Julie Clark
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Best Smoked Turkey Recipe
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Ever wondered how to smoke a turkey? This is the best smoked turkey recipe we’ve tried. Free up the oven and learn how to make an amazing dinner of smoked turkey stuffed with fruit, herbs and aromatics.
Summer is often the time we make smoked pork tenderloin or smoked meatloaf, but fall is perfect for testing out smoked turkey recipes for Thanksgiving.
Traditionally, my family traditionally cooks a whole turkey in an oven bag for our Thanksgiving turkey. But every now and then we like to try something new. We came across this turkey recipe on Allrecipes.com and it got amazing reviews so we had to give it a try. It was the juiciest turkey I’d ever had. Absolutely delicious!
What is the best smoker for smoked turkey?
We’ve cooked smoked turkeys two ways:
- Electric Smoker: We had a Masterbuilt smoker when we first started smoking meat. It worked great! It was small and easy to take care of, but could easily hold two turkeys. See the one we had here.
- Pellet Grill Smoker: This summer, we upgraded to a Traeger wood pellet smoker. My husband is 100% in love with this grill. Not only does it easily smoke meat, but it grills up hamburgers and chicken beautifully too. See the grill we love.
What flavor wood chips for smoking turkey?
We like to use wood chips with a slightly sweet flavor such as apple, apricot, cherry, peach or maple. Hickory is stronger but is always a classic and gives an even smoky flavor! Mesquite also goes well with turkey.
How do I prepare a turkey for smoking?
Although it is common to rinse a turkey before cooking, the USDA does not recommend this because it can spread germs around your kitchen in doing so. If you are making a turkey brine recipe, then you should definitely rinse it, but otherwise, there is no need to rinse!
Place the turkey in a large roasting pan (we often use disposable for easy cleanup). Remove the neck and giblets. You can save these for another use (we use them for gravy) or discard them. Take paper towels and pat the turkey dry. You do this so the seasoning will stick to the bird.
What is a good seasoning for turkey?
Often times you can get creative and put a dry spice rub all over the outside of the turkey, but for this recipe we kept it simple with minced garlic and seasoned salt.
Most of the flavor for this turkey is coming from ingredients being baked inside the cavity, so garlic and seasoned salt just help add to that flavor.
Still convinced you need more seasoning? Try thyme, rosemary, paprika, onion powder or even brown sugar.
What can I put in the turkey cavity for flavor?
When I saw the combination of ingredients that when inside this turkey, I was initially confused, but immediately went to excited. Coca-cola, apple, onion, butter….I mean really. It doesn’t get much better than that! And we love using soda in our Dr. Pepper pulled pork and crockpot ribs.
The apple and cola help add a little sweetness. The butter and onion make the drippings that you’ll use to baste the turkey so rich. Sometimes we had a little celery or carrots. And the turkey gravy you could make from this? Amazing. Tweak the ingredients if you’d like, but this combo is fantastic.
Is basting the turkey really necessary?
If you want to make the best smoked turkey recipe, then yes, I recommend basting. The skin and the foil help to keep the turkey juicy on its own, but since you’ll have to be checking on the turkey in the smoker a few times anyway, go ahead and baste it. You won’t regret it.
How long does it take to smoke a turkey?
It’s good to plan 30 minutes per pound when you smoke a turkey between 225-250 degrees F. Our turkey was 13 pounds and took about 7 hours in the smoker to reach 180º Fahrenheit. Check the internal temperature with a probe thermometer.
Test the temperature in the thickest part of the the thickest part of the turkey breast or the innermost part of the thigh, making sure you don’t touch any bones.
What To Serve with Smoked Turkey
Now that you have the best smoked turkey recipe, here are some side dishes to serve with it:
- Green Bean Casserole
- The Best Mashed Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Corn Casserole
- Buttery Soft Rolls
- Turkey Stuffing
Have leftovers? Try this turkey casserole! And if you like this recipe, you may also like our smoked shrimp or whole smoked chicken.
Best Smoked Turkey Recipe
Ever wondered how to smoke a juicy turkey? This is the best smoked turkey recipe we’ve tried. Free up the oven and learn how to smoke turkey stuffed with fruit and aromatics for an amazing turkey dinner.
