This Smoked Turkey Brine Recipe is combined with a Dry Rub And Butter Injection. This combination will give an amazing flavor to your holiday turkey. And let’s face it, a juicy turkey is always the holiday goal!
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Last year in March, I smoked my first turkey, The Dry Rub was good on my first Smoked Turkey, but I was itching to do a Brined Smoked Turkey. Plus, be sure to check out Smoked Turkey Leftover Recipes.
Pit Boss Pellet Grills
Traeger Pellet GrillsZ Grills Pellet Grills
Smoked Turkey Brine Recipe Ingredients:
Smoked Turkey Rub Ingredients:
- Sesame Oil–You can use olive oil in place of this if the flavor isn’t one you like.
- Ground Pink Himalayan salt
- Fresh Ground Pepper
- All-Purpose seasoning Blend
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Thyme
Smoked Turkey Injection Ingredients:
- Butter
- Minced Garlic
Smoked Turkey Stuffing:
- Green Onions
- Minced Garlic
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Thyme
- Butter
How To Make Smoked Turkey Brine:
Thaw your turkey fully, and then use a container that can hold the whole turkey with water and ice.
I added to the water all the wet brine ingredients; salt, garlic salt, Montreal Steak Seasoning, Worcestershire Sauce, and black pepper.
Remove the innards of your turkey, and ensure you get the bag out. I had a little helper who missed this part, but it was hidden pretty deep in the turkey. We found it after smoking and had a good laugh.
Mix the water in the cooler or container with a whisk, then set the turkey in the cooler. I added water until the turkey was fully covered and then added ice.
How To Make Turkey Dry Rub:
On the day of smoking, remove your turkey from the brine and give the turkey a small rinse-off.
Place on a tray and pat dry with paper towels.
Rub the whole bird with Sesame Oil and then salt and pepper the bird to your liking.
Sprinkle Seasoning Salt on the bird. (Mine is a combination of Johnny’s Season All, Lawrys Garlic Salt, and Montreal Steak Seasoning)
How To Make The Turkey Injection Recipe:
This is the best turkey injection recipe, it makes the meat so juicy!!
Melt your stick of butter with your minced garlic until it is all liquid.
Stainless Steel Commercial Grade Meat Marinade Flavor Injector
Plastic Turkey Injector Kit
This time I used a plastic meat injector, but I plan to invest in a metal injector. This is my third plastic one, but this is all we could find when we remembered I had broken the last one making Smoked Pork Shoulder.
Inject your bird all over until you are out of butter.
Next, cut up fresh Rosemary and Thyme to cover your bird.
Stuff your bird with minced garlic, green onions, butter, and seasonings. This will help to keep the inside moist while smoking.
How Long To Make A Turkey For
Now this will vary some smoker to smoker. The most common practice is to smoke for a couple of hours at 225 and then turn the temperature up to 350 to decrease the remaining cooking time. When turning the temperature up, you can cover the turkey with foil if you like.
- You can start smoking on a smoke setting for an hour or two before increasing the temperature.
- 225 degrees Fahrenheit for ~30 minutes per pound of meat.
- 250 degrees Fahrenheit for ~25 minutes per pound of meat.
- 325 degrees Fahrenheit for ~12 minutes per pound of meat.
For Example, a 15-pound turkey at 225 pounds would be about 450 minutes. Divide that by 30 to get 7.5 hours of cook time.
The most important part is not to smoke for time but for temperature. You will want to use a meat thermometer to ensure your bird reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees before serving.
How To Make A Pit Boss Smoked Turkey:
I smoked this turkey in the Pit Boss Pro Series 1100 from Lowes; you can make this on any smoker. If you don’t have Lowes, Walmart and Amazon carry other Pit Boss options or the Pit Boss website themselves. I had been eyeballing a Traeger grill, but this was more suited for my pocketbook.
When your smoker is at temp and smoking, place your meat in your smoker. I used Apple Pellets to smoke my meat, but you could use any flavor. And yes, Walmart is one of the best places to pick up Pitboss Pellets.
Pit Boss 20 lb Apple Blend Hardwood Pellets4 Pieces Pastry Brushes Basting Oil Brush
I set my Pit Boss at 200 with a P7 setting. This will autoregulate the temperature to fluctuate from about 185 to 215. Make sure your hopper is full before setting it and walking away.
I set my turkey on the smoker at 11:30 in the morning and turned it up at 6:40 to get the last 10 degrees a bit faster; the kids were hungry. You will want to plan about 30-35 minutes per lb; I had a 13-pound turkey. Next time I plan to start at 9 in the morning for smoking.
