Smoking a Turkey

Anyone smoke a turkey in their Electric Smoker? I'm getting ready to do one this weekend for an early Thanksgiving dinner with some family (yay divorced parents lol)

Any advice? So far my plan was to start thawing tonight in the fridge, then smoke on saturday morning at 225 for ~6 hours. Probably a 10-12lb bird.

I've got a digital bluetooth thermometer that i'll be using for the first time so I can track the internal temp.

Open to all suggestions and ideas and advice!

Justin

 

I would recommend either injecting or a fully submerged overnight brine to help keep it from drying out during the smoking process.

I did one last thanksgiving and it turned out great.

 

X2 with injection. You can do an overnight brine as well. I use a butter water poultry seasoning for the injection. There are good recipes out there for this.

 

Thanks guys. I was definitely thinking about doing the injection and then a dry rub on the inside and out. My biggest concern was drying out though. When I make ribs, I smoke for two hours open, wrap in foil and do another 2 hours then 1 hour with sauce. I wasn't sure if foil would be needed for turkey or not to stay moist.

 

You may find you want to foil the wings and drums in the middle of the process.

 

Following along...never smoked a turkey myself and want to try on the traeger..

 

I've heard those can get dried out before the rest of the turkey cooks. With smoking it though, wouldn't that cause a nice crust to build and trap in moisture? or is that false thinking.

 

Last year I had a 22 lb bird that was too big for the smoker. I dry brined with kosher salt for 24 hours, injected with butter and rubbed with amazing ribs Simon and Garfunkle dry rub. Smoked to 155/165 internal. It was done early, so I wrapped it and stored in a Yeti knockoff. I think that made the skin less crispy, but it was good and moist.

 

False thinking, I've done a few of them and you'll def want to foil the wings and drumsticks or they will dry out before the breast is done. I brine mine, then spatchcock the turkey with a little mayo/butter under the skin and apply a rub then smoke at 225 and just watch the temps. I didn't spatchcock the first few I made and it would take forever to get the breast to get to temp and would dry out the wings/legs regardless of what I would do. Yea you dont get to stuff it but I dont care about stuffing anyways. If you do it right it will be one of the best turkeys you can make.

 

From my experience, smoked turkey is awesome for sandwiches, pot pies, fried rice etc.

I haven't been able to successfully get gravy from a smoked bird, refuse to use a packet, so reserve the meat for other meals.

The meat is usually pinkish to, so warn any guests or eaters.

 

Yeah luckily everyone knows i'm going to smoke it so they'll be aware the meat will be a little pinkish. I'm not doing stuffing or gravy from the bird itself so that wont be a problem either.

 

Yes false. I don’t wrap the whole time. Just to protect them during the cook.

 

But to be fair I don’t use a pellet smoker or a side stick burner. So that may change the approach.

 

Do you know what kind of wood you’re going to use? The past couple years I’ve used apple wood for turkey and got amazing flavor from it.

 

If your smoker is large enough split the breast (spatchcock) and it takes less time. I brined overnight, rinsed, pat dry then olive oil and dry rubbed before the smoke. If the outside getting too done tent it with foil until internal temp.

 

Marinate with favorite rub, brine if possible (water & favorite rub), smoke 4 hours (5-9pm is my favorite), wrap it very well in thick foil and place in oven overnight at 225. Done by 10am...

 

I smoke at 250 with hickory and let it rest, covered for at least an hour. I inject with a Cajun marinade and rub with a store bought rotisserie spice and stuff with apple slices and onion. Also shove minced garlic under the skin of the boobies.

 

I was planning on apple. I've heard hickory is too strong for turkey.

 

I heard hickory is too strong as Turkey really absorbs the flavor more than beef would. I do plan on injection and a rub. Definitely read stuffing apples and onions and some garlic inside. Sounds sooo good.

 

I have been smoking turkeys and chickens with hickory for almost a decade. I have a smokin it model 2 and use 4 chunks of wood. It is delicious and never over smoked. Even when I had a wood burning smoker, I used hickory. I recently got some pecan wood. It is still seasoning. Can’t wait to try it.

 

Thats exactly how I do ours. Fantastic, anyone who's ever ate with us swears its the best they've ever had. I might have bribed them with booze by then though.

 

Spatchcock is the only way I do birds on the smoker or bbq. After the first one years ago, I never went back. It's so easy to do and much easier to move around on the grill, plus the presentation is awesome and I love saying Spatchcock at the table.

White and dark done to proper temps but don't at the same time, you can't do that with a whole bird.

 

I’ve got a pellet grill (first model/gen Green Mountain Daniel Boone) and the two times that I’ve not had leftover Turkey on Thanksgiving were the two times that I hosted and smoked/grilled the bird.

I use a wet brine for a day, a butter/spice rub UNDER the skin, start with smoke, and then finish at full temp.

A couple of my recipes, though any more I mix and match from the concepts in these:
https://purelyprimal.com/2011/11/28/butter-and-herb-grilled-turkey/
https://purelyprimal.com/2011/06/21/chile-grilled-turkey/

and this one isn’t a full bird, but holy shit was it amazing:
https://purelyprimal.com/2010/10/13/bacon-wrapped-stuffed-turkey-breast/

 

I definitely think i'm going with the butter and herb recipe. Thanks!

 

I learned with that recipe that a 13-15 pound bird simply isn't big enough.

 

I've always smoked or grilled our turkey. A spatchcock bird is the way to go. Don't forget to tuck the wings in so they don't dry out. I like to lay bacon all over the top of it to keep it nice and moissst

 

So my bird is only 12.5lbs. But it's only feeding 6 adults and a child so we should be ok

 

Anyone doing a Butterball? Are you still going to brine?

 

We did fresh Butterball this year, in oven. No brine. It was the nicest turkey we have ever had