Smoking your Thanksgiving Turkey guarantees superior flavor and texture. The meat stays juicy, while the skin turns out golden and crispy.
What you'd love about Smoked Turkey
Cooking a turkey in your smoker will add incredible flavor to the meat, skin and drippings to make your gravy.
Smoking a turkey will be your new favorite way to cook for Thanksgiving. The turkey is spatchcocked for faster cooking.
Cooking your turkey in the smoker frees up your oven to cook your side dishes and the turkey's flavor is so much better.
The dry rub for this turkey and the herb butter are the perfect duo to infuse flavor and keep the turkey moist and juicy.
Ingredients
For a smoked turkey it is recommended to use a smaller bird for food safety reasons.
The turkey will sit at a low temperature for a long time, so a smaller the bird (10 Lbs. or under) is ideal.
If you have a crowd to feed, it is recommended to have 2 smaller turkeys in the smoker rather than a large one.
- Turkey: A 10-12 pound bird is ideal, you can cook 2 easily in the pellet grill if you have a large crowd to feed.
- Dry rub: a spice blend that infuses the turkey with flavor and aroma.
- Garlic herb butter: this butter has plenty of garlic and aromatic herbs that will give an extra flavor boost to the turkey. We will baste the turkey with this butter and also inject the turkey with it.
Tools needed
To spatchcock the turkey, a chef's knife or kitchen shears are best.
For accuracy, I like to use a Probe thermometer to measure the temperature of my turkey at all times.
You will need a large tray with a rack to catch the turkey drippings.
Serving suggestions
This smoked turkey is perfect served with Tini's Mac and cheese and all the Thanksgiving classic side dishes.
If you are looking for a complete Thanksgiving guide, check my Thanksgiving meal for 10 people.
Recipe step by step
Thaw your turkey
Buy a turkey that is not pre-brined. Place it in the fridge with a pan to catch the juices. Thaw for 2-3 days.
Remove from packaging, take out the giblets and neck.
Spatchcock the turkey
I like to butterfly my turkey for a more even cooking and a shorter cooking time. You will need a sharp knife or kitchen shears to remove the backbone from your turkey.
Once the backbone is removed, gently press down on the breast to flatten the turkey.
Dry Brine the Turkey
Pat dry the skin of the turkey and add the dry rub spice mix and be sure to coat it well.
Place the turkey in the fridge overnight, uncovered.
Make the Garlic Compound Butter
To guarantee a moist and flavorful turkey, we use the butter two ways: generously rubbed under the skin to keep the meat tender, and injected directly into the breast and thighs for concentrated flavor.
Divide the butter in half. Melt one half and inject it in the breast and thighs.
Use the other half (not melted but softened) to spread under the skin.
Smoke the turkey
Place the turkey in the preheated smoker, close the lid and smoke for about 6 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 160F. The rule of thumb is approximately 30 minutes per pound of turkey.
Let the turkey rest for about 30 minutes covered with foil before carving.
Smoked Turkey
Equipment
- 1 Pellet smoker
Ingredients
- 1 12lb. turkey defrosted
For the rub
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt I use Diamond Crystal.
- 1 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
For the compound butter
- 1 cup butter 225 grams, softened
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Lemon zest and juice
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme chopped
Instructions
Prep the turkey
- Remove the neck and giblets from the defrosted turkey.1 12lb. turkey
- Using shears or a sharp knife, remove the backbone of the turkey.
- Place the turkey breast side up and apply firm pressure to the center of the breastbone to flatten the rib cage.
Prepare the rub
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the rub ingredients until well incorporated.½ cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoons smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
Prepare the butter
- In a medium bowl add the ingredients. Use a spatula to stir them well and divide the mixture into half. Keep one half reserved at room temperature and melt the other half in the microwave for 30 seconds.1 cup butter, 4 cloves garlic, 1 Lemon, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon ground pepper, 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
Preheat Smoker
- Preheat your pellet smoker to 225F using your chips of choice. For this turkey recipe we like to use cherry wood.
Season the turkey
- Inject the turkey breast and thighs with the melted butter.
- Separate the skin and meat using your fingers gently around the breast and thighs without ripping the skin.
- Rub the softened butter that you had reserved in between the skin and meat.
- Season the turkey with the rub all over the skin and inside the cavity.
Cook the turkey
- Place the turkey on a rack with a baking sheet underneath to catch the drippings. Smoke the turkey for about 30 minutes per pound of meat or until a thermometer read 160 on the breast.
- Let it rest for about 30 minutes covered before serving.
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