How to Inject a Turkey

How to inject a turkey is an easy process. It only takes a little patience and time to learn how to do it. Remember the “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation” turkey? Yeah, let’s talk about how to avoid a dry turkey this year!

Why Inject a Turkey

Why do we inject a turkey you ask? Let me start out by saying, if you have never smoked a turkey, this will forever change your Thanksgivings going forward! A properly injected turkey, with the smokiness from a BBQ pit, beats a bird cooked in an oven any day!

Here are a few reasons why we inject a turkey:

1. It is quicker than wet brining.
2. Add additional flavor deep into the meat.
3. Prevents the meat, especially the breast meat, from drying out.

What Tools do You Need to Inject a Turkey

The tools we recommend to inject a turkey are below:

• Turkey injection, the one I use is Butcher BBQ Original Bird Booster
• BBQ Injector
• Disposable Cutting Board
• Bowl
• Whisk or Immersion Blender

That’s pretty much it.

The Turkey Injection Process

Now, we get to the good stuff, the turkey injection process! The mixing process is very easy. Once you take the time to inject, you will be AMAZED at how much moisture and flavor is in your bird!

Mixing the Injection

First, mix your injection. We are using Butcher BBQ Original Bird Booster in this example. It suggests 2 cups of water and ¼ cup or one full scoop of Bird Booster.

Add the water to a bowl and use a whisk or immersion blender to mix the Booster. It is quick dissolving, so it only takes about 30 seconds, and we are ready to inject the turkey!

This 2-cup mixture will inject a 10-15 lb turkey. If you are injecting multiple turkeys or a larger bird you will want to double the mixture.

Pro Tip – Each turkey injection has a specific amount needed to get the proper flavoring. Be sure to read the instructions before mixing.

Injecting the Bird

When injecting a turkey, I use a pistol grip injector. It comes with a large and small needle. I have used both a larger needle and a smaller needle when injecting a turkey. In my experience the smaller needle works better.

Using a larger needle is harder to distribute the injection evenly throughout the meat. The larger needle tends to pool and create a “pocket” of the injection in the meat.

On the other hand, with a smaller needle it’s easier to distribute the injection evenly throughout the meat.

Inject the turkey in a checkerboard pattern as best as you can, particularly with the breast meat. You want the breast meat to be as full of injection as possible.

Now, as you inject, you want to pull the needle out slowly and this will help distribute the injection in the meat.

You will know when the turkey breast is full because injection will come out of previously injected areas.

The dark meat has more intramuscular fat, while you still want to inject these areas, the breast and wings are your main focus.

Also, when injecting the wings it is much easier to inject with the smaller needle!

In Conclusion

Well, that is about it when it comes to injecting a turkey. Your primary focus is on the turkey breast meat, but make sure to get the wings, legs, and thighs as well.

When Thanksgiving rolls around this year, if you follow this process, you will be known as “Mr. Turkey” going forward!

When you are finished, dust it with some rub and it is ready for the smoker!

We would love to hear from you, please post a comment below and let us know how the process worked!