Thanksgiving is a time for gathering with family and friends around a hearty turkey dinner. However when you’re only cooking for a few people, roasting a whole large turkey doesn’t make much sense. Luckily preparing half a turkey is an easy and delicious way to enjoy this festive bird without tons of leftovers.
Why Cook Half a Turkey?
There are several great reasons to cook just half a turkey instead of a whole one:
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Smaller Number of Guests – When hosting only 2-4 people, a full turkey provides way more extra meat than you need. Half a turkey is the perfect size.
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Shorter Cook Time – A whole turkey can take 3-4 hours to roast. Halving it cuts the time nearly in half so your meal comes together more quickly.
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Lower Cost – You save money by only purchasing half the amount of turkey you need. Plus there is less food waste since you aren’t left with a whole carcass of leftovers.
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Easier to Handle – Getting a 20 lb turkey in and out of the oven can be challenging. At under 10 lbs, half a turkey is much easier to maneuver.
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Cooks More Evenly – With a whole turkey, the breast often dries out before the legs are fully cooked. Halving lets each portion cook perfectly.
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Simpler Carving – Carving an entire turkey at the table can be an intimidating task. Carving half a turkey is much less daunting for holiday hosts.
How to Buy and Prepare Half a Turkey
Getting ready to cook half a turkey is simple:
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Buy a high quality whole fresh or frozen turkey. Make sure frozen options are completely thawed before cooking.
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Ask your butcher to cut the whole turkey in half straight down the center. Freeze one half for later.
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Rinse the half turkey and pat it completely dry.
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Season generously inside and out with herbs, spices, oil, butter, aromatics like onions and garlic, or brine if desired.
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Tie the legs together with kitchen string to hold the shape for even cooking.
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Tuck the wing tips under the body.
Determining Cook Time
Half turkeys generally weigh between 5 – 10 lbs. Allow about 15 minutes per pound at 350°F. So a 7 lb half turkey will need about 105 minutes total cooking time.
Use an instant-read meat thermometer to check for doneness instead of relying solely on time. The breast should reach 165°F and thighs 180°F. If the turkey is browning too quickly, tent it loosely with foil.
Let the cooked turkey rest 15 minutes before carving so juices can absorb back into the meat.
Step-by-Step Roasting Method
Follow these simple steps for roasting half a turkey to crispy, juicy perfection:
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Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare half turkey as described above.
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Place turkey cut-side down on a rack in a roasting pan. Add 1 cup broth or water to prevent drippings from burning.
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Roast turkey, basting every 30 minutes with pan juices, until it reaches 165°F breast/180°F thighs.
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Transfer turkey to a cutting board to rest 15 minutes before carving.
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Make gravy from the pan drippings while turkey rests.
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Carve turkey and serve with gravy and your favorite holiday sides!
Turkey Roasting Tips
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Maintain an even oven temperature for optimal results. Use an oven thermometer to confirm.
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Baste frequently with melted butter, broth, or pan drippings to keep the turkey moist.
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Loosely tent with foil if browning too quickly to prevent drying out. Don’t wrap tightly or the skin will get soggy.
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Letting it rest after cooking allows juices to absorb back into the meat so it stays juicy when carved.
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Use a probe thermometer for accuracy. Insert into the thickest part of breast and thigh, not touching bone.
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Brining or dry rubbing under the skin makes it extra flavorful and tender.
Get Creative with Leftovers
Along with the usual leftover turkey sandwiches and soups, get creative with half your extra turkey meat:
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Turkey Salad – Toss with celery, cranberries, pecans, mayo, and touch of lemon juice. Top a salad or stuff in a wrap.
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Turkey Tacos – Warm shredded turkey with taco seasoning and serve in tortillas with all the fixings.
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Turkey Casserole – Combine cooked turkey, veggies, broth, herbs and bake topped with cheese and breadcrumbs.
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Turkey Tetrazzini – Toss spaghetti with turkey, mushrooms, peas, Parmesan and creamy sauce.
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Turkey Enchiladas – Fill tortillas with turkey, beans, corn, cheese and top with enchilada sauce and more cheese.