Servings 15
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 13 pound whole turkey (thawed)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons seasoned salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 24 ounces cola flavored soda pop (We used Coca Cola)
- 1 large apple (quartered)
- 1 large onion (quartered)
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey, and pat the turkey dry. 13 pound whole turkey
- Rub the minced garlic all over the turkey, then sprinkle the entire outside of the bird with seasoned salt. 2 teaspoons minced garlic, 2 tablespoons seasoned salt
- Place the turkey in a large roasting pan or disposable aluminum pan. Stuff the large cavity of the bird with the remaining ingredients. Cover the turkey loosely with foil. ½ cup butter, 24 ounces cola flavored soda pop, 1 large apple, 1 large onion, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- Prepare the smoker and heat to 250º Fahrenheit. Place the turkey in the smoker and baste every 1-2 hours with turkey juices from the pan.
- Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 180º Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the thigh. It’s good to plan 30 minutes per pound when you smoke a turkey between 225-250º Fahrenheit. This turkey was 13 pounds and took about 7-8 hours to get to temperature.
- Remove the turkey from the smoker and allow it to sit, still covered with foil, for 10 minutes before slicing.
Video
Notes
The calories shown are based on the feeding about 15 people, with 1 serving being 1/15 of the turkey. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**
Nutrition
Calories: 479kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 60g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 217mg | Sodium: 1764mg | Potassium: 667mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 355IU | Vitamin C: 1.6mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 2.6mg
Going to give it my first crack this year at smoking. Could I add stuffing to the neck area while smoking it?
Great recipe. There was almost nothing left with my family this year.
Folks, there are better pellet smokers than Traeger. Do some some research. Don’t just walk into your favorite big box store or hardware store and grab the first Traeger that you see.
I spent a couple of weeks looking at multiple smokers and ended up with a Rec-Tec. It has served me reliably for years and produced some amazing smoked meats and vegetables.
I made this Turkey and it is truely a great recipe. I carved the Turkey up ahead of time and placed it back in the cooking juices, covered it and refrigerated until I was ready to reheat and serve. I also strained the cooking liquid before adding Turkey back to it. It was so moist and flavorful. Everyone loved it. I used my Rectec smoker with foil cover but basically just resting on top of the Turkey and bent around it without sealing it to the side of the pan. Worked perfectly!
Does the turkey go in the smoker with the coke In it?
What wood (flavor) is best to use in my electric smoker, I have several different kinds but haven’t cooked Turkey enough to know which flavor to use?
Will this recipe work for a 25 pound turkey? I have a large family.
Do you just pour the cola in the cavity?
First of all this turkey tastes amazing. We made it for Thanksgiving and everyone was raving. However, our cook time was much longer than stated here. We had a 9 pound turkey. At half hour per pound it should have been done by 5. It didn’t get done until 8pm so super late dinner. And that was with turning the heat up a few times. We also pulled it off when it reached 160 then let it rest for the other 5 degrees. We are making it again for tonight and it is smoking as I type this. I gave… Read more »
Did you use moistened chips or dry chips? Also how often do you check the chips? This will be my first time smoking. I have an electric smoker. Thank you
I didn’t have a Coke so I just used chicken stock and it came out beautifully! This was my first time smoking a turkey and I couldn’t have been happier. This is the only way I will ever make a turkey anymore.
Was delicious! Had to turn up the heat to 325 the last 45 min to finish it in time so breast meat was a little dry but that was my bad. I would definitely make it again and allow an extra hour over the estimate in the instructions to cook it. Few things I noticed: I poked 6 good sized holes in the foil, like the size of a 50 cent piece. Was NOT necessary. Actually got too dark in spots. Maybe two holes or loosely attached like the instructions said and it would be an even colored brown at… Read more »
Not sure where we went wrong. 13lbs and at 6 hours only got to 130•f. Took off foil and it got to only 140• after another hour. Decided to finish off in oven.
I’m using Dr Pepper as we speak as I had no cola. Have you tried this before? Fingers crossed!
Am I suppose to soak it in cola or just add it to the pan?