We’re finally sharing the secrets to the Ultimate Smoked Turkey for your Thanksgiving Dinner.
This smoked turkey is jam packed with mega flavor, from a bourbon citrus brine, to an herbed butter, to a dry rub, This is the juiciest and most flavorful turkey that will have your guests going back for seconds… and maybe even thirds.
We’ve posted a lot about Thanksgiving, and tips for the bird, but we’ve never shared an actual recipe for smoked turkey… until now.
It was finally time.
We’ve done it pretty much every way you can. From brining, to not brining. Whole to spatchcock. From pellet smokers, to offset, to our Weber kettle, to even a tiny portable grill — in which we had to cut the bird into 8 pieces because the smoker was too small for a full bird, but we were determined to make it happen, and we did!!! — we’ve experimented with it all (except for fried, but that’s a story for another day).
And we’re ready.
We’ve listened to people over and over talk about their challenges with smoked turkey, especially how to cook on the grill or smoker. One of the biggest frustrations is the lack of crispy flavorful skin. Next is people just generally don’t like turkey and find it pretty bland. Finally it dries out so easily!
We get it! We’ve been there.
What we’ve realized is turkey is it’s own beast. Literally. And it needs a little love in the flavor department. So we’re going BIG with this bad boy. In order to make the Ultimate Smoked Turkey we’re adding flavor in the form of:
- A Bourbon Citrus Brine
- Stuffing the cavity with more flavor
- An Herbed Butter
- The Ultimate Dry Rub
And finally smoking the turkey…. and then ….
Topping it with Smoked Gravy!
Let’s get started!
WHAT SIZE TURKEY? HOW MANY TURKEYS DO I NEED?
We’re HUGE fans of getting 2 smallish birds, vs one large. 12-14 lbs is our preferred size per turkey and generally one turkey of that size will feed 6 – 8 people with all the sides that come with Thanksgiving. We really like the versatility of doing 2 vs 1 as well. When you cook on the smoker, you want to avoid drying out your meat. The larger birds can tend to dry out since you have so much longer to cook. Two smaller birds (around 12-14 lbs each) allows you to cook them faster and avoid overcooking while still having plenty of meat, and also extras of those favorite pieces (ahem like the legs!).
HOW TO BRINE A TURKEY
What is a brine? Simply put it’s a salt and water mixture used to add moisture and flavor to meat. How? The salt follows its way into the meat through the process of osmosis, which is why adding more flavor in addition to your salt mixture allows for the flavor to get into the meat.
You can go with a dry brine or wet brine. We prefer the wet brine. With bourbon. Because bourbon = flavor.
A wet brine is a combination of water, salt and sugar solution with your own flavor mix (i.e. BOURBON!) that you submerge the bird in overnight, or up to 24 hours. Over brining can cause the cells to break down, so don’t brine for too long. It adds amazing flavor and moisture. Since your fridge will be likely full of food for the next day we often use a big bucket with a food safe bag to place our brine mixture in and keep it in a large cooler with ice or even your garage if it’s cold enough in there. But these days we now have an extra fridge, so we submerge the bird in the largest stock pot we have and place it in the fridge.
HOW TO PREP THE TURKEY FOR SMOKING ON THE GRILL
Once you’ve brined the turkey you need to rinse and pat it dry. (You can even brine early, rinse and then leave the turkey overnight in the fridge to dry out. This was a great tip from one of our readers we had to share.)
Next stuff it with some fresh citrus (I like a combination of lemons and oranges, but use what you have), onions, garlic, and lots of fresh herbs. This is going to help the cavity of the bird stay juicy and tender. As the stuffing heats up, the aromatics and liquid are forced out and into the bird from the inside out.
HOW TO MAKE AN HERBED BUTTER
Now place some herbed butter in between the skin of the breast meat. This is going to add TONS of flavor and moisture to the breasts, which can easily dry out. To make the herbed butter just take room temperature butter and add in some chopped fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage. Combine it together and then slightly separate the skin off the breast, and spread the butter evenly between the breast meat and the skin. This will baste the breast meat as it melts.
COAT TURKEY WITH DRY RUB
Now drizzle some olive oil over the entire bird (remember the bird has to be dry!!). This is going to help the dry rub to adhere to the skin. But what is key, is the bird needs to be dry (did we mention that?), no left over liquid from the brine. Otherwise it all just falls off. We like to add the dry rub for another element of flavor. Big bold flavor.
We use our Ultimate Dry Rub for Pork or Chicken on this. It’s very versatile. But feel free to use your favorite dry rub for poultry.
Next we’ll usually tie the legs and wings together with some cooking string to avoid them drying out and keeping it close to the bird. You can tuck them in too, by keeping them close and tight on the bird, it all cooks as one.
