Butterflying a turkey takes a little muscle, but there is plenty of crispy skin in this Orange and Sage Spatchcocked Turkey. And the cooking time gets cut in half, too!
I truly love the Thanksgiving meal. In fact, I love it so much, I could eat it throughout the year, and not just in November. I especially love a roasted turkey. Yes, I’m one of those people who buys an extra on sale, after the holidays, and store it in my freezer to enjoy months later.
To roast a turkey traditionally may seem like a daunting task, especially for the novice cook. I’ve already shared how to roast a turkey traditionally. But today I’m going to show you another technique.
Why you have to try this recipe
One of my favorite ways of preparing a roasted chicken is to butterfly it. I’m almost always in a hurry during the week and I’m almost always short on time to get dinner on the table!
A spatchcocked turkey (or butterflied turkey) takes half the time to roast than keeping the bird whole. You end up with a ver juicy bird and plenty of crispy skin. It takes a little muscle to butterfly a turkey, but the extra work is worth it.
By butterflying your turkey and then roasting it you cut the roasting time by more than half. And you end up with lots of extra crispy skin – my favorite part!
I smear a delicious orange-sage butter combination all over the turkey for extra flavor. You are going to love to love this recipe and never go back to a regular ‘ole roast turkey again!
Ingredients you need
- Whole turkey: You can butterfly a turkey of any size. Just be sure it is completely thawed.
- Fresh Sage: Although you could use dried sage, fresh is definitely preferred as it is more fragrant.
- Orange: You will the grated zest from one orange.
- Kitchen staples: Onion, butter, all purpose flour, salt and ground black pepper.
Step-by-step directions
1. Cut down the spine. Using a heavy sharp knife or poultry shears, start cutting down the spine of the turkey.
2. Remove the spine. Now cut down the other side of the spine and remove it. Don’t toss it. Save it and make gravy using the neck, spine and gizzards.
3. Crack the breast bone. Flip the bird over cut side down. Using your full body, like performing CPR, press down hard on between the two breasts of the turkey. You want to hear a crack. This means that you have split the breast bone of your turkey.
4. Make the orange butter. In a small bowl, combine the butter, orange zest, sage, salt and pepper. When it is all melted remove from heat.
5. Season the turkey. Using some paper towels, pat down the entire bird, including the exposed carcass. A wet turkey will not roast well or give you a crispy skin. Also any butter or oil you rub on the turkey will stick better on a dry bird.
Season both sides of the turkey with salt and pepper. Rub the entire bird with your butter mixture. For more flavor, rub under the skin, especially in the breast area.
6. Roast the turkey. Again, the beauty of a spatchcocked turkey is the crispy skin over the entire turkey and how quickly your turkey will cook versus the conventional method. The turkey pictured about was about 13-pounds. It would typically take approximately 3 ½ hours to cook the traditional way, unstuffed.
But, when butterflied, it cut the cooking time in half, only requiring 1 ½ hours in the oven. No getting up at the crack of dawn to enjoy a juicy Thanksgiving lunch!
See my Spatchcocked Turkey Web Story for a quick visual guide to making this recipe.
Recipe tips and FAQs
You can serve your turkey dinner with all the usual fixings. Some of my favorites are:
- Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Orange
- Cranberry Pomegranate Sauce
- Whole Wheat Moist Stuffing with Swiss Chard
- Creamed Spinach with Assorted Greens
- Twice Baked Butternut Squash
- Turmeric and Spice Cauliflower Rice
Well, the answer to this question should be obvious, but it still comes up. No, once the turkey is butterflied, you can not stuff a spatchcocked turkey. But, I personally like my stuffing on the side. Okay, it is now called dressing if it is on the side, but you get what I mean!
If you have ever grilled a butterflied chicken, then you know how easy it is. If you have a large enough grill, you can totally grill a spatchcocked turkey. You can also smoke a spatchcocked turkey, too!
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Spatchcocked (Butterflied) Turkey with Orange and Sage
Butterflying a turkey takes a little muscle, but there is plenty of crispy skin in this Orange and Sage Spatchcocked Turkey. And the cooking time gets cut in half, too!
Ingredients
- 13 lb whole turkey, completely thawed
- 3 cup water
- ½ onion, halved
- 3 sage leaves
- 8 TBS butter, unsalted
- Grated zest from 1 large orange (about 1 ½ tablespoons)
- 3 TBS chopped fresh sage
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 TBS all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Pat turkey dry with paper towels. Remove gizzards and neck and reserve and place in a small saucepan.
- Place the turkey, breast side down, on a large cutting board.
- Using a large sharp knife or poultry shears, cut along each side of the backbone.
- Pull the turkey open slightly to cut the backbone out completely. Place the backbone in the pot with the neck and gizzards and reserve.
- Flip your turkey over, cut side down. Using your hands, press down firmly to break the breastbone and flatten the bird.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat combine 6 TBS butter, orange zest, 3 TBS chopped sage, salt and pepper. Heat until butter is melted
- Brush melted butter mixture on both sides of the turkey,
- Slide your fingers under the skin of the turkey to loosen it from the meat. Brush the remaining butter underneath the skin of the turkey breast.
- Place turkey in a large roasting pan, skin side up.
- Roast turkey for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh away from the bone registers 170º-175ºF. If the turkey starts to burn, loosely cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.
- While the turkey is roasting, cover the neck bone, gizzards and spine with water. Add onion and 3 sage leaves.
- Simmer until broth is reduced to 2 cups, skimming occasionally, for about 1 hour.
- Strain turkey broth, and reserve.
- When turkey is done, remove from oven and let it rest while you make the gravy.
- Melt 2 TBS butter in a skillet heat over medium-high heat. Stir in flour.
- After flour is browned, whisk in reserved turkey broth and strained drippings from the roasted turkey
- Whisk until fully incorporated and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or until gravy has thickened.
- Serve turkey with gravy and the rest of your favorite Thanksgiving sides.
Notes
You can also use lemon zest instead of orange.
For herb substitutions, also try rosemary, thyme, marjoram or chives.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1 plateAmount Per Serving: Calories: 284Total Fat: 20.6gSaturated Fat: 9.8gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 899mgCarbohydrates: 2.7gFiber: 0.5gSugar: 0.3gProtein: 21.5g
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