Perfectly Paired Turkey Injection Marinade and Rub

This turkey injection recipe infuses your meat with tenderness and savory flavor from the inside out. Paired with a 4-ingredient spice rub that perfectly complements the injection, you're guaranteed a perfect turkey every time.

What Is a Turkey Injection?

You've probably used a spice rub before, but you might not be as familiar with turkey injections. While traditional marinades work from the outside, injections work from the inside. They distribute the marinade throughout the tissue, ensuring incredibly juicy and flavorful meat every time. If you're worried about your Thanksgiving centerpiece turning out dry or bland, this turkey injection recipe is definitely for you.

Turkey Injection Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make this easy turkey injection recipe:

· Broth: This recipe starts with store-bought or homemade chicken broth. You could easily substitute turkey broth.
· Lemon juice: A half cup of lemon juice adds welcome freshness and brightness.
· Butter: Butter lends richness, flavor, and moisture.
· English mustard powder: If you can't find English mustard powder, dried mustard powder will work.
· Ginger: A little fresh ginger (a teaspoon, to be exact) goes a long way in this turkey injection recipe.
· Garlic: This recipe calls for one clove of minced garlic, but you can use a little more for extra flavor.

For the rub, you'll need to make sure you have the following ingredients on hand: butter, garlic, fresh rosemary, and fresh thyme.

How to Inject a Turkey (And Use This Spice Rub)

You'll find the full, step-by-step recipe below — but here's a brief overview of what you can expect when you use this turkey injection marinade and rub:

1. Make the marinade: Stir all of the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. If the garlic isn't minced finely enough to fit through the needle, run the mixture through a food processor. Cover with storage wrap, place in the fridge, and allow the flavors to meld for about 30 minutes.
2. Make the rub: Mix the rub ingredients together in a separate bowl until they're evenly combined.
3. Rub the turkey: Use your hands to gently separate the skin from the meat. Spoon the rub mixture between the skin and meat until the turkey is evenly covered.
4. Inject the turkey: Pour the marinade into a meat injector. Inject the meatiest parts of the turkey (the thighs and breasts) with the marinade at several angles.
5. Marinate the turkey: Brush the turkey with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover with storage wrap and refrigerate in a roasting pan for 12 to 24 hours before cooking as desired (explore our collection of Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes for tasty inspiration).

Tip: This process can get messy — do everything in a roasting pan to collect the mess and keep everything sanitary.

More Turkey FAQs

Here at Allrecipes, we know a thing or two about cooking the perfect Thanksgiving feast — that's why we've made it our mission to answer your most burning turkey questions. Check out some of our best turkey tips, tricks, and guides from over the years:

· How to Brine a Turkey
· 3 Ways to Safely Thaw a Frozen Turkey
· How Much Turkey Per Person Do You Need?
· How to Truss a Turkey the Easy Way
· How to Smoke a Turkey
· How to Carve a Turkey the Easy Way

Explore our entire collection of Thanksgiving Tips and Tricks.

Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise

"I cooked mine in a turkey bag so it came out super moist and tender," according to Michelle Greenwood Miller. "The family loved it!"

"Tried this for the first time when we deep fried our turkey," says Erinyellowbird. "It came out absolutely delicious and was a big hit with the in-laws."

"The turkey, and most importantly the drippings, were wonderful," raves cwr92. "A perfect turkey and a large quantity of well-seasoned, tasty drippings for the start of perfect gravy."

Editorial contributions by Corey Williams