Use a meat thermometer to ensure your turkey reaches an internal temperature of 165 before removing it to serve! Turkey needs to be cooked to temperature but not time on this.
Next time I plan to keep basting it with a vegetable base or a combination with the garlic base broth. Just to make the turkey skin not so rubbery and more crispy skin instead.
Slice and serve!
What To Serve With Smoked Turkey:
Any of the classic turkey dishes will go with smoked turkey. I love to smoke versions of classics as well.
- Smoked Baked Potatoes
- Smoked Loaded Cheesy Potatoes
- How To Make Smoked Deviled Eggs
- Smoked Mashed Potatoes
- Smoked Loaded Baked Beans
- Cheesy Potatoes
- Smoked Sweet Potato Casserole
- Creamy Smoked Macaroni And Cheese
- Smoked Cream Cheese
- How To Smoke A Pie
What To Serve With Smoked Turkey:
Any of the classic turkey dishes will go with smoked turkey. I love to smoke versions of classics as well.
- Smoked Baked Potatoes
- Smoked Loaded Cheesy Potatoes
- How To Make Smoked Deviled Eggs
- Smoked Mashed Potatoes
- Smoked Loaded Baked Beans
- Cheesy Potatoes
- Smoked Sweet Potato Casserole
- Creamy Smoked Macaroni And Cheese
- Smoked Cream Cheese
- How To Smoke A Pie
Smoked Turkey Recipes:
A dry rub works amazingly well on turkey, but doing a brine with the dry rub adds more flavor. There is no wrong way to smoke a turkey. Now I buy extras during the holidays, so I have extra turkeys to smoke later in the year!
- Smoked Coca-Cola Turkey Brine Recipe
- Smoked Turkey With A Dry Rub
- Apple Cider Brine Smoked Turkey
- Smoked Turkey Breast With Brine Recipe
- Jack Daniels Smoked Turkey Brine
- Smoked Turkey With Brine, Butter Injection, and Dry Rub
Smoked Turkey Brine Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Turkey
- Water
- 1/2 Cup Salt
- 1/2 Cup Garlic Salt
- ¼ Cup Montreal steak seasoning
- ¼ Cup Worcestershire sauce
- 4 Tablespoon Black Pepper
Smoked Turkey Rub Ingredients:
- Sesame Oil
- Ground Pink Himalayan salt
- Fresh Ground Pepper
- All-Purpose seasoning Blend
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Thyme
Smoked Turkey Butter Injection Ingredients
- 1 Stick of Butter
- 1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
Smoked Turkey Recipe Stuffing
Instructions
- Thaw out your turkey.
- Have a container large enough to store it in that will fit with water and ice to let the turkey thaw in.
- Added the water all the wet brine ingredients; salt, garlic salt, Montreal Steak Seasoning, Worcestershire Sauce, and black pepper to your container
- Remove the innards of your turkey, make sure you get the bag out as well.
- Mix up the water in the cooler or container with a whisk then set in the turkey. I added water until the turkey was fully covered and then added ice.
- Allow the turkey to brine for at least 24 hours.
- On the day of smoking remove your turkey from the brine and give the turkey a small rinse off.
- Place on a tray and pat dry with paper towels.
- Rub the whole bird down with Sesame Oil and then salt and pepper the bird to your liking.
- Sprinkle an All Seasoning Salt on the bird. (Mine is a combination of Johnny's Season All, Lawrys Garlic Salt, and Montreal Steak Seasoning)
- Melt your stick of butter with your minced garlic until it is all liquid.
- Inject your bird all over until you are out of butter.
- Next cut up fresh Rosemary and Thyme to cover your bird
- Stuff your bird with minced garlic, green onions, and seasonings. This will help to keep the inside moist while smoking.
- Now I made this smoked turkey in the Pit Boss Pro Series you could also make it in a Traeger grill or any other smoker.
- When your smoker is at temp and smoking place your meat in your smoker. I used Apple Pellets to smoke my meat but you could use any flavor.
- I set my Pit Boss I set it at 200 with a P7 setting. This will autoregulate the temperature to fluctuate from about 185 to 215. Make sure your hopper is full before setting it and walking away.
- I set my turkey on the smoker at 11:30 in the morning and w turned it up at 6:40 to get the last 10 degrees a bit faster, the kids were hungry. You will want to plan about 30-35 minutes per lbs, I had a 13lb turkey. Next time I plan to start at 9 in the morning for smoking.
- Use a meat thermometer to make sure your turkey reaches an internal temp of 165 before removing to serve!
Nutrition
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