How to Make a Turducken

in Food by Franky — November 25, 2009 | View Comments

cooking turducken recipe

As defined by Wikipedia, “A turducken is a dish consisting of a partially de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. The thoracic cavity of the chicken and the rest of the gaps are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird.” This amazing creation was first popularized by NFL analyst John Madden who, on the Thanksgiving bowl, would award a Turducken to the winning team. So this Thanksgiving, ditch the plain old turkey concept and try cooking yourself a Turducken. The following is my favorite recipe for this delicious range of birds, originally found on wikiHow.com. For bonus points, you can take this recipe one step further and insert a Cornish game hen into the chicken.

Things You Will Need

Cutting board
Sharp boning knife
10 qt. stock pot
Large sieve or two strainers with cheese cloth in between
Large spoon
Steamer basket (collapsible)
Large resealable container
Large 2.5 gallon sealable container
Medium saucepan
Mixing bowl
Mixing spoon
Bamboo or metal skewers
Butcher’s twine
Roasting pan
Rack that fits in roasting pan
Digital probe thermometer, stay in type
Pancake turner
Electric carving knife (recommended)

Ingredients Needed:

~ 17 lb. turkey
~ 7 lb. duck
~ 3 lb. chicken
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. salt
2 gallons water
3 carrots
3 celery ribs
dash sage
¼ tsp rosemary
2 bay leaves
4 peppercorns
4 garlic cloves
1 onion, halved
2 gallons water
15 oz. seasoned dried bread cubes
8 oz. butter
2 c. turducken stock
Canola oil

Overview of the Cooking Steps

Step 1: Rinse the Birds

Throughly rinse all three birds before getting started.

Step 2: Debone the Birds

This process takes a bit of skill so be sure to watch the first two videos below in their entirety before attempting to debone any of these birds. Be sure to set aside the carcasses for use in step 4.

Step 3: Brine the Birds

In this step, you will combine the sugar, salt and water in a large 2.5 gallon sealable container and stir until completely dissolved. Place the meat from the turkey, duck and chicken into the brine and refrigerate overnight.

Step 4: Make the Stock

Put the carcasses, carrots, celery ribs, sage, rosemary, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic cloves, halved onion and two gallons of water into the stockpot. Place the collapsible steamer basket upside down on top of the contents of the stockpot. Weigh down if necessary. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer up to 6 hours (until bones are easily broken), stirring occasionally. Pour pot contents through sieve into large resealable container. Refrigerate stock overnight and in the morning, remove the solid fat layer. Set the stock aside for use in step 6.

Step 5: Prepare the Meat

Remove the meat from the refrigerator and bring the birds to room temperature.

Step 6: Make Stuffing

Heat the butter and 2 cups of turducken stock in saucepan until almost boiling. Thoroughly mix with bread cubes in mixing bowl. Allow to cool until it can be handled. Note that you can either make one stuffing for the entire Turducken, or if your feeling extra motivated, you can make a unique and complimentary stuffing for each of the three birds.

Step 7: Assemble the Turducken

Now that you have all your ingrediants prepped and ready to go, it is time to put this Turducken together. Please refer to the third video below to see how to assemble these birds. Be sure to dust the birds with pepper and garlic powder throughout the assembly process.

Step 8: Close the Turducken

Once you have the Turducken assembled, it is time to close it up and tie it together in preperation for cooking. The end of the third video below discusses the technique for closing up the birds and where to place the ties.

Step 9: Roast the Turducken

Coat the rack in the roasting pan with canola oil (to prevent sticking). Flip the turducken over as you place it on top of the rack in the roasting pan. Rub bird with canola oil. Insert thermometer into the chicken area of the turducken. Place in 500 degree oven and roast for 20 minutes. Drop the temperature to 225 degrees and roast until the thermometer reads 160 degrees (the residual heat of the turducken will carry over the 5 degrees to the FDA recommended 165 degrees for poultry). Let the turducken rest for 20 minutes.

Step 10: Serve the Turkducken

Cut off the legs and wings and place them on the platter. Cut across breast with electric knife, creating slices with all three meats and move to plate or platter.

For detailed written instructions, click here.

Turducken Cooking Videos

Here is a great 4 part video tutorial on how to properly debone, assemble, and cook a Turducken.

Turkey Deboning Part 1

Turkey Deboning Part 2

Assembling the Turducken

Cooking the Turducken

If you have ever eaten or tried to cook a Turducken, be sure to leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

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Author: Franky

Franky is 24 years old and lives in San Diego, CA. When he isn't writing for Muff Slap he is perfecting his nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, and computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.