A Festive and Delicious Choice
Cooking just half a turkey makes preparing the holiday bird less intimidating while still providing a beautiful centerpiece. With a few simple tricks, you can roast a perfectly moist and tender half turkey to enjoy without loads of leftovers. Give it a try this Thanksgiving for a new holiday tradition!
An Unconventional Approach for Perfect Turkey: Pretend It’s a Chicken
One thing that always strikes me about turkey recipes is their assumption that there will be at least some compromise. Generally this means the breast will be overcooked in order to get the legs to reach a proper temperature. People try all sorts of things to mitigate this, like brining and putting ice packs on the breast prior to cooking or tinfoil over it at the start. More ambitious chefs may spatchcock the turkey, which makes it lie flat and cook more evenly.
But these are at best imprecise interventions, at worst cosmetic charms that have little actual impact on the finished bird. Quite simply, the shape of a turkey works against any and every effort to have it all finish cooking at once. But there is a much more straightforward approach: cut the turkey into pieces. Once the turkey is separated into breast, legs, and wings, nothing could be easier than pulling out each cut as it finishes roasting and not a moment before or after.
The first and best objection to this is that cutting apart a turkey takes effort. True, so far as it goes. While a few minutes with a good chef’s knife will separate a whole chicken into individual cuts, a turkey is made of considerably sterner stuff.
A spatchcocked turkey or chicken is only half cut apart, with just the back removed. As noted, this lets it lie flatter, and cook more evenly, since it moves the legs from an insulated position tucked in close to the body to the outer edges, where they are exposed to more heat. But removing the back is the hardest part, far more difficult than cutting off the legs or wings, which require a little patience but no particular skill, strength, or special tools.
Enter the halfcocked turkey.
A halfcocked turkey is the inverse of a spatchcock. Don’t bother cutting out the back. Simply remove the legs and the wings and nothing else. You might need to get clever with some balls of aluminum foil to keep the breast section propped upright in the roasting pan, or you can flip it from one side to the other occasionally during cooking, but otherwise cooking is very straightforward.
(Update 10/13/2024: Though I mostly stand by what Ive written above, Ive since cut up a few more turkeys, and removing the back really isnt so difficult, and its nice to have the breast portion balance itself and fit in the oven more easily. Watch this video for clear instructions, and simply cut off the legs and wings rather than leaving them attached. Not that you DO NOT need to remove the keel, which is the thin bone that separate the two sections of the breast. Its hard to do, and theres no point.)
I’ve already pointed out the benefit to this approach. As each piece reaches its target temperature, remove it to a platter. The breast won’t dry out, the thighs won’t be undercooked. After everything is ready and rested, simply carve, briefly warm back up if necessary, and serve.
The Other, More Dubious Objection
Some people like to bring the whole turkey to the table, its skin burnished to a glossy chestnut. I blame Dickens, with his description of roast goose, for cementing the idea in so many impressionable young minds that a whole fowl must be paraded before the guests prior to being carved and served. (Thinking about it, Dickens also bears some responsibility for muddying the waters when it comes to proper stuffing, though I suppose we must give him some leeway as a product of his time.)
I simply ask whether observing this ritual justifies a poorly cooked turkey, particularly if you intend to take a pragmatic approach to carving, which does not involve using a ceremonial fork and dull, silver-handled knife, to mangle a dried out, rapidly cooling turkey while a line of impatient guests look on. If you instead follow an easy series of steps guaranteed to efficiently get the most meat possible off the turkey, you should do so in the kitchen, with the goal of a beautifully arranged platter, ready to serve the moment all the trimmings have hit the table.
How to Spatchcock a Turkey
FAQ
Is it worth spatchcocking a turkey?
Spatchcocking turkey cooks more evenly and more quickly than non-butterflied versions, for stunningly crisp skin and perfectly cooked white and dark meat.
What does half a turkey look like?
Half-turkeys include one breast, one thigh, one drumstick and one wing — that is, they are sliced down the breast bone to be a half of a whole turkey. Roasted on their side (skin side up, bones down), they look pretty impressive in their roasting pan, and cook much more quickly than a whole bird.
Is it better to cut a turkey in half and cook it?
A spatchcocked turkey or chicken is only half cut apart, with just the back removed. As noted, this lets it lie flatter, and cook more evenly, since it moves the legs from an insulated position tucked in close to the body to the outer edges, where they are exposed to more heat.