HOW TO SMOKE A TURKEY
This is the fun part!
After experimenting with different cooking temps we’ve landed at 275 as our sweet spot for a whole turkey. We like fruit wood for most of our cooking, and especially poultry. Cherry or apple wood is our choice when smoking turkey. Like your bird a little smokier? Add more intense smoky flavor with mesquite or lower the cooking temperature to 225. Lowering temperature means adding more time to your cook, so plan accordingly. Also longer cook times can dry out your turkey, so be careful!
Place the turkey on the smoker and, if you can, insert a digital blue tooth thermometer like the Thermoworks Signals. Signals, like the Smoke unit, will monitor the ambient cooking chamber temperature, as well as up to three zones. So in this case, we put a probe in the breast meat, and in the dark meat. The blue tooth capabilities makes it easy for you to monitor temperatures on your phone, so you don’t have to keep lifting the lid on your smoker letting any heat out.
Then we fine tune when it is done when the internal temperature of the breast and the dark meat are at 165 degrees (F).
Once it hits the right temperature, remove from heat and wrap in foil, then let it rest about 20 minutes. If you are done early, wrap it and leave in a cooler (with no ice) to keep warm for a few hours. Resting allows the cells to cool down and retain that moisture. Cut too early, while it may be juicy, you’ll find it will dry out quickly.
CARVE THE SMOKED TURKEY AND ENJOY
We always serve our smoked turkey gravy with our Thanksgiving meal. It’s seriously the icing on the cake!
VIDEO FOR BOURBON BRINED SMOKED TURKEY
- 1 12-14 lb whole turkey (unbrined)
- 8 quarts water
- 1 1/2 cups kosher salt (we use Diamond Crystal kosher salt)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup bourbon
- 2 oranges, cut into quarters
- 1 lemon, cut into quarters
- 1/3 cup whole peppercorns
- 10 whole cloves
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- 1/2 cup Our Ultimate Dry Rub for Chicken or Pork ,(link in notes)
- 2 oranges quartered, we use navel
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 red or yellow onion, quartered
- 10 sprigs thyme
- 2 large sprigs of rosemary
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Prepare turkey for brine by fully defrosting, and removing giblets, neck, and trimming off excess fat.
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In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, combine water, salt, sugar, and bourbon. Bring heat up and dissolve the salt and sugar into the liquid, then turn off heat.
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Let cool and then add remaining brine ingredients. Add turkey to brine and cover. Brine for 24 hours, avoid going beyond 30 hours. At a minimum brine for four.
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Add herbs to room temperature butter and combine. Be sure when you are using for the turkey, it is still room temperature.
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Preheat Smoker to 275 degrees.
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Remove turkey from brine and rinse. Pat dry with a towel and let completely dry, can add back to fridge as well for an hour to help. You want a dry bird for the dry rub.
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Stuff cavity of the bird with thyme, rosemary, oranges, lemons, and garlic. Then stuff butter between the skin and breasts, spreading it out with your hands all along the breast.
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Coat liberally with olive oil and then dry rub. Season the bottom as well. Tie up legs and wings with kitchen string, or tuck them to keep tight against the turkey.
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Place turkey on the smoker, and insert your digital meat probe into the breast and thigh or leg. Smoke until the internal temperature of both reads 165 degrees (F). Use an instant read to check temp in various part of the turkey, even if the digital probes read 165 to confirm all parts of the turkey are cooked through.
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Remove from smoker (will likely take 3 hours with a 12 - 14 pound bird) and cover with foil. Let cool for about 20 minutes. Then slice and serve.
Advice for Smoking a Thanksgiving Turkey?
Check out this post for more information on smoking your first Thanksgiving turkey. We cover everything from how to select your turkey, going deeper into the brining process, troubleshooting, the smoking process, and also tips and advice from pros on how to smoke the best turkey you’ve ever had. Check it out.
How long will it take to smoke turkey?
Generally it is going to take 15 minutes per pound to cook. Our 12 – 14 pound birds are generally done in about 3 hours.
What temperature do I cook my turkey to?
You will see some sites say 180, you will see some say 165. We follow USDA and temp out our turkey in the thickest part (usually breast) to 165, and then pull.
What about a crispy skin?
When smoking, even at 275, the challenge for any turkey will be crispy skin. If you want a crispy skin, a modification to the recipe is to wait until the bird gets to 145 degrees and then crank up the heat to 375. You run the risk of still drying out the bird, so we don’t push for a crispy skin when smoking. Another alternative is to make a glaze with your favorite BBQ sauce. You simply baste it close to when the turkey is done, and the glaze will thicken and add a flavor and texture. Something as simple as one part BBQ sauce to one part honey. The sugar will caramelize some.
