One of the benefits of smoking a turkey is that it's almost impossible to overcook anything in a smoker. The temperature remains low and the cooking is slow, resulting in perfectly moist and tender meat with a rich, complex flavor. Plus, it frees up your oven for side dishes!
What Size Turkey Should You Get for Smoking?
If you're smoking a whole turkey, we recommend that you choose one weighing no more than about 15 pounds — large turkeys take too long to heat all the way through. If you choose a frozen bird, plan to safely thaw the turkey before you begin.
How Long to Smoke a Turkey
Smoking a turkey is a long but rewarding process. At 240 degrees F, the turkey will need to cook for about 30 minutes per pound.
How to Smoke a Turkey
Here's what you'll need:
Besides a smoker, there are a few other things you'll need to smoke your turkey.
A probe thermometer: This allows you to monitor your turkey's temperature without constantly opening and closing the smoker.
Wood chips: When it comes to the best wood to smoke turkey, any kind of fruit wood, such as apple or cherry, complements turkey very well, but hickory, pecan, and maple will also be good.
1. Fire up the grill or smoker.
Load your smoker with aromatic wood chips and heat to 240 degrees F (115 degrees C). If you're using a grill, here's how to turn it into a smoker.
Remove the liver, gizzard, heart, and neck from the body cavity. You can save the gizzard, heart, and neck to make gravy or stuffing. Don't use the liver, as it can give a bitter, mineral taste.
3. Place in a roasting pan.
Set the bird breast-side-up in a roasting pan and pat the inside and outside of the bird dry with a paper towel. Unfortunately, you can't stuff a smoked turkey. Instead, make your stuffing separately in the oven.
4. Brush with olive oil.
Brush the skin lightly with olive oil. Add additional seasonings such as salt, pepper, or a dry rub for extra flavor. You can skip this step if you brined your turkey ahead of time.
5. Insert thermometer.
Stick an oven-proof thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. Point the thermometer toward the body.
Set the turkey on the rack inside the grill or smoker. Close the lid and start your timer. Baste the turkey with its own juices a few times during smoking, but avoid opening the smoker too often; you will lose heat and increase the cooking time.
7. Check for doneness.
When the thermometer reaches between 165 and 180 degrees F, remove the turkey from the smoker and place on a platter. Let the turkey rest for 15 minutes.
8. Carve.
Use a carving knife or any large, sharp, unserrated knife to carve the turkey. Don't be alarmed by pink meat — this is normal for a smoked turkey.
At 225 degrees F, you can plan on it taking approximately 30 minutes per pound to smoke your turkey. Alternatively, if you are running your smoker at 250 degrees F, it will typically take 25 minutes per pound. For example, my 15-pound turkey took around 7 and 1/2 hours at 225 degrees F to fully cook.
You can baste or spritz with chicken broth while smoking the turkey to help keep it moist as well as help crisp up that skin. The butter of this recipe will really get that skin crisp, so the spritzing is more to keep it from drying out.
When smoking at 225°F, it can take about 30 to 45 minutes to cook one pound of turkey. That means a 12-pound turkey should take at least six hours to cook in a smoker. To smoke your turkey faster, increase the smoker's temperature to 250°F to 275°F.
To recap, the secrets to perfectly smoked turkey are: butterflying, dry-brining, adding baking powder to the dry rub, slow-cooking over indirect heat, and careful monitoring of the turkey's internal temperature.
If your turkey's wings are baking too quickly, you can cover them with foil, but otherwise, there's no need. While you're letting it rest, you can tent your turkey in foil for about 15 minutes, but smoking it the whole time in foil is unnecessary and could lead to soggy skin. 5.
Much like roasting, smoked turkey's success starts with seasoning the bird in advance. A dry brine of kosher salt will help keep the turkey moist during cooking.
I personally like to smoke my turkeys around 275 – 300 degrees for 3 hours. Also, I always recommend spraying the outside of your turkey with cooking spray. This also works to keep the skin crispy and give it that golden-brown color. But to start off with, I always BRINE my turkeys before I smoke them.
Water is always important… especially when you are trying to achieve a nice smoke ring for your turkey. Humidity plays a key role in this process as well. You can always achieve the temperatures you are trying to smoke at even with water in the water pan.
Don't forget to spray and sprinkle inside the turkey cavity with rub to get that great seasoned flavor on as much meat as possible. Also, the oil is not just to get the rub to stick to the skin, but it aids in crisping the skin and keep the skin from getting too dark during the smoking process.
Completely thaw meat or poultry before smoking. Because smoking uses low temperatures to cook food, the meat will take too long to thaw in the smoker, allowing it to linger in the "Danger Zone" (temperatures between 40 and 140 °F) where harmful bacteria can multiply.
One of the benefits of smoking a turkey is that it's almost impossible to overcook anything in a smoker. The temperature remains low and the cooking is slow, resulting in perfectly moist and tender meat with a rich, complex flavor.
Hickory is a classic hard wood choice for smoking turkey for several reasons. It has a distinct flavor that is robust and very forward and is familiar to those who enjoy smoky flavors.
Using olive oil mayonnaise bastes the turkey which enhances the flavor (especially when you mix with spices) and keeps it moist on the inside. And while the turkey is naturally basting with the mayonnaise, the mayonnaise helps the skin to get crispy because of its high smoke point.
Why Is My Smoked Turkey Skin Rubbery? Turkey skin stays rubbery if not enough moisture is cooked out of it during the smoking process. The moisture may come from leftover brine.
When you cook on the smoker, you want to avoid drying out your meat. Larger turkeys (over 15 pounds) will easily dry out before they are finished cooking. To avoid this we recommend you buy two smaller turkeys (12 – 14 pounds). You'll get twice the dark meat and they will cook faster.
Set the smoker to 225° F. Place the turkey on a cooking rack and cook for 8 to 12 hours or until the inner thigh temperature reaches 180° F. Check the temperature of your turkey after 3½ hours. Your turkey must pass through a critical range of 40° F to 140° F in 4 hours or less.
Be sure also to fill your water pan. Once it starts producing smoke consistently, place the turkey inside, insert a meat probe into at least one breast. Set a timer for 30 to 40 minutes per pound of turkey you are smoking.
Introduction: My name is Van Hayes, I am a thankful, friendly, smiling, calm, powerful, fine, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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