Turducken is a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which is in turn stuffed into a de-boned turkey. The word turducken is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken. The dish is a form of engastration, which is a recipe method in which one animal is stuffed inside the gastric passage of another.

30 lb. roasted turducken

30 lb. roasted turducken with goober in background

American football commentator John Madden popularized turducken during a National Football League broadcast. While announcing for CBS Sports he displayed a turducken and began carving it. He promoted it again on Fox Sports by awarding a turducken to players on the winning team of the Thanksgiving Bowl. On the November 9, 2008 broadcast of NBC Sunday Night Football, Madden responded to a fan’s sign reading “JOHN MADDEN, BRING BACK TURDUCKEN” by calling his fixation with turducken “a thing of the past,” stating that he would return to a traditional turkey for subsequent Thanksgivings

The thoracic cavity of the chicken/game hen and the rest of the gaps are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird. The result is a fairly solid layered poultry dish, suitable for cooking by braising, roasting, grilling, or barbecuing.