This Honey Turkey Injection Marinade will add a subtly sweet and herbal flavor to your turkey while keeping it moist and juicy during cooking.

This quick and easy 6-ingredient injection marinade, is perfect for holiday turkeys, rotisserie turkeys, and smoked turkey breasts. Whatever the occasion, this wine and honey marinade will infuse your turkey with a crisp, sweet, and buttery flavor!

Why use a turkey injection marinade

Large turkeys, especially those over 15 pounds, have quite a bit of mass to them. The breast meat, in particular, benefits from added moisture. This honey turkey injection marinade imparts a delicious sweet and herbal flavor and helps to keep the meat moist during cooking. If you plan to cook your turkey in a smoker, consider using an injection marinade.

Ingredients

• Butter: We recommend using unsalted butter for this recipe. This way, if you decide to brine the turkey, you won’t end up with an oversalted bird.
• White wine: Use a dry white wine, or sub with sparking apple cider for this recipe
• Honey: Use raw or pure honey for this recipe. If you don’t have honey on hand, reach for real maple syrup, agave, or brown rice syrup.
• Low-sodium soy sauce: Infuse umami flavor without all the extra salt.
• White pepper: Sub with black pepper.
• Powdered Rosemary or Marjoram: Remember that whole herbs will become stuck in the needle and cause blockages. This is why it is important to use powdered herbs. If you cannot find the powdered versions of these herbs, pulverize them in a spice grinder or use a mortal and pestle.

Making Honey Turkey Injection Marinade

• Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add wine (or sparkling apple cider), soy sauce, and honey. Cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes until well combined.
• Add the powdered herbs and white pepper, stir through, and remove the pan from the heat.
• Let the mixture cool to room temperature before using.
• If you plan to use this mixture as an injection and baste, split it in half and reserve one half in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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How to use it

• To use: Draw some of the injection marinade into the syringe.
• Slowly inject a little at a time into the breast, thigh, and drumstick areas.
• There might be some flow back, especially if you inject too much liquid. Blot it away with paper towels and continue working.
• Normally, injection marinades are applied about 4-8 hours before you plan to cook the bird. However, you can inject the turkey 30 minutes to 1 hour beforehand.
• For food safety reasons, discard any remaining marinade that has come into contact with the injector and the raw turkey.

Turkey tips

It is important to use this injection marinade on a thawed, raw turkey. According to the USDA, the best way to thaw a frozen turkey is in your refrigerator. It will take up to 24 hours to thaw 4-5 pounds of mass, so if your turkey is 12 pounds, plan on 3 days in the refrigerator. If it is 20 pounds, plan on 4-5 days. Set the turkey on the lowest level of your refrigerator, away from other foods. You can also thaw your turkey using cold water or your microwave. Read more about it HERE.

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Honey Turkey Injection Marinade

Inject your turkey with this white wine and honey marinade to infuse it with a subtle, sweet, herbal flavor. You can use this marinade along with a dry brine. However, if you plan to wet brine your turkey, use this injection marinade afterward.

Course Marinades/Brines

Cuisine American

Keyword Injection marinade, poultry injection, Turkey Injection

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1.5 cups

Calories 959kcal

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (sub with sparkling apple cider)
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce (sub with low-sodium GF tamari)
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered rosemary or marjoram (or dried version of herb, ground to a powder with a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.)
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions

• Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add white wine (or sparking apple cider), soy sauce, and honey. Lightly simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes until mixture is well combined.

  Add powdered herbs and white pepper, stir through, and remove pan from the heat.

  Let the mixture cool completely before using.
• If you are planning to use this mixture as both an injection and baste, then reserve half of it in an airtight container and store it in the fridge.
• Using a meat injector, draw in some of the liquid and inject the marinade every 2 inches in the breast and leg sections.

  Lightly blot away any spillage with paper towels.

  Carefully, secure the turkey with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for 2-8 hours.
• Discard any remaining marinade that has come into contact with the raw turkey.

Nutrition

Calories: 959kcal | Carbohydrates: 96g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 61g | Saturated Fat: 39g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 163mg | Sodium: 401mg | Potassium: 172mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 94g | Vitamin A: 1894IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg

Need an Injector for the Honey and White Wine Turkey Injection Marinade?

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