Cooking a Deconstructed Sheet Pan Turkey

This is how to make deconstructed sheet pan turkey! It is what everyone is talking about this year. This and our pressure cooker turkey is how to cook a moist turkey in just 1 hour and have it taste amazing. But this one will give you the crispy skin you love.

Especially since I am a food blogger and all. Suppose my excuse/reason is that I’ve always had a parent or in laws who have hosted Thanksgiving or Christmas so it wasn’t my job.

How do you deconstruct a raw turkey?

You’ll want to read our post on cutting up a raw turkey here first. Easier than you’d think. Now that we live away from family I guess we’re kinda’ on our own so I thought I’d attempt one today, in a different way. I was so proud of myself!! Kinda’ makes me feel like I’m officially an adult or something…..at 42. 😉

Deconstructed Turkey

We will show you how right here! It isn’t a lot different than if you were to cut apart a whole chicken really. Ok so not everyone is talking about it like the picture says above, but they will when they try it this year….I promise!! This is officially the best way to cook a turkey in our opinions since it just took 1 hour to cook to perfection!

How to Cut up a Whole Turkey

Cutting Up a Raw Turkey is not much different than a chicken except that it is just bigger. Details are that this was a 10 lb turkey (said young turkey on the package) bought frozen, and defrosted in our refrigerator for a couple of days.

• Cut the thighs off so the leg and thigh remain attached, seen on bottom right of photo below
• Next you will want to remove the lower portion of the chest cavity, look at photo above (the middle photo)
• Cut cavity in half with 2 breasts on top which you will keep
• Discard bottom half, there is no meat here
• When you have the 2 breasts you will want to flatten them as much as possible so it lays flat on your sheet pan (photo above)
• Flip it over and put the palm of your hand in between the 2 turkey breasts, push down so the bone between them breaks so it will lay flat

Arrange pieces of your turkey in a way where they don’t overlap as seen below.

How to Cook the Perfect Turkey

1. Take out a sheet pan – Large enough to fit the whole bird cut up, use a large rimmed baking sheet fit our 10 lb. turkey perfectly.
2. Cut the wings off – The best method is to use kitchen scissors, you can see ours in the first 2 pics (the knife he used momentarily broke while cutting legs off).
   1. Have a large bowl ready to throw all of your pieces into.

To season or not to season your turkey skin

• This is up to you but this is what we prefer:
  • We rubbed a few tablespoons olive oil on the skin side of the turkey in order to brown and crisp the skins.
  • All we used this time were a few teaspoons salt and pepper on top of the skin & olive oil we rubbed on.

By all means mix add any seasonings you’d normally put on your whole turkey. We have used this smoked turkey rub too which is amazing. Additional ideas to add to your sheet pan turkey

• Slice an onion and sprinkle it around your pieces of turkey
• Add baby carrots or sliced brussels sprouts around the turkey
  • I’d suggest using a pan with a large lip if you are going to add several other items

How long does it take to cook a cut up turkey?

We use a lower temp so it stays moist, at 350 degrees F. Your turkey will cook for about an hour (depending on size). 8-12 pounds = 1 hour turkey vs. the traditional whole turkey method takes a 10 pound turkey = 3 hours to reach 165 degrees F internally. If you wanted to add veggies on the tray that is okay too but they need to be okay for that long and don’t disintegrate. Firmer versions such as potatoes or carrots would be best.

How to Cook a Butterball turkey

You could use these directions for any brand, we just like this sone best. This is the only turkey we’ve baked this way so I don’t have info. on larger sizes. Refer to and you can print this page on how long to thaw and cook a turkey here so it is prepped the night before for baking.

What temperature to cook a turkey?

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees, that is best but it will be lower in a bit.
• We baked at this temp. for half the time. Then we dropped it down to 350 to finish cooking.
  • Most times when cooking a whole turkey in the oven you keep it at a steady temperature but we thought it would work better to start higher to really get crispy turkey skin for 30 minutes.
  • Then lower it to ensure the internal temperature hit 165 degrees, this worked perfectly to get our desired result.
• 8-12 pounds = 1 hour turkey
• Traditional method 10 pound turkey = 3 hours

Using our method below in the recipe card you could adjust it easily by adding 15 minutes at a time during the second 350 degree step. You just want it to reach 165 degrees inside the breast.

We’ve explained here the steps of how to cook a moist turkey! Here are a few steps:

• Slow and steady is key
• Give it plenty of time to defrost – here’s how to defrost a turkey and how long it will take
• Do not overcook your turkey
  • Adding 15 or 20 minutes at a time and then checking the internal temperature of your turkey until it reaches 165 degrees. Insert into the thickest part.

When your turkey thermometer is inserted into the thigh (we put it into the middle of the breast too to double check) is the best way to make sure it doesn’t get overdone.

Here’s our sheet pan turkey breast when the internal meat temperature hit 165 degrees. We allowed it to rest as is for 25 minutes and then sliced just what we were going to eat.

I basted it again just a bit before slicing with the juices left on the pan you see here. There wasn’t a bunch of juice since it was a small young turkey we bought. I must say it was quite lean too (which I love).

Sheet Pan Turkey

This is why we love it:

1. It’s a great way to make a 1 hour turkey. That time is for an 8-12 pound turkey, ours was 10 lbs. If you have an Instant Pot you can cook in a pressure cooker in this amount of time too.
2. Great way to cook a moist turkey where each piece is as tender as possible.
3. You get the crispiest turkey skin. Laying each piece down like this allows every nook and cranny to brown and crisp up.
4. Sheet pan turkey is a lot easier to carve. Just like a cut up chicken you can easily remove the meat off the bone and slice the breasts nicely. Remove the thigh and let your kids have an entire turkey leg!
5. You can use a cookie sheet out of your cupboard and not have to worry about it not fitting. NO need to buy an expensive roasting pan.

Cooking turkey on a sheet pan allows you to bake more side dishes in your oven all at the same time. No need to move the racks way up to fit the whole bird doing it this way.

What to Serve with Sheet Pan Turkey Dinner

Now that I’ve convinced you this one hour turkey is the way to go, here are the directions! As well as some killer holiday side dishes you will love to pair with this:

• Our cream corn casserole recipe is a Christmas side dish must as well as every other holiday of the year
• Twice baked potatoes always make everyone smile and can be stuffed to the max with yumminess
• Sweet potatoes in the air fryer or pressure cooker are cheap and always a winner.
• Air fryer green beans, out of a can, or on the stovetop are easy enough.

What are the different cooking methods for turkey?

If you don’t want to use your oven there are many other options that won’t heat up your kitchen.

• If you’re a smaller family you could try our Instant Pot turkey breast too.
  • It’s a great way to eliminate the use of your oven!
  • We share here how to cook an Instant Pot frozen turkey breast too.
• This is also the best smoked turkey recipe you might want to try if you have an electric smoker or pellet grill.

For leftovers, make our leftover turkey pot pie recipe and enjoy. If this is a hit during the week try this sheet pan chicken thighs.