Roasted Turducken

Roasted Turducken, a Cajun specialty, makes a delicious and unique centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table! This masterpiece of meat–a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey–is incredibly easy to make and bake for your Thanksgiving dinner! This Roasted Turducken makes the perfect protein for any holiday (or weekend!) feast.

Close up of sliced Turducken on platter

The Turducken… it’s a beast, y’all. A delicious, friendly beast.

As someone who was not raised in South Louisiana, I didn’t hear about the invention of this triple threat holiday protein until I was in college… and I never tried one until this year. Specifically, last weekend.

When I was plotting out my Friendsgiving menu, I knew I wanted to do a different protein than the usual roasted turkey, even though it’s delicious, because it’s fun to try something different.

And then Winston suggested a Turducken.

Close up of whole Turducken on platter

His parents were coming to visit us in mid-October, and he asked if they could grab us one. Since they live in Louisiana, this wasn’t an issue, and they arrived at our house with a 10-pounder (which felt more like a 30-pounder.)

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    Are you wondering what a turducken is?

    It’s a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey.

    And it’s all kinds of delicious for a Thanksgiving meal.

    A women holds and slices turducken from serving platter

    I expected it to be the bird inside of the bird inside of the bird… and I’d be left to the seasoning and cooking. When I opened up the packaging, I was surprised to see that the turducken was already seasoned, stuffed and ready to go.

    When I told my husband about this, he said, “It’s from South Louisiana. They aren’t gonna leave anything to chance, including you seasoning it wrong.”

    Fair enough.

    Turducken on platter next to thanksgiving side dishes on wood board

    Honestly, I feel like I’m cheating sharing this recipe with y’all because, well, it’s not really a recipe. We just defrosted the bird(s), opened the packaging the morning of, plopped the poultry onto my roasting pan, covered it and baked for three hours… then uncovered it and baked it for an additional hour before removing it from the oven and letting it rest until it was time to eat.

    Stupidly easy.

    And I totally recommend getting a turducken like the one we were brought from Hebert’s if you’re skeptical about making the turducken taste awesome by your skills alone.

    Blogsgiving Dinner 2014 // The Speckled Palate

    Thanksgiving is all about family, friends and delicious food. Luckily, the food blogging community is all about these things as well. To celebrate the holiday, Meghan from Cake ‘n’ Knife and Susannah from Feast + West are hosting Blogsgiving Dinner. And we’ve got a total of 20 awesome blogs sharing 52 recipes!

    The idea behind our Blogsgiving Dinner is based on the old-fashioned progressive dinner party, in which you’d eat each course at a different guest’s home. Each blogger is bringing one or more dishes to the party on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week, so be sure to stop by each one and get some ideas for your own Thanksgiving meal.

    Be sure to check out today’s recipes for entrees, salads and side dishes.

    We’ll be posting to social media with the hashtag #blogsgivingdinner. Hope you can join us!

    Blogsgiving Progressive Dinner Menu for Wednesday, November 12

    Salads

    Entrees

    Side Dishes

    Wine

    … We’ve got a little bit of everything for y’all today, and I honestly want to eat everything on the menu. (Blog friends, WHYYYYY doesn’t everyone live closer to we can do this in person?)

    Roasted Turducken on a silver platter surrounded by side dishes

    Roasted Turducken Essentials

    The Speckled Palate participates in affiliate programs. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. Please refer to my disclosure page for more information about these affiliate programs.

    Get the look!

    Thanksgiving Entree | Turducken Recipe | Easy Turducken Recipe | Easy Thanksgiving | Easy Entertaining | Unique Thanksgiving Entree

    And, without further ado, here’s how you can make this REALLY EASY Turducken…

    Turducken on platter next to thanksgiving side dishes on wood board
    Yield: 12 servings

    Roasted Turducken

    Prep Time: 20 minutes
    Cook Time: 4 hours
    Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes

    Roasted Turducken, a Cajun specialty, makes a delicious and unique centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table! This masterpiece of meat--a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey--is incredibly easy to make and bake for your Thanksgiving dinner! This Roasted Turducken makes the perfect protein for any holiday (or weekend!) feast.

