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
- 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 brine!
How Long Does it Take 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.
- After 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.
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!
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.
- Prep Turkey: 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 and let turkey smoke for an additional 2 hours.
- 350 Degrees until 165 Internal Temp: After 2 hours increase the temperature to 350 and let the turkey continue to cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. 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 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!
Keywords: smoked turkey, traeger smoked turkey, how to smoke a turkey
Darlene says
My family bought a smoker for this recipe, I mean they were in the market for one but hunkered down and bought one right before Thanksgiving. Thought to give your recipe a try. The results were beyond my expectation. The bird not only was picture perfect but the flavor and juiciness was incredible!! This will be our new tradition for Thanksgiving. It was LOVED by my small quarantined family of 9. ๐ Canโt wait to make it again! Thank you for testing and sharing the recipe!
★★★★★
Erin says
Thank you SO much, Darlene! I am so happy your family enjoyed it and thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave your feedback. Makes my day to hear how happy you were with it! ๐
Raquel says
The recipe was easy to follow and the result was the most amazing, juicy, flavorful turkey. We loved it!!!
★★★★★
Erin says
So glad to hear that, Raquel! One of my favorite ways to cook turkey ๐ thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback – I really appreciate it!
Erin says
We used the brine and smoked it as directed. This was the best Turkey we have ever eaten! The meat was so moist and flavorful. I would maybe use a little less salt in the brine or when you cook it as it was pretty salty, but we werenโt mad about it! Thanks for helping us successfully make our first turkey, Erin!!
★★★★★
Erin says
Yay!!! So happy to hear that, Erin! I love this recipe too ๐ Thanks so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it!