This Thanksgiving turkey injection recipe produces fantastic results! The thickest areas of the bird’s meat are directly injected with a marinade of lemon, butter, and garlic, and a herb rub is put beneath the skin for additional taste. Whether you choose to deep fry or roast your turkey, the results will be melt-in-your-mouth moist and tender.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 12 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 12 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup lemon juice
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon English mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and chopped
- 1 (14 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, or to taste
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make marinade: Stir chicken broth, lemon juice, melted butter, mustard powder, ginger, and garlic together in a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate marinade for flavors to blend, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make rub: Mix softened butter, garlic, rosemary, and thyme together in a bowl until evenly combined.
- Prepare turkey: Separate skin from meat by running your hand under the skin to separate. Spoon rub mixture evenly under the skin in several different parts of the turkey.
- Pour marinade into a meat injector; inject the meatiest parts of the turkey with marinade, changing the angle of the needle several times.
- Brush turkey with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in roasting pan and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate turkey for 12 to 24 hours before cooking as desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 800 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 1 g |
| Cholesterol | 316 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 81 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Sodium | 441 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 50 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is still my go to way to prepare turkey for Thanksgiving!!! Love it!
Maybe my injector is on the small side but there is literally no way to mince garlic small enough to get it to pass through the needle. So unless you want to spend ages straining out the garlic before you inject it into the bird, maybe substitute the clove for garlic powder?
Just perfect!! We decided that we would cook our own turkey instead of getting a smoked one from our local BBQ place. I haven’t cooked one in years so I was looking for ideas. This was perfect for the injector and also to bake with the rub. I cooked mine in turkey bag so it came out super moist and tender. The family loved it!! I will definitely use this again!!
Perfect turkey!!! Yummy
Came out a little dry.
first time I’ve ever made an injection marinade, and this is a winner. I added a little chilli and this was fantastic.
This was my first time (in many years!) fixing a “nude bird” and this was the perfect accompaniment to insure it would turn out juicy and flavorful. I was also on my own completely, as my grandmother had recently passed away, so quite nervous, but the turkey and most importantly the drippings, were wonderful–a perfect turkey and a large quantity of well seasoned, tasty drippings for the start of perfect gravy! Note: I put the marinade back into the fridge for 30 min as directed and it solidified so you may want to be aware. I just melted it down for use with the injector. Thanks! Wonderful!!
This was a god recipe, but again I prefer grapefruit juice injected, serving unusual about it kind of adds a depth, and yes you want to pair your marinade with your rub for a great tasting bird, I have personally made a Cajun marinade and Cajun rub, loosely based on Emiril’s ideas and it also was great.
Great injectable marinade and rub! Much better than the store bought one. Everybody loved it and it made for the best turkey yet!
Tried this for the first time when we deep fried our turkey. It came out absolutely delicious and was a big hit with the in-laws. We followed the recipe to the letter and the turkey was juicy a and flavorful.