You’ve heard about turducken, maybe even tasted it, but it’s likely that you haven’t yet cooked and served this legendary main dish yet. Well this year, with our made-in-house turduckens, the time for turducken has come. There is no reason to be intimidated by this poultry triple-threat because the truth is that all of the hard work is already done for you.
Turducken is, traditionally, a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, stuffed into a deboned turkey with layers of flavorful stuffing in between each bird. While the origin of the modern-day turducken is up for debate, it’s most often associated with New Orleans and Cajun cuisine.
Each Whole Foods Market will offer turduckens with a variety of savory stuffing flavors for this holiday season. No need to dust off your boning knife — our seasoned butchers do the work, including the deboning, so you just have to cook, carve and eat. It’s bound to be the easiest and most impressive centerpiece of your holiday season!
Our turduckens usually weigh-in at about 15 to 16 pounds and serve about 15 to 20 people depending on your guests’ appetite. Remember, because most of the bones are removed and you essentially get a bonus side dish with the stuffing, a 15 to 16 pound turducken will feed more people than a 15 to 16 pound traditional roast turkey.
Cooking a turducken is not that different than roasting a turkey. Place it in a large roasting pan fitted with a rack, and it will cook for anywhere from 5 to 7 hours depending on its size. The general rule is to cook it about 20 to 25 minutes per pound in a 350° to 375°F oven until a meat thermometer inserted into the center registers 165°F. Theo Weening, our global meat buyer, cooks his turducken at 450°F for the first 30 minutes then turn it down to 350°F. Either way you choose, it’s a good idea to plan for it to take longer than you think because they often do! For an easy guide, follow our recipe for Roasted Turducken with Pan Gravy opens in a new tab.
To carve the turducken, first remove the turkey legs, then slice the breast crosswise to show the layers of chicken, duck and turkey along with the stuffing.
By serving a turducken, your holiday feast will be talked about for months to come, and the day-after pot pies, casseroles or sandwiches (add cranberry sauce for zing) will be especially good this year!
Reserve your turducken opens in a new tab today, and remember, the fresh meat we carry comes from animals raised with no antibiotics, no added growth hormones* and no animal by-products in their feed. (Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in raising poultry.)
Have you tried turducken yet?
