Ready to impress your friends and family with a perfectly roasted bird? Learn How to Truss a Chicken or Turkey with our easy step-by-step tutorial! Transform your ordinary bird into an elegant centerpiece with golden skin and juicy meat.
Trussing is an essential cooking technique where you secure the chicken's legs and wings together in order to evenly cook it and ensure it stays juicy. The technique looks fancy and complicated but our tutorial makes it simple. So let's get started!
Looking for delicious chicken and turkey recipes? Try our whole roasted chicken, rolled turkey roulade, or roasted chicken stuffed with rice.
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Key Ingredients
- Whole roasting chicken or turkey - Our tutorial will work for any whole turkey or chicken. We have not tried it yet on other types of birds.
How to Truss a Chicken
- Measure and cut twine - Measure the twine. It should be about 4 times the length of the chicken or turkey. (Photo 1)
- Prepare the bird - Then, remove the giblets, excess fat, and pin feathers from the chicken. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, then season the inside with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with fragrant ingredients, such as herbs, lemon halves, garlic, onion, and apple. (Photo 2, 3, and 4)
- Tuck wings - Tuck the tips of the wings toward the neck cavity to lock them in place. (Photo 5)
Wrap twine around chicken breast
- Find the nub - Find the small neck bone nub and place the middle of the twine at the nub.
- Wrap the twine - Use your fingers to hold either side of the twine tightly and wrap it around the sides of the breast, above the wings, and above the legs. (Photo 6)
- Tie the surgeon's knot - At the base of the breast, cross the twine to make an "X." Then wrap the top end of the twine under the bottom end 2-3 times and pull it through to make a surgeon's knot. (Photo 7)
- Tighten and secure - Pull the ends of the twine tightly to plump the breast. Then tie the twine again to make a knot at the base of the breast.
- Wrap twine - Take the ends of the twine and loop them up and underneath the drumsticks. (Photo 8)
Tie the legs
- Tie the surgeon’s knot - Cross the twine to make an “x” then wrap the top end of twine under the bottom end of twine 2-3 times and pull it through to make another surgeon’s knot. (Photo 9)
- Tighten and secure - Tighten the twine to bring the drumstick knobs together at the base of the breast. Use your thumb to push the knobs together so they cross. Keep tightening the twine then make a knot where the surgeon’s knot is to hold the twine in place. Then trim the twine and make a bow. (Photo 10)
- Season - Brush the outside with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. (Photo 11 and 12)
Trussing Tips
- Use the right twine - Butcher's twine is best for trussing because it is strong, there are no synthetic materials, and it is safe for high speed cooking.
- It takes practice to make it perfect - The first time you truss a chicken can be a little tricky, but the more you practice, the easier it becomes.
Trussing FAQs
Trussing ensures that the chicken will cook evenly and keeps the moisture locked in. It also presents better.
It is pretty difficult without butcher's twine since it is stronger and more durable than most other strings and twines.
It is hard to stuff a chicken after you truss it so it is best to do it before.
Yes, you can truss a chicken in then refrigerate it until you're ready to cook it.
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
How to Truss a Chicken or Turkey (Photos and Video!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 whole roasting chicken or turkey
- freshly ground black pepper
- kosher salt
- fresh herbs of choice
- lemon
- garlic bulb
- olive oil
Instructions
- Measure and cut twine - Measure the twine. It should be about 4 times the length of the chicken or turkey.
- Prepare the chicken - Remove the giblets, excess fat, and pin feathers from the chicken. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, then season the inside with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with fragrant ingredients, such as herbs, lemon halves, garlic, onion, and apple.freshly ground black pepper, kosher salt, fresh herbs of choice, lemon, garlic bulb, 1 whole roasting chicken or turkey
- Tuck wings - Tuck the tips of the wings toward the neck cavity to lock them in place.
Wrap twine around chicken breast
- Find the nub - Find the small neck bone nub and place the middle of the twine at the nub.
- Wrap the twine - Use your fingers to hold either side of the twine tightly and wrap it around the sides of the breast, above the wings, and above the legs.
- Tie the surgeon's knot - At the base of the breast, cross the twine to make an "X." Then, wrap the top end of the twine under the bottom end 2-3 times and pull it through to make a surgeon's knot.
- Tighten and secure - Pull the ends of the twine tightly to plump the breast. Tie the twine again to make a knot at the base of the breast.
Tie the legs
- Wrap twine - Take the ends of the twine and loop them up and underneath the drumsticks.
- Tie the surgeon’s knot - Cross the twine to make an “x” then wrap the top end of twine under the bottom end of twine 2-3 times and pull it through to make another surgeon’s knot.
- Tighten and secure - Tighten the twine to bring the drumstick knobs together at the base of the breast. Use your thumb to push the knobs together so they cross. Keep tightening the twine then make a knot where the surgeon’s knot is to hold the twine in place. Trim the twine and make a bow. Brush the outside with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.kosher salt, olive oil, freshly ground black pepper
Video
Notes
- Butcher's twine is best for trussing because it is strong, there are no synthetic materials, and it is safe for high temperature cooking.
- It takes practice - The first time you truss a chicken can be tricky, but the more you practice, the easier it becomes.
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