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Learn how to inject a turkey with butter for extra flavor and moisture by following my easy Butter Injection for Turkey recipe! This butter injection for turkey creates the most tender turkey meat while adding flavor and moisture. You won’t want to go another holiday without it!
Jump to:
- Injectable Butter for Turkey
- Why Inject a Turkey with Butter?
- Turkey Butter Injection Ingredients
- Recipe for Injecting Turkey
- Injecting Turkey with Butter
- Turkey Injection Variations
- Turkey Injection Recipe FAQs
- Turkey Internal Temperature
- Recipes for Turkey with Butter Injection
- Pin it for later!
- Recipe
- Reviews
Injectable Butter for Turkey
I look forward to the holiday season every year; especially cooking the turkey. Turkey is one of my favorite family dinners, so I relish having the chance to prepare it.
The only issue with cooking turkey is that it can be easy to accidentally overcook the meat and have it dry out, and that’s always disappointing. This is why you should use a butter injection for turkey!
By injecting turkey with butter, you can cook a moist and tender turkey without any need to brine it. The turkey butter injection adds richly flavorful seasoning to the meat while also keeping it moist. Best of all, you can cook your turkey using your usual favorite recipe for turkey.
Whether you’re roasting a Thanksgiving turkey with turkey dry rub, smoking turkey, cooking a turkey on the grill, or even making a turkey in the Instant Pot, this butter injection recipe will enhance your turkey’s flavor and make it that much more delicious.
Why Inject a Turkey with Butter?
- A turkey injection keeps the meat moist without any need for a turkey brine, cutting down on the time it takes to prep the turkey.
- Butter adds moisture and flavor to turkey throughout the meat, keeping it tender and tasty with every bite.
- Additionally, a butter injection helps crisp up the turkey skin!
Turkey Butter Injection Ingredients
- Salted Butter: I’m using melted salted butter for this recipe, and recommend a high quality butter such as Kerrygold. If you want, you can use unsalted butter, but add additional salt if you do.
- Old Bay Seasoning: Old Bay infuses the turkey injection with the most incredible flavor!
- Paprika: Pairs with the Old Bay for an extra kick of smoky-sweet.
- Garlic Powder: All the flavor of garlic you love, without using fresh garlic. It’s perfect for pairing with the other seasonings.
- Salt (optional): If you use unsalted butter, add salt to your injection.
- Black Pepper (optional): Or white pepper, for additional peppery flavor.
Sometimes I have also used lemon juice or even a bit of orange juice for a pop of citrus flavor!
Recipe for Injecting Turkey
- Melt salted butter in the microwave.
- Add it to a bowl with Old Bay seasoning, paprika, and garlic powder.
- Mix until thoroughly combined. That’s it!
Injecting Turkey with Butter
- Take half the mixture into your meat injector or syringe and inject it evenly into both thighs and sides of the turkey breast.
- Use the remaining half of the mixture to baste the turkey every 30 minutes throughout the cooking process.
For more info on turkey cooking times and temps, including times for different sizes of deep-fried turkey, look at my Turkey Temperature Chart!
Turkey Injection Variations
- Cajun Butter Injection using Cajun Seasoning for Turkey.
- Italian Herb Injection by adding Italian Herb Mix.
- A Turkey Injection Marinade uses olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, thyme and oregano. Turkey marinades are wonderful injections!
Turkey Injection Recipe FAQs
You can inject turkey with a mixture of butter, spices, and herbs. In the case of my butter injection recipe, use a mixture of salted butter, Old Bay seasoning, paprika, and garlic powder. I recommend stuffing the bird with herbs and citrus. If you’re cooking a Turkey Spatchcock, you can season the outside of the bird with your regular seasoning and herbs in addition to the injection rather than stuffing.
You can inject a butterball turkey using this butter injection recipe. Inject the thigh and breast on each side of the turkey for the best results.
Inject the turkey with the butter turkey injection before cooking, then baste the turkey on the outside with the same mixture throughout the cooking process for best results – do not inject it while it is cooking.
The best place to inject a turkey is in both sides of the breast, and both thighs. This will give you the best results and juiciest meat.
Injecting a turkey helps keep the meat from drying out and will make the meat juicier as if it were brined.
Turkey Internal Temperature
Top tip for cooking turkey: No matter what method you use, the internal temp for turkey will read 180°F with an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh and 170°F when inserted into the breast. When measuring internal turkey temperature, always use a meat thermometer.
| Turkey Weight | Feeds | How Long to Roast Turkey |
|---|---|---|
| 10-18 pounds | feeds less than 10 people | Roast for 3-3.5 hours at 350°F (unstuffed) |
| 18-22 pounds | feeds 10 to 15 people | Roast for 4.5-5 hours at 350°F (unstuffed) |
| 22-24 pounds | feeds 16 to 20 people | Roast for 4-4.5 hours at 350°F (unstuffed) |
| 24-29 pounds | feeds more than 20 people | roast for 4.5-5 hours at 350°F (unstuffed) |
Recipes for Turkey with Butter Injection
Try my Brown Turkey Gravy and Leftover Turkey Recipes too!
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Recipe
Turkey Injection Recipe
Equipment
- Injector
Ingredients
- 2 Sticks of Salted Butter 1 cup
- 2 Tablespoons Old Bay
- 2 Tablespoons Paprika
- 2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
Instructions
- Melt butter in a small dish in the microwave. Add all spices to it and mix well.2 Sticks of Salted Butter, 2 Tablespoons Old Bay, 2 Tablespoons Paprika, 2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
- Take half of the mixture and inject it into the breast and thighs of the bird, saving the other half for basting throughout the smoking process.
Notes
- I use a mix of Old Bay seasoning, paprika, and garlic powder for incredible flavor in my turkey. However, you can mix up the ingredients to create any kind of seasoning mixture you’d like. Using garlic powder rather than minced garlic, you could even create a garlic butter turkey injection following my garlic butter recipe.
- For best results, inject the turkey in both sides of the breast and both thighs.
- You can use a butter injection for turkey following any turkey recipe.
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