Here are a few things I found. Take with a grain of salt. I think most folks spatch for more even cooking between white/dark meat.
Though the presentation isn’t traditional, there are a few reasons we prefer to spatchcock turkey:
- It’s quick. Because the bird is flattened, the cooking time is cut almost in half.
- The bird cooks evenly. With a whole bird, the breast meat often dries out before the dark meat is done. By flattening the turkey, the legs and thighs (dark meat) are more exposed to the heat, and so they cook in the same time as the breast.
- The skin gets nice and crispy. Since the whole bird is equally exposed to heat, every inch of its skin will evenly brown and develop that crave-worthy crispiness.
Spatchcock turkey cooking time per pound
Turkey Weight (lb) | Cooking Time (350ºF) |
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12 lb spatchcock turkey | 2 Hours and 12 Minutes |
14 lb spatchcock turkey | 2 Hours and 50 Minutes |
16 lb spatchcock turkey | 3 Hours and 8 Minutes |
18 lb spatchcock turkey | 3 Hours and 48 Minutes |
20 lb spatchcock turkey | 4 Hours and 15 Minutes |