Another option is the reverse sear. To do this you smoke first at low temp, and then grill it over high heat. To best do that you cut the bird up in a style called spatchcock. You remove the backbone of the turkey, press down on the breast bone, and then you cook it flat. This is a great way to speed up smoking and then makes for an easy sear when getting close to done over direct heat. (Spatchcock prior to starting the smoking process)
Should I Use a Water Pan In My Smoker?
This will depend on your cooker. You can add water, or apple juice, or apple cider vinegar (or any liquid). The purpose of a water pan when smoking any protein is to add humidity and thus moisture into the cooking chamber. You will best know your cooker, but if you are new to smoking low and slow, then try it out and see if you like it. It won’t hurt the cook at all.
Best Wines for Thanksgiving Dinner?
We’ve got you covered there too! In this post we’ve covered everything you need for selecting the best wines in all budgets for your holiday dinner.
Want More? Here are a few of our favorite side dishes for Thanksgiving.
Smoked Turkey and Bourbon Gravy
Smoked Sausage and Cornbread Stuffing (Dressing)
Smoked Turkey Collard Greens
Grilled Beet Salad with Rosé Infused Cranberries
Smoked Honey Butter
(for your rolls!)
Have a very Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!
*This post contains affiliate links. We only recommend and promote products we use and love and contribute to great barbecued and grilled foods, like a good digital thermometer!
If you like these recipes we’d truly appreciate it if you would give this recipe a star review! And if you share any of your pics on Instagram use the hashtag #vindulge. We LOVE to see it when you cook our recipes.
Why won’t you allow the recipe be printed for me to use???
I can’t put my computer in the kitchen while I try to use the recipe!
Hi Jerry, That’s strange. You should be able to hit the “print recipe” button, located at the top of this post and also on the actual recipe. I’m happy to send you a copy via email (I’ll send it right now). But in case anyone else is having issues printing can you let me know what browser you are using? That could be the problem? I was able to print it both from Safari and Chrome.
Very much enjoy Vindulge, but have a problem with kosher salt volumes; from an old NY Times article:
So I got out a one-cup measure and a scale, and I weighed similar volumes of Morton’s and Diamond Crystal kosher salts, plus regular table salt, generic coarse sea salt and Malden sea salt from England (included for no reason other than that I think it is the most beautiful of salts). Here’s the outcome, rounded off to the nearest five grams or eighth of an ounce (no, this is not a scientific inquiry):
Morton’s kosher: 250 grams (8 3/4 ounces)
Diamond Crystal kosher: 135 grams (4 3/4 ounces)
Table salt: 300 grams (10 5/8 ounces)
Coarse sea salt: 210 grams (7 3/8 ounces)
Malden sea salt: 120 grams (4 1/4 ounces)
James, appreciate your comments on the salt volumes. I would say, we test and focus our recipes on the use of quality kosher salt. While we don’t present specific brands, we use local kosher from Jacobsen’s salt. You can really adjust salt at your preference based on your palate. We go back and forth as to whether we get that specific on salt use, as it is really a taste experience.
That said, Maldon salt we use often for finishing (salad’s, baking, etc), as the salt is lighter in texture.
Do you not put your turkey in a foil pan, just directly on the grate?
You are correct. Just directly on the grill. You can put it in a foil pan if you wish to catch the drippings!
I can’t find the dry rub recipe.
Hi Chuck, you can find it here: https://www.vindulge.com/ultimate-homemade-dry-rub/
Any concerns with a bigger bird? I have a 15.5 pounder, and looking around online, it seems pretty mixed on smoking that size turkey. Would you still go with 275 and feel confident it will get passed the “danger zone” before the 4 hour mark? I’m considering going up to 300-325 to be safe – thoughts?
Thanks! Looking forward to this!
Don’t worry too much about a 15 pounder, we actually ended up with one too courtesy of the grocer. I would keep the same temperature, and plan extra time.
With larger birds, we like to also encourage a water pan (or any liquid really), somewhere in the smoker. You can use apple cider, apple cider vinegar, or just water. This will keep humidity in the smoker which in turn helps with your bird. If you go higher, just be careful, as you can run the risk of drying out the breast, especially the outer portion which cooks first.
My husband and I have been smoking turkeys for T-day for the last 10-ish years and won’t ever go back to non-smoked since we love it so much. Your bourbon brined bird sounds delicious and will be tried in the future since our menu is already set for this year.
