.
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