Avoiding the all-too-common nightmare scenario of dry and flavorless turkey is easy to avoid by following the tried and true combination of brining, seasoning, and cooking to an internal temperature of 160ºF. But injecting a turkey before cooking is a fourth step that can help you up your holiday meal game with minimal extra effort. Injecting also provides a necessary “juiciness assist” to those who choose not to brine their turkey but still want to cook a crowd-pleasing bird.
Injecting turkey, or any meat for that matter, serves two important purposes. It adds both moisture and flavor to raw meat, the liquid spreads during the cooking process creating a delicious end result. It assures maximum flavor penetration and is a fantastic compliment to brines and marinades as some of their particles will be too large to carry to the deepest parts of the meat.
How to Inject a Turkey Before Cooking in Three Simple Steps
1. Prepare Injection
The injection preparation process will differ depending on whether you use a liquid concentrate, dry rub seasonings added to your liquid of choice, or are making our injection from scratch. For example, preparing a pure butter injection is as easy as melting the butter and allowing it to cool to near room temperature. And opting for a liquid concentrate like the Sweetwater Spice Apple Rosemary Sage Classic Holiday Turkey Bath Brine Concentrate simply requires following the manufacturer’s dilution instructions.
Those using a spice blend like Cattleman’s Grill Butcher House Brine or building an injection from scratch as Chef Tom does in his Barbecue Smoked Turkey recipe will need to start by heating a liquid base before adding the rest of the ingredients for a 10-minute simmer. Once the spices are dissolved and the flavors from any herbs have been infused, allow the injection marinade to cool to room temperature.
2. Strain Injection and Load Injector
Large particles can clog injectors and leave unappealing chunks in cooked meat. If using anything other than a pure melted butter injection or a completely dissolvable seasoning rub, pour the injection marinade through a strainer and into a mixer bottle. With tight seals and an easy pour spout, you can give your injection marinade a quick shake in the event that some of the ingredients have separated while resting before cleanly loading the injector.
3. Start Injecting Into the Turkey Breast
“I always start with injecting the breast, because that's the leaner meat,” ATBBQ’s Staff Chef Tom Jackson explains. “And then I use whatever's left on the thighs because the darker meat is fattier so it doesn’t need as much moisture, but it's still nice to get the flavor in there.”
In his How to Inject BBQ Meats video, Chef Tom demonstrates how to poke around and work in a gridlike pattern across a poultry breast to ensure proper depth and adequate coverage. “The great thing about injecting is the meat is going to let you know how much it can handle,” he says in the video. “When the injection starts to come back out, you know you’re done with that spot.”
Variations on Injecting
Between different liquid bases, spices, seasoning rubs, marinades and complete injection liquids available for purchase, the variations for injection are nearly endless. Here are a handful of our favorite options.
Basic Butter Turkey Injection
If your turkey is already flavor-packed thanks to a strong brine or seasoning rub, consider using unsalted butter as an injection. The fat content does wonders for lean white meat, and unsalted butter adds richness and depth of flavor without overpowering meat that’s already been adequately salted and seasoned. For optimal results, Chef Tom suggests injecting one ounce of melted butter per pound of uncooked turkey.
Chef Tom’s Basic BBQ Injection
Chef Tom recommends combining one tablespoon of Cattleman’s Butcher House Brine Powder with one cup of vegetable stock to create a basic injection liquid. A versatile option for most meats, this injection incorporates quality garlic, rich brown sugar, savory onion, and a balanced blend of spices to add depth and complexity to your turkey.
Cajun Injection
Adding a tablespoon of Cattleman’s Grill Cajun Fusion Rub to ½ cup each of unsalted butter and Cattleman’s Grill Pit Fire Hot Sauce provides a solid base of heat for Chef Tom’s Smoked Cajun Turkey recipe.
Pecan Injection
For an easy-to-prepare Southern-style turkey with perfectly nutty undertones, try John Henry Pecan Injection and Marinade. It doesn’t require dilution and pairs flawlessly with John Henry’s Pecan Rub.
Answers to Common Turkey Injection Questions
How long before cooking do you inject a turkey?
Inject a turkey before applying the seasoning rub, as injection leakage can wash away some seasoning. While you can inject and season a turkey immediately before cooking, completing those steps anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours ahead of time gives the injection liquid more opportunity to disperse throughout the meat and allow the seasonings to settle in.
What tools are needed to inject a turkey?
Of course, you need a quality meat injector. The All Things Barbecue Meat Injector with Pistol Grip is well-reviewed, easy to use, and a breeze to clean. The pistol grip allows for maximum control and comfort, and the numbered dial makes it easy to control the amount of liquid injected from the 50cc barrel.
Is there a difference in how to inject a turkey depending on whether you deep fry, bake, or smoke it?
“Between the smoker and the oven, there’s not much of a difference,” says Chef Tom. “But if you are going to inject a turkey that you intend to deep fry, let it sit open in the fridge for a day to make sure that all the moisture is off of it. Surface moisture won’t mix well with hot oil and could create a safety issue.”
Should you inject liquid into a brined turkey?
You can absolutely inject liquid into a brined turkey. But since a brined turkey will have already taken in a healthy amount of salt and seasoning, Chef Tom’s recommendation is that you inject it with unsalted butter to avoid over-salting your bird.
More Turkey Tips From All Things Barbecue
Looking for more insights on how to prep an epic turkey dinner, like how to brine a turkey or why it’s a good idea to spatchcock a turkey before cooking it? Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter where we share every new recipe video, check out some of our all-time favorite turkey recipes, and take a look at our turkey kits and accessories. You’ll find plenty of tips and tricks that we’ve learned over the years, and continue to use when preparing holiday meals for our families.
