If you’re like most people you really don’t care for turkey even with good smoke turkey recipes. To most people, turkey is so once a year affair on Thanksgiving to have roast turkey. Occasionally if you’re on a health kick you will take to work roast turkey breast.
But I’m going to change all that with one word: smoked Turkey. I used to be like you someone who would hate to take a turkey sandwich to work. I would smother it in mayo or mustard and just eat it again.
I remember back in the 1990s when I had my 1st taste of a hickory-smoked turkey. After the initial shock and pleasure of tasting something great out of something that had been previously plain and tasteless, I became a fan of smoked Turkey.
If you have never experienced a smoked Turkey then you will be in for a treat with these turkey recipes.
Smoking a Turkey Great Turkey Recipes
If you have a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker then you can smoke a Turkey that will be delicious. The charcoal smoker and pellet smoker are two outdoor cooking equipment, especially for smoke Turkey.
You just have to be prepared to spend a little more time watching the smoker.
Brine the turkey
Prior to cooking the turkey the day before, you will need to brine the turkey for 12-24 hours.
Brining the turkey is basically a cold marinade that you immerse the turkey in to give it more flavor.
You will need a large ice cooler plastic to throw the ingredients in.
Ingredients
Here is what you need
- 4 gallons water
- 4 cup kosher salt
- 4 cup white sugar
- 4 bags of ice if you want to keep the temperature under 40 degrees f. to prevent any bacteria from growing. you may need more ice
Instructions
Get the smoker ready!
With the charcoal-smoker place cold charcoal 2/3 of the way up in the charcoal ring. Then add 10 wood chips that were soaked overnight on top of these coals.
Now take the other 1/3 of the coals and get them heated up using your chimney. You then cover the wood chips with these hot coals.
You want to keep the temperature of your smoker around 230 but not over 250. You will learn to do this the more you use your water smoker. Make sure the vents below the smoker are open halfway prior to placing the hot coals in the smoker. Also, open the top vents a little in the lid to let the smoke out.
Place warm water in the water pan above the coals. Put the racks into the smoker.
You will take a large aluminum pan to sit on the bottom rack to catch the drippings from the turkey that you will later use as gravy. You can then place the brined turkey in the upper rack.
Close the top and your smoked turkey is on the way. Figure it’s going to take 20 minutes per pound to go turkey to cook the bird and add 15 minutes for every time you open the lid. You got to resist opening that lid!
Check the internal temperature of the turkey every few hours when it hits 170 degrees f in several places then it’s done.
Make your life easy by using the remote meat thermometer probe that way you will not have to run out as much.
Video Smoked Turkey – How to Smoke a Turkey – How to Brine a Turkey
Here is one of my favorite videos on smoking a turkey. Chef Wolfe Pit is very clear on what to do. I like what he does a lot and the smoked turkey looks great!
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