    Ingredients

    Turducken

    • 10 lb. turducken, prepared

    Turducken Gravy

    • 1 cup reserved turducken drippings, skimmed of fat
    • 1 cup chicken or turkey stock
    • ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

    Instructions

    1. Two to three days before your feast, pull the frozen turducken out of the freezer. Defrost in the refrigerator until the day of Thanksgiving.
    2. The morning of Thanksgiving, preheat the oven to 375°F.
    3. Remove the turducken from its' packaging. Place breast down on the roasting pan. Cover with aluminum foil, and transfer to the oven.
    4. Bake the turducken for 3 hours covered. Then take the aluminum foil off, and bake for an additional hour.
    5. When the turducken has been in the oven for 4 hours, remove and cover, letting rest.
    6. Drain the drippings from the roasting dish, and warm in a large saucepan with a large surface area over medium heat.
    7. Create the slurry: In a bowl, combine the chicken stock with the flour, beating together until smooth and combined.
    8. Pour in the slurry slowly into the drippings, whisking constantly, until the gravy has thickened and is smooth. (If something goes wrong and your gravy is lumpy? Transfer that into your food processor or blender and mix until smooth, then transfer back to the pan and continue warming.)
    9. When the gravy reaches the consistency you desire, cover and set aside.
    10. Enjoy the gravy and turducken warm!

    Notes

    Our turducken was purchased fresh from Hebert's. While you can certainly prepare and stuff your own turducken at home, it will not be quick or super simple, so I suggest purchasing it premade... unless you enjoy that kind of thing.

    Nutrition Information:

    Yield:

    12

    Serving Size:

    1

    Amount Per Serving: Calories: 860Total Fat: 43gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 26gCholesterol: 415mgSodium: 522mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 109g

    Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate.

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    About the Author:

    Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her

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    11 Comments

    1. I agree, I wish we could have done this in person! That would have been so much fun. I’ve never had turducken before, but I’ve always wanted to try it. It sounds like this is a pretty easy way to make it!

      1. Glad you’re with me on all of us getting together and doing this for real… because all these dishes sound SO GOOD.

        I definitely recommend checking out a turducken. It’s different than your normal Thanksgiving turkey, but it’s delightful all the same! And it was incredibly easy to make — I kind of feel guilty for sharing this here because I feel like it’s not a “real” recipe since all I did was bake it and make a gravy!

    2. Wow! You’re brave to take this beast on, but it looks mighty tasty! It’s the perfect centerpiece to the Thanksgiving table…and a great conversation starter!

      1. Thanks, Becca! I didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into… but I’m pleasantly surprised by how easy and delicious this was! I’d definitely do it again. And you’re right: It’s a fabulous conversation starter!

    3. Can I tell you how much I love that you chose to do turducken?? I have always wanted to try it but have been a little terrified of it at the same time.. But you make it sound totally doable!

      1. Thanks, Meghan! Like you, I was a little terrified to try this before I actually got it out and realized that my job was gonna be stupid easy. It’s totally doable if you go this store-bought route and who knows? Maybe next year, I’ll try to do one from scratch if I’m feeling adventurous. Haha.

    4. So awesome! Had no idea you could get these things all stuffed and assembled! I’d probably go ahead and wrap the whole thing in bacon. (or shove it into a pig???)

    5. What a stunning dish! I have never tried Turducken, but it’s really awesome you can get them ready-to-cook. My mom went to culinary school in South Africa, and she tells this incredible story about preparing a guinea fowl inside a chicken inside a capon inside a duck inside a goose inside a turkey inside an ostrich. She said it all fell apart embarrassingly upon slicing and it didn’t create concentric circles like they had hoped! I’m going to show her this recipe and let her see it can be done!

      1. Thanks so much, Susannah! It was a really nice surprise to find it completely ready to be cooked… I didn’t expect for it to be nearly that simple!

        It’s amazing that your mom went to culinary school in South Africa and stuffed a guinea fowl inside a chicken inside a capon inside a duck inside a goose inside a turkey inside an ostrich. That’s INSANE and impressive… even if it fell apart upon slicing. (How could it not?!?!) I’d imagine putting together a turducken might be a lot simpler than that, simply because this only calls for three proteins instead of seven!

    6. Holy. Cow. (Or should I saw duck!?) This is epic! I’ve always been curious how these bad boys are made and am so impressed you cooked one!

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