how to cook a turkey in 90 minutes

I love the idea of Thanksgiving but I hate the stress of trying to figure out how to get everything on the table at the same time. In years past I have been really bad at it. I am going to blame part of it on the cheap oven in the house I was renting. I was always so stressed by the end of cooking that I didn’t enjoy the meal. After an entire day in the kitchen you should at least enjoy the meal you cooked!

I solved both problems this year.

Dinner was on the table at the same time, I wasn’t stressed and enjoyed the whole meal!

We are still staying at my parents so I had the use of their double ovens and I slightly deconstructed the bird so it only took 90 minutes to cook.

No joke it was 90 minutes in the oven and 30 minutes resting to get our Thanksgiving bird on our plates. The double oven also helped immensely by allowing me to cook a lot of dishes at the same time.

Maybe you think there is a catch to cooking a turkey in 90 minutes, but I assure you there is not. It is a simple process called spatchcocking. If you have been reading the blog for a while you have already seen my love for this method. I have covered a chicken in proscuitto and cooked one on the grill, both with amazing results.

The reason you can cook a turkey in 90 minutes is you remove the backbone and flatten the bird which provides more surface area and a faster cooking time. See, no catch and it isn’t even that complicated. Though I admit it sounds intimidating at first.

Here is how you do it:

With a good pair of kitchen shears it is extremely easy to remove the backbone. Simply cut down both sides of the backbone with a little force. As a bonus if you keep the backbone you can add it to the neck and giblets and make stock later in the week.
Once you have the backbone removed flip the bird over on a cutting board and press down hard on the breast bone to break it and flatten the bird.
Let the turkey sit on the counter for 30 minutes
Meanwhile, prepare your roasting rack by putting a cut up onion, 4 carrots and 4 celery stalks in the bottom. Add some sage, rosemary, thyme and a little garlic. Add a cup of water or broth to the pan and place the turkey on top. You can either put it on a rack or directly on top of the veggies.
Salt and pepper the bird and drizzle olive oil over the bird and rub it in.
Place the bird in the oven and cook for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. After 30 minutes reduce the heat to 350 and cook until an insta-read thermometer reads 165 degrees, about an hour longer.
While the bird is cooking at 350 degrees baste the bird every 20 minutes with a little more olive oil.
Remove the bird from the oven when done, tent with foil and let it rest for 30 minutes. This 3o minute resting time will allow you to get one more dish in the oven.
To carve, remove the legs and thighs and then carve the breast as you would if it was a whole bird.

If you need pictures or videos here are some links that will take the fear out of spatchcocking.
How to spatchcock a turkey -Bon Appetit I used their cooking method for my turkey and it worked well. I don’t love the way they carve the turkey breast because I like my pieces thin and ready for sandwiches
How to spatchcock a turkey-Martha Stewart No videos in this one, but the detailed pictures are very helpful.
How to spatchcock a turkey-Mark Bittman He says it takes 45 minutes which seems a little unbelievable but I had a bigger bird than he did, so maybe. He doesn’t mention a lot of details on cooking time in the video but you can find those on his recipe posted on Serious Eats.

I would love for you to share your favorite turkey story with me in the comments.

because sharing just feels good...