Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we’re here to help you to switch up your traditional oven roasted turkey for a smoked turkey!
While we love our mayonnaise roasted turkey recipe when roasting turkey in the oven, we grew up with smoked Thanksgiving turkey on the holiday dinner table.
Karen’s dad would make a smoked turkey every single thanksgiving, as well as for special occasions and large gatherings like graduation parties.
He even converted an old refrigerator into a smoker to be able to fit multiple birds in one smoker – talk about smoked turkey dedication!
While we smoke our turkey in our Traeger Grills smoker, the results are similar.
Here are tips for a perfect pellet smoker turkey.
Start with a Smoked Turkey Brine
Brining your turkey will help to keep the meat extra juicy.
Be sure to read out our smoked turkey brine recipe and brine your bird the day ahead of time.
We also recommend that you choose the right wood or pellets for your smoked turkey.
Our family recipe calls for apple wood pellets.
Smoked turkey temp
Our smoked turkey pellet grill recipe calls for a consistent smoker temp of 220 degrees F.
Be sure to bring your smoker up to that temperature prior to putting your turkey on the grill grates.
Maintain a consistent temperature, which means limit your peeking! Every time you open the smoker you lose heat.
We recommend using a good wireless digital thermometer to monitor the temperature and to keep the smoker closed.
How long does it take to smoke a turkey
Use the internal turkey temperature to gauge the doneness, not time.
A turkey can take up to 35 minutes per pound when smoking at 220 degrees F, but a number of factors could impact the cook time.
Use your digital thermometer in the thigh of the bird and the smoked turkey will be done when it reaches 165 degrees F internal temperature.
The smoked turkey will increase in temperature by up to 10 degrees during the resting process as well.
Best Smoked Turkey Recipe
Ingredients:
- Whole Turkey (we get our turkey shipped to our door from Omaha Steaks!)
- Salt and Pepper or a Poultry Rub
Note: We recommend brining your turkey beforehand to achieve a juicier bird. Be sure to check out our smoked turkey brine recipe.
Directions:
- Set your pellet smoker to 220 degrees fahrenheit – we use apple wood pellets.
- While the smoker is heating up pull your turkey out of the fridge and pat dry.
- Season the bird with salt and pepper or Omaha Steaks Private Reserve Rub.
- Add your turkey to the smoker occe it gets to 220 degrees and place the turkey thigh side up
- Pull your turkey from the smoker when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees fahrenheit.
- Allow your smoked whole turkey to rest prior to slicing.
Smoked Turkey
Juicy, smoked turkey is the perfect way to prepare a holiday meal.
Ingredients
- Whole Turkey (we get our turkey shipped to our door from Omaha Steaks!)
- Salt and Pepper or a Poultry Rub
Instructions
- Set your pellet smoker to 220 degrees Fahrenheit - we use apple wood pellets.
- While the smoker is heating up pull your turkey out of the fridge and pat dry.
- Season the bird with salt and pepper or Omaha Steaks Private Reserve Rub.
- Add your turkey to the smoker once it gets to 220 degrees and place the turkey thigh side up.
- Pull your turkey from the smoker when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Allow your smoked whole turkey to rest prior to slicing.
Notes
We recommend brining your turkey before hand to achieve a juicier bird. Be sure to check out our smoked turkey brine recipe.
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Sides for smoked turkey
What are some good sides for smoked turkey?
Without a doubt, you need to make our sausage and apple sourdough stuffing recipe!
Looking for a lighter side dish? We make our roasted butternut squash with bacon recipe year round (try subbing out the squash for sweet potatoes as well!)
You might also like this list of Cheap Thanksgiving side dishes.
Looking for some smoked chicken breast recipes?
We always make our smoked turkey mini pot pies with our leftover smoked turkey! It’s flaky comfort food and the pot pie filling picks up a lot of the smoked turkey flavor.
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Whip up this gourmet smoked turkey? Be sure to tag us on social media as @coupleinthekitchen and we’ll share it with our foodie followers!
This recipe was made in partnership with Omaha Steaks, thanks for supporting the brands that we love.
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