I would like to share a tip to get crispy skin when smoking a turkey if I may since it has worked for us each time we do it; PULL THE TURKEY OUT OF THE BRINE THE NIGHT BEFORE SMOKING IT so the skin truly has a chance to dry off and not become rubbery from being too wet. We have the system down to a science now. Make the brine Monday after work, refrigerate overnight. Put the turkey in the brine Tuesday after work. On Wednesday night remove the turkey from the brine, place on pan with a rack to “dry” in the fridge until cook time on Thursday. We do an herbed butter on the skin every year too. Using this method has given us crispy, delicious skin every time! I hope this is helpful.
What a great tip!!! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Your ingredients call for “10 whole cloves” …. I”m assuming garlic, but, some editing/clarification would be much appreciated!
oops. Cloves. Whole cloves. I get it now, sorry, read that part too fast, disregard!
At what temp does the brine need to be cooled to add the turkey? I’m afraid it will “cook” the turley if above a certain temp.
Matt, the brine should be cooled down to at least a room temperature. You don’t want bacteria to grow. You can add ice to the brine if it is still warm. But ideally you get it to room temperature or cooler. As you store the brine, be sure you are at fridge temperature as well.
Love this recipe!!! We made it for Thanksgiving and pretty sure we will do this for Christmas. And of course add prime rib for New Years. Did two turkeys like you recommended for 14 people and we had plenty leftover.
Can you use this for whole chicken also?
Rylee you sure can! Chicken are smaller so you don’t need as much, but I would just brine two roaster chickens. What is key is the salt to water ratio, so that you don’t over salt.
This was the best turkey we’ve ever made! We’ve been smoking our thanksgiving turkey for years and have tried all kinds of recipes. We’ll never try another one though after this!! We even had to sub a few ingredients (ground cloves, a bit of regular salt, one less lemon, used whisky instead of bourbon) and it still turned out perfect. That trifecta of brine, butter and rub is apparently the turkey magic. We did two 9 lb. birds since we didn’t have our act together this year and got them at 10pm two nights before the big day. They turned out perfect though and cooked in 2–3 hours, can’t remember exactly how long. Thank you for the amazing recipe! Our guests raved this year like never before!
Thank you!!! And we love when folks switch it up, it’s all about the flavors you love!!!
I don’t know if I have ever left any comments online but HOLY FREAKIN MOLY! I found this recipe by chance and was intrigued as I have never “brined” turkey before and all I can say is I will not fix another turkey any other way. Hands down the best tasting, most juicy bird I have ever had. If I could give this recipe 500 stars I would. Stop searching and start prepping your bird.
Wow! That’s probably one of the best comments, ever. Thanks so much and I’m so happy you loved the turkey 🙂
Do you think this would work for a whole duck? I’ve never brined and smoked a duck before, so I don’t know if it would be overkill or nirvana. 🙂
Kathy I certainly think it will. We find duck is a very rich, almost red meat characteristic, so when we smoke we typically haven’t brined it. But the same principles are there.
Thanks for your time, I’m excited to try this. When you say “stuffing” do you just mean the oranges and onion and everything that’s added to the cavity? Or do you mean you actually add stuffing to this (like Stovetop) along with the ingredients you tell us about?
Thanks
Jack great question, we mean just the oranges, onions, herbs, garlic. We cook our stuffing outside the cavity. Easier when cooking so long.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer everyone’s questions. This was my 1st time cooking with a smoker. Your recipe was absolutely amazing. I realized about the stuffing when I actually went to do it. That bird was filled to the brim with everything you told us to stuff it with. Thanks again
Thanks Jack, that is what we’re here for!!
Holy Smoke shop flavor!!! Moist and Delicious. Followed the receipt almost exactly with the exception of using fresh oregano instead of rosemary and thyme for the body stuffing. I agree with author regarding fruit wood and I used pecan which has a similar burn to Apple. Put it in the smoker at 11 at 265 and took it out at 5 with the breast thermometer reading 165. Wrapped tight in heavy duty aluminum foil and put on the keep warm setting in my oven. We ate at 6 and the breast was as moist as any turkey out of the oven. I had a sandwich 24 hours later and the the breast was still moist and delicious.
Note to those new to smoking: Poultry can take on an acrid flavor if the smoke is too strong. Hard smoke woods likes Hickory, Mesquite, and Oak for me are too intense for poultry and especially this receipt. I embedded my pecan chips throughout my briquette smoke ring and lit a small fire in the center. I added no additional chips as the smoke ring burns away from the center is continues to feed smoke to the chamber.
Jon thanks so much for the feedback and all great points regarding the bigger woods!
This recipe turned out unreal! very good flavour, nice and moist. I was worried about only having an electric smoker but it turned out great. I also made soup with the carcass and left overs that took in a lot of the smoke flavour I thought it was really good
Matt, awesome!!! A smoker is a smoker, and so glad it came out and for dropping your feedback!! Cheers.