Smoked Turkey – a simple, yet incredibly flavorful and moist smoked turkey recipe that you are going to want to make year after year! Optional 48 hour brine recipe included!
Fire up those smokers! We used a Traeger, but feel free to use any kind!
Smoked Turkey 101
Not only are you going to love the flavor, but it is a huge added bonus that your oven will be free for ALL the other Thanksgiving dishes!
Why You Will Love This Recipe:
- Free Up Your Oven: Who DOESN’T need additional oven space on Thanksgiving?! Getting your turkey out of the oven is such a great way to simplify your Thanksgiving!
- Simple: You really just place your turkey on the smoker and then adjust the temperature per the recipe …. and that’s it! Keep an eye on those temps and this recipe is a breeze!
- That Smokiness: Ooooh it is so good!! Cannot wait for you to try it!
What You Will Need:
- Smoker (affiliate links: I love this electric smoker or this Traeger smoker) + internal thermometer. We used a Traeger and it was amazing!
- Turkey: I used a 13 pound turkey – make sure it is fully thawed and remove anything from the cavity (like gravy packet, etc.)
- Butter: use olive oil or avocado oil if you are dairy-free
- Salt and Pepper: use a little less if you decide to brine
- Twine: optional, but you can use them to tie up the legs.
- Aluminum Cooking Dish: Not necessary and it may result in a less smokey bird, but it is a great way to catch those drippings for gravy.
Brine: See recipe card below for more details on the smoked turkey brine!
How to Prep a Turkey for Smoking
- Ensure it is fully thawed.
- Remove any gravy packet or giblets from the inside.
- Brine if you want to, not required.
- Pat dry with clean paper towel.
- Rub with softened butter or ghee (olive oil works too).
- Season with salt and pepper.
Smoked Turkey Brine
Love this Smoked Turkey Brine! It is so easy to use and we have included it in the recipe card for you as an option when smoking your bird!
Smoked Turkey Rub
If you are looking for something different than just salt and pepper for your turkey you can try this smoked turkey dry rub!
How Long to Smoke a Turkey
A 13 pound turkey took approximately 4 hours and 10 minutes to smoke with the following cooking schedule: 90 minutes at 180 degrees, 2 hours at 215 degrees and 40 minutes at 350 (or until turkey reaches an internal temperature of 165 and juices run clear). Your total time will depend upon how many pounds your turkey is, whether it is stuffed and whether it is fully thawed before cooking. If you are cooking a 18lb turkey you are most likely looking at a 5 – 5 1/2 hour cook time following this recipe.
13 pound turkey example: Here is the internal temps of the a 13 pound turkey throughout the cooking time for reference:
- After 90 minutes at 180 degrees the 13 pound turkey had an internal temperature of 80 degrees.
- Following 2 hours at 215 degrees the 13 pound turkey had an internal temperature of 140 degrees.
- After 40 minutes at 350 degrees the 13 pound turkey had an internal temperature of 168 degrees.
Traeger Smoked Turkey
We used a Traeger for testing this recipe and it worked perfectly, but feel free to use whatever brand of smoker you have!
Using an Electric Smoker
This recipe can easily be used for an electric smoker as well – simply follow the timetable and keep an eye on that internal temp.
Recipe FAQs + Tips
- Thaw: Make sure your turkey is thaw before cooking. Read more about how to thaw turkey here!
- Brine: Again, the brine is completely optional – I have made the recipe both ways and it turns out amazing even if you don’t take that additional step! Learn more about brining here!
- Prep Time: I didn’t include the brine in the prep time listed as it is an optional step.
- Hock: Unlike making a Deep Fried Turkey, you CAN leave the plastic hock on the turkey legs if you want. I chose to remove it here (personal preference) – feel free to use kitchen twine to tie the legs together.
- Aluminum Tray: Yes, you can cook this in an aluminum cooking tray, but you might lose a little bit of smokey flavor and it might marginally effect the cooking time.
- Pellets: I used a combination of mesquite and hickory pellets and it turned out lovely! But feel free to use whatever combo you want.
- Cook time: How long you need to cook the turkey at 350 degrees (at the end of cooking) will vary depending upon how many pounds your turkey is. For a 13 pound turkey it took 40 minutes cooking at 350 degrees for the turkey to reach an internal temperature of 165. If your turkey is not completely thawed that will also effect the cooking time.
- Seasoning: I only seasoned with salt and pepper, but feel free to add other seasoning (like sage) in there too! And yes, you can still season even if you brine!
- Dairy-Free: Feel free to sub olive oil for the butter if you are dairy-free!
- Stuffing: Feel free to stuff the turkey with onion, oranges, garlic and fresh sage leaves!
- Carving: here is a great video on how to properly carve your turkey!
