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Spatchcock Smoked Turkey (Step by step)

This Juicy Spatchcock Smoked Turkey will be your favorite way to prepare a whole turkey. Brined, seasoned, and smoked to perfection on your pellet grill.
Prep Time30 minutes
Active Time5 hours
Brine time1 day
Course: Main Course
Keyword: how to smoke a turkey, smoked turkey, spatchcock
Yield: 1 whole turkey
Cost: $20

Equipment

  • 1 brining bucket or large bucket/pot
  • 1 pair of poultry scissors or sharp knife
  • 1 Meat thermometer

Materials

For the turkey brine

  • 6 cups water
  • 1 cup Salt
  • 1/3 cup hot honey or regular
  • 1/3 cup dark or regular brown sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 cloves garlic minced

For the turkey

  • 1 15-20 lb. whole turkey
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • mustard
  • Seasonings & rubs of choice

Instructions

For the turkey brine

  • First start by defrosting your turkey. Combine the water, hot honey, brown sugar, salt, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic in a pot and heat over medium-high heat on the stove. Whisk and let cook until ingredients have dissolved.
  • After that let the mixture come down to room temperature (or speed it up by adding ice to it). Make sure to remove the gizzards and the neck from the inside of your turkey cavity.
  • Next add the turkey a large buck or we have this Brining Bucket. Pour the brine mixture over the bird. If it doesn't cover the bird add in some more cool water. Then refrigerate over night or for 24 hours.

How to spatchcock a turkey

  • Grab a pair of poultry shears or a butcher knife and remove the brined turkey to a cutting board. Place the turkey breast side down. Next cut along both sides of the backbone and remove.
    Turkey backbone cut out
  • Then flip the turkey back over and spread the legs out to the side. With your hands, press down firmly on the breasts until it cracks. If you need to make additional cuts to make the flattening more even, go for it.
  • Next I applied some mustard as a binder and rubbed it all over the outside of the bird. I tucked a few pads of butter under the skin as well. Then I liberally seasoned with some Traeger Fin & Feather and a couple other seasonings/ rubs.
    You can either continue to the smoking process or we put it back in the refrigerator overnight until we were ready to smoke.
    Turkey Seasoned
  • When you are ready, pull the turkey out of the refrigerator and let sit out while you get the smoker up and running. We set ours to 225 degrees F. Once it was pre-heated we inserted a wireless meat thermometer into the turkey and placed the bird on the grate, breast side up and spread it out.
  • Close the lid and let smoke for a few hours (approximately 4 hours) until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F.
  • Then we increased the temperature of the smoker to 275 degrees F and let the turkey finish cooking to 165 degrees F for about an hour longer just to help crips up the skin a bit.
  • When the turkey comes to temperature, carefully remove and let rest 20-30 minutes before slicing and serving!