Cajun Turkey Club Recipe
When I think of a club sandwich, I think of layers of meat – triple stacked on good, toasted bread with a great sauce to tie it all together. Of course, you you have to have a little vegetables in there (lettuce and tomato do the trick); but it’s really all about the meat. For this sandwich I’m smoking a boneless turkey breast and some spicy brown sugar bacon plus I kick up some mayo to create what I call the Cajun Turkey Club. First you’ll need a turkey breast. I bought a Butterball boneless turkey breast roast from the grocery store. These are typically sold frozen and the breast is surrounded by netting to hold its shape while cooking. Let it slow thaw in the refrigerator for a couple days before you plan to smoke it.
To get the Cajun flavor going I first made a butter injection using chicken broth, melted butter, hot sauce, and my King Craw Cajun seasoning. Combine these ingredients and shoot it into the breast. Spray the outside with cooking spray and season with a good dose of the King Craw (or your favorite Cajun seasoning).
To cook the breast I fired up my Memphis Wood Fire Grill running on a blend of Hickory, Maple, and Cherry pellets for smoke flavor. You can use any grill or combination of wood for cooking this recipe just keep your cooking temperature at 325 degrees.
Place the turkey breast on the pit and let it roll until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. I placed my Thermoworks DOT internal thermometer into the breast to keep an eye on the internal temperature as it cooked.
For the bacon element of this sandwich I created a spicy brown sugar seasoning to coat the outside of each slice of bacon. Take 1 cup of light brown sugar and mix with 1 tablespoon of King Craw. Coat the outside of each piece of bacon with the sugar mixture.
To cook the bacon I first sprayed a couple of my Chicken Racks with PAM vegetable cooking spray. Then I placed each piece of bacon on the rack and into the Memphis Pellet Grill along side the turkey breast. After 7 minutes I flipped each piece for even cooking and in 15 minutes it’s done. The sugar caramelizes giving the bacon a beautiful color on the outside and it’s sweet and spicy at the same time. (Really this bacon would be good on anything!)
I also whipped up a Cajun Mayo to slather on the bread. I combined 1 cup of Blue Plate mayo with a little Dijon mustard, horseradish, hot sauce, and King Craw. To give it a little texture I finely chopped some of my Sweet Fire Pickles and stirred it all together. Taste for seasoning and add just a pinch of salt and black pepper and you have a tasty Cajun Mayo.
When the turkey is done let it rest on the counter for 15 minutes then slice. Toast up some bread and get ready to build the sandwich. You’ll need 6 slices of toast for 2 club sandwiches.
Slather Cajun Mayo on one side of a piece of toast. Layer on a couple slices of the turkey followed by lettuce and a couple thin slices of tomato. Add 2 strips of spicy brown sugar bacon and another slice of toast (slather that with Cajun Mayo too).
Repeat this process one more time because it has to be a Triple-Decker! Top it all off with a couple skewered dill pickles and slice in half to serve.
This is an easy recipe – and with all the Turkey Breasts in the grocery stores right now, you don’t have any excuse not to give it a try. Or you can use your leftover Thanksgiving Turkey, make some spicy candy bacon and creole mayo and get down on a leftover Cajun Turkey Club.
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Cajun Turkey Club Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 3lbs Turkey Breast
- 1 stick Butter (melted)
- 8oz Chicken Broth
- 1 Tablespoon Killer Hogs Hot Sauce
- 1/4 cup Malcom’s King Craw Seasoning
- 8 Pieces – Thick Sliced Bacon
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 head Green Leaf Lettuce
- 1 Tomato (sliced)
- 6 slices Toasted Bread
- 1/2 cup Cajun Mayo* recipe to follow
Cajun Mayo
- 1 cup Mayo
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 Tablespoon Killer Hogs Sweet Fire Pickles (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon Horseradish
- 1/2 tsp Malcom’s King Craw Seasoning
- 1 tsp Killer Hogs Hot Sauce
- Pinch of Salt & Black Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare pellet smoker for indirect cooking at 325 degrees using your favorite wood pellets for flavor (I used a combination of Hickory, Maple, & Cherry)
- Combine melted butter, chicken broth, hot sauce, and 1 Tablespoon of Cajun Seasoning in a mixing bowl. Inject the mixture into the turkey breast spacing out the injection sites for even coverage.
- Spray the outside of the turkey breast with Vegetable cooking spray and season with Malcom’s King Craw Seasoning.
- Place the turkey breast on the smoker and cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Use an instant read thermometer to monitor temp during cooking process.
- Combine brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of King Craw in a small bowl. Cover the bacon with the sugar mixture and place on a cooking rack (spray the rack with cooking spray to prevent sticking)
- Cook the bacon for 12-15 minutes or until brown. Be sure to turn the bacon half way through for even cooking.
- Toast the bread, slice the tomatoes thin, and rinse/dry the lettuce leaves.
- When the turkey breast reaches 165 remove it from the grill and rest for 15 minutes. Remove the netting from around the breast and cut into thin slices.
- To make the sandwich: Slather Cajun Mayo* on the toast, stack on several slices of turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, and bacon. Add another piece of toast and repeat the same process. Add the top piece of toast slathered with more Cajun mayo, slice the sandwich in half and enjoy.
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Could you brine this like you did with the whole cajun turkey?
oh yeah you could brine it
Did you you salted or unsalted butter?
This recipe is amazing! Malcolm, you never let us down
Any reason you wait 30 minutes before probing it as opposed to just putting the probe in right at the beginning?
I just don’t see any reason to monitor it the first part – but nothing wrong with doing it
This sandwich is amazing. We make it about once a month. Love the spicy pickles and the Cajun Mayo made from them. All of your rubs and sauces are just amazing! Great job on this one Malcom!
Even though I didn’t have every ingredient on hand this turned out great. Malcom, everything I’ve tried to duplicate from your site has turned out great. You’ve got my trust, now I’m shopping your store to pick up seasonings and sauces so I can follow along and do things right! I appreciate all of the great content you share here. Thank you!
★★★★★
Didn’t have King Craw seasoning. Used Zatarains blackened seasoning and Malcolm’s BBQ rub. So good! Thank you Malcolm!