- Gravy: if you use an aluminum tray and catch those drippings, here is my favorite turkey gravy recipe!
How to Know When a Turkey is Fully Cooked
A turkey is fully cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. at its thickest part. Use an internal meat thermometer or temperature probe to keep track.
How to Smoked a Turkey
Use a brine if you want to!
Pat turkey dry with clean paper towel.
Rub all over with softened butter.
Season with salt and pepper.
Place on your smoker and follow the timetable in the recipe card.
Remove from smoker when fully cooked, baste with some extra melted butter and then let rest before carving.
Enjoy!
Other Thanksgiving Recipes You Might Like
OTHER TURKEY RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE:
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Smoked Turkey
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 13 servings 1x
- Category: Thanksgiving
- Method: Smoker
- Cuisine: American
Description
Smoked Turkey – an incredibly delicious smoked turkey recipe that is perfect for Thanksgiving!
Optional brine recipe included – be aware that the brine takes significant more planning ahead – as it needs to sit for 48 hours.
Ingredients
Turkey:
- 1 turkey (photos show a 13 pound turkey)
- 4 tablespoons butter (or ghee), softened
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted (for basting)
Brine (optional):
- 3 gallons of water (48 cups)
- 3 cups of kosher salt (if using table salt at least cut salt amount in half)
- 2 cups apple cider
- 2 oranges, cut in half and squeeze juice out into brine + add in orange rinds
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)
Instructions
Brine (Optional):
- Boil: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan.
- Add: Add in salt, sugar, orange juice, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves.
- Simmer: Let simmer until salt and sugar of completely dissolved.
- Cool: Remove from heat and add ice cubes to cool.
- Bucket: Once the mixture is completely cooled add to your brining vessel (large pot/bucket) along with the remaining ingredients.
- Turkey: Add turkey and ensure it is completely submerged (you may need to put a small sauce pot on top of it to keep it submerged.
- 48 hours: Let brine for up to 48 hours while refrigerated. Discard brine.
- Remove: Remove from brine, rinse (optional) and proceed to the Smoked Turkey Recipe, below.
Smoked Turkey:
- Preheat: Preheat smoker to 180 degrees F.
- Prep Turkey: Ensure turkey is completely thawed. Remove giblets or any gravy packet, if any, from inside the turkey. Pat turkey dry with a clean paper towel.
- Butter: Take softened butter and rub all over turkey.
- Seasoning: Season generously with salt and pepper.
- 90 Minutes at 180: Place on the smoker, insert temperature probe (if any) and close the lid. Let smoke for 90 minutes.
- 2 Hours at 215: After 90 minutes increase temperature to 215 degrees F and let turkey smoke for an additional 2 hours.
- 350 Degrees until 165 Internal Temp: After 2 hours increase the temperature to 350 degrees F. and let the turkey continue to cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. For a 13 pound turkey this took about 40 additional minutes.
- Remove + Baste: Remove from smoker and baste with melted butter.
- Rest: Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Carve: Carve and serve.
Notes
- Thaw: Make sure your turkey is thaw before cooking. Read more about how to thaw turkey here!
- Brine: Again, the brine is completely optional – I have made the recipe both ways and it turns out amazing even if you don’t take that additional step! Learn more about brining here!
- Prep Time: I didn’t include the brine in the prep time listed as it is an optional step.
- Hock: Unlike making a Deep Fried Turkey, you CAN leave the plastic hock on the turkey legs if you want. I chose to remove it here (personal preference) – feel free to use kitchen twine to tie the legs together.
- Aluminum Tray: Yes, you can cook this in an aluminum cooking tray, but you might lose a little bit of smokey flavor and it might marginally effect the cooking time, but then you will catch all those drippings so you can make gravy!
- Pellets: I used a combination of mesquite and hickory pellets and it turned out lovely! But feel free to use whatever combo you want.
- Cook time: How long you need to cook the turkey at 350 (at the end of cooking) will vary depending upon how many pounds your turkey is. For a 13 pound turkey it took 40 minutes cooking at 350 for the turkey to reach an internal temperature of 165. If your turkey is not completely thawed that will also effect the cooking time.
- Seasoning: I only seasoned with salt and pepper, but feel free to use this Smoked Turkey Dry Rub or Classic Turkey Seasoning!
- Dairy-Free: Feel free to sub olive oil for the butter if you are dairy-free!
- Stuffing: Feel free to stuff the turkey with onion, oranges, garlic and fresh sage leaves!
- Carving: here is a great video on how to properly carve your turkey!
- Gravy: if you use an aluminum tray and catch those drippings, here is my favorite turkey gravy recipe!
Keywords: smoked turkey, traeger smoked turkey, how to smoke a turkey
Originally published November 10, 2020.
