Our delicious turkey butterfly is the perfect choice for traditional roast dinners and any special occasion. This skin-on turkey butterfly cooks beautifully, as the flavours and moistness of the bird are sealed into the meat while roasting.

Choosing our turkey butterfly means you’ll get to enjoy the same outstanding flavour and texture as you would with a whole turkey, but without the hassle of carving around the bones and deboning. What’s more, turkey butterflies are also much easier and quicker to cook!

Pre-Order Now | Delivery Available From 03/12/24.

Weight: From 2Kg
Serves: Approx. 10 (Based on an estimate of 200g per person)

Looking to serve a larger group? Opt for our large turkey butterfly instead to serve up to 25 guests.

What Is the Difference Between a Turkey Butterfly and a Turkey Crown?

A turkey butterfly is completely boneless, while a turkey crown still contains the bone. A turkey crown and turkey butterfly are otherwise the same cut of meat - the two breast sections of the turkey with legs and wings removed.

This makes the turkey butterfly a much easier-to-carve version of the turkey crown. Plus, it’s faster to cook so you don’t need to spend hours cooking your turkey on a busy occasion like Thanksgiving or Christmas!

Smoked Turkey by Artust BBQ

Turkey is a meat that divides people around the table at Thanksgiving or Christmas, but we are here with some ideas to make everyone fall in love with the turkey you cook for them. Using the most simple and convenient cut of turkey, the Tom Hixson boneless turkey butterfly - keeps things as easy as possible to cook and serve. Plus, it’s a recipe that gives you the most succulent and flavourful turkey you will have ever tried, you'll be having this for roast dinners all year round.

We recommend a wet brine solution of salt, sugar, and water to give your turkey a little 24-hour spa bath treatment before cooking. This simple process helps to ensure your turkey meat stays as moist as possible during the cook, whilst allowing you to introduce many new levels of flavour with aromatics too. 

For a double-secret tip, inject your turkey with butter too. As we all know, everything tastes better with butter. So, when you carve this beautiful turkey butterfly up, your guests will definitely be asking for another slice.

What Is the Best Way To Cook a Turkey Butterfly?

Ingredients

• 1x Tom Hixson boneless turkey butterfly

• 200g Salt

• 200g Soft brown sugar

• 3 litres water

• ½ltr fresh orange juice

• 3 cinnamon sticks

• 4 bay leaves

• 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns

• 4 sprigs of rosemary

• 5 cloves garlic

• 2 oranges

• 100g basic BBQ rub

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter

• 1 bag of ice

• Container to keep the turkey in and cold for 24 hrs

Equipment

• An oven or BBQ

• Large 5L pan

• Meat injection needle

• Container/cool box to store the turkey in its brine for 24hrs

• Trivet pan

Preparation Method

You want to start the brining process 24 hours before you cook the turkey, so get all the bits together the day before. You’ll want to find a large pan, ideally 5L plus, then add in the following ingredients: water, orange juice, salt, sugar, cinnamon sticks, bulbs of garlic, rosemary, bay leaves and black peppercorns. Then, halve the oranges, squeeze the juice into the pan, and throw in each orange half.

Gently heat this brine mixture to a low simmer and keep stirring gently until all the salt and sugar dissolve into the liquid. Do not let this boil at any point. Once dissolved, switch the heat off and set it aside to cool completely, this may take a couple of hours. This is hugely important as you do not want the meat to get warm when added to the brine solution. Add in a handful of the ice to speed up the cooling process if you need to.

Once fully cooled, you can add the liquid and all the contents to the container you will use to store the turkey in for 24 hours. This can be a container in the fridge if you have space, if not you can use a cool box. You need to fully submerge the whole turkey butterfly, then top up the container or cooler with the remaining ice to keep the turkey chilled. You may need to top up the ice in the morning to keep the turkey at a safe temperature until you are ready to cook.

When your oven is hot and you’re ready to cook, you can double down on the moisture with butter injections. Once injected the turkey must go into the oven immediately, as the warm butter being injected will start to heat the meat. Slowly warm the 2x sticks of unsalted butter in a pan so the butter doesn't split. When ready, and whilst the butter is still warm, slowly fill your injector with the melted butter and inject deep down into the top of the turkey in a grid pattern, in rows with gaps around 1 inch apart. Each breast will take around a whole stick of butter doing this. Inject the butter in slowly and when each section is full, carefully remove the needle and move to the next spot. Doing this grid pattern will ensure an even filling of the butter throughout the turkey. 

Now it's time to season with the rub/seasoning of your choice. You can go pretty heavy-handed and remember to start by seasoning the under-side, then followed by the skin side, which will be your presentation side. You can carefully lift the skin with your hand and spread a handful of seasoning under the skin too. But do this before you season on top of the skin to avoid it falling off.

How To Cook Your Turkey Butterfly

• Set your oven to medium/high heat around 180-200°C. Use a trivet pan to lift the turkey up from any juices that go into the pan. Should you wish, you can fill the bottom of the trivet pan with liquid and any more aromatics you wish to add.

• Let the turkey cook at 180-200°C for around 3-4 hours, or until the centre of each breast has reached a temperature of 70°C. At any point if you feel the turkey has taken on enough colour and will get too dark, cover the butterfly with tin foil. If you want to crisp up the skin a bit more, increase the temperature for the last 30 minutes to around 220°C.

• Remove the turkey from the oven and place it onto a board or serving platter to let it rest for around 30 minutes. Loosely cover it with some tin foil, with enough gaps to let any steam come out.