Smoked Turkey

Smoke your turkey for a tender, moist turkey that the oven will never be able to duplicate! Learn how to brine and how to smoke your turkey.

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 5

Total Time 5 20

Ingredients

Brine:

2 liters warm filtered water
2 cups kosher salt coarse
2 cups granulated sugar
10 cloves garlic coarsely sliced
5 bay leaves
2 navel oranges zest
6 liters cold filtered water
2 tablespoons black peppercorns

Turkey

10 lb turkey
½ cup butter room temperature

Instructions

Day 1:

Combine 2 liters warm filtered water with 2 cups granulated sugar and 2 cups kosher salt and stir vigorously until both are completely dissolved. Once the sugar and salt are dissolved, add 10 cloves garlic, 5 bay leaves, 2 tablespoons black peppercorns and the zest of 2 navel oranges. Then add 6 liters cold filtered water. I have a 3-gallon brining bucket that I use and it's perfect
Open the 10 lb turkey package and pluck any rogue feathers and give it a good rinse under cold water. Remove the giblets, then place the turkey into the brine. Place an upside-down plate or weight overtop the turkey to keep it submerged in the brine.
Place the lid on your brining bucket or pot, or cover with plastic wrap, then pop it in the fridge for 48 hours.

Day 2:

Stir the brine, and rotate the turkey a bit in the brine.

Day 3:

Fire up the Traeger or whatever you've got to 185f, and allow it to preheat while you're preparing the bird.
Carefully lift the bird out of the brine, and rinse it well under cold running water, ensuring to rinse the cavity as well. Remove as much salty brine from the surface of the turkey as possible. At this point, if your turkey is trussed, untruss it.
Prepare your turkey for smoking by patting the skin completely dry and allowing it to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Just before smoking, rub the entire skin with ½ cup butter or oil.
Place the prepared turkey, breast side up, directly on the middle rack of your smoker. Smoke the turkey at 185f for 2 hours before increasing the temperature to 325f. The turkey is done when the internal temperature of the breast and thighs reach 165f. Fill a drip pan or chafing pan with 1" of water and place it on the bottom rack of the smoker, alternatively, if you don't have a second rack in your smoker, place the turkey on a raised wire rack and place it on top a baking sheet with a small amount of water in it. Don't let the water touch the turkey.
Pull the turkey from the smoker and rest the turkey uncovered either on a v-rack inside a roaster or on a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet.
When carving a turkey, I like to deconstruct the bird rather than carve directly on the bone. Remove the breasts, drums, wings, thighs, then carve each piece as you like. It's much easier that way. Place a large cutting board inside a rimmed baking sheet when carving your turkey, this will capture all the juices for gravy and save a huge mess.

Notes

Turkey cooking times:

The average turkey will take about 15 minutes per lb at 325f. We are starting a bit lower in temperature, so guestimate 20 minutes per pound.

10 lb X 20 minutes = 200 minutes / 60 minutes per hour = 3.33 hours.

Turkey cooking too fast:

Brined turkeys tend to cook faster than a non- brined turkey! That said, if your bird is cooking too fast or done before you're ready to serve, you have a few options:

Turn down the temperature of your smoker. 275-300f, that should slow the cooking process.
Pull the fully cooked bird off the smoker, place it in as small of a baking dish as it will fit into and tent with foil. Then line a cooler with old towels and set the turkey on top of the towels. This will keep it hot and stall most of the cooking.

Turkey cooking too slow:

This is unlikely to happen, as I mentioned earlier, brined turkeys cook faster than regular turkeys, but if it does, this is not a crisis! Here's what to do:

Increase the temperature in your smoker. Start slow - increase to 350f and see how the internal temperature of your turkey reacts.
If the first step doesn't fix the problem, wrap your turkey in tin foil, and increase the temperature of your smoker to 425f until cooked.

Leftover turkey:

Leftover turkey can be kept in the fridge tightly covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container for up to 5 days. It can be kept in the freezer in a freezer bag or vacuum-sealed bag for up to 6 months.