Smoked Turkey

Hi. This is a great recipe even for a first timer. I smoke two birds at a time (hate to leave empty space), one brined and one plain. Never had a bad bird. Been doing it for a long time. It takes up to 15 hours or more (for two big birds). Nice and juicy. For the person who reviewed the the raw bird, all I can say is, GET REAL. Never use Matchlight charcoal or for that matter any lighter fluid. First is leaves a very bad taste, and second, Matchlight chacoal burns fast and complete. This will not last the time to smoke the bird. Also you should know that smoked birds will always have a pinkish color. This is due to the chemical reaction with the smoke and the proten in the meat. It is the same temp. as when you take it out of the oven. To the first timers who whould like to try smoking a bird, don't let that review scare you away. My first bird was great. Follow instruction and get the facts. Happy smoking ya'll

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST RECIPES I HAVE TRIED,WOW!! DID MAKE A COUPLE CHANGES THOU,, AND THE SECOND BIRD CAME OUT BETTER,, FIRST OF ALL I USED TRUE HARDWOOD CHARCOAL,MAN MADEB RIQUTES HAVE A BONDING AGENTS TO HOLD IT TOGETHER AND TAKE AWAY FROM THE FLAVOR,,THE OTHER IDEA WAS I USED APPLE WOOD FOR THE SMOKE, THE APPLE WOOD IS MORE MELOW AND NOT AS HARSH,, THANK YOU GLEN FOR A GREAT IDEA,,I ENDED UP SMOKEING 6 TURKEYS USEING THIS METHOD,,

It is nice to see someone else has found the art of simplicity. I have been smoking turkeys with this same recipe for about 15 years. They turn out tasteing like smoked turkey not ham! Only suggestions I would make is to be sure and use a water smoker and place the bird on his brest (butt up in the air). Both suggestions help to keep the brest meat moist and tender.

i just cooked my 14lb turkey today using this recipe. I have a masterbuilt digital electric smoker, you dont have to open the door to feed chips. I decided to open up the door after only 4 1/2 hours of smoking @ 240 degrees. My turkey was falling off the bone done. I actually think it is over done with the breast a bit dry. Just thought i would add this for you ppl with the newer type smokers. I will try using a temp of 220 on my next attempt.

I'm not sure where Arcticqueen messed up but it is very obvious that she messed up somewhere. This is one good bird (if done right). It comes out very tender and moist and has just the right amount of smoke flavor to it. Just for a little variation I added a quart of orange juice to the water pan. We WILL be using this recipe again. Just a couple of hints; DO NOT keep looking at bird (or whatever you are smoking), just keep the fire going and trust what is happening. And secondly, know what the temp of the meat you're cooking is supposed to be and for your family's sake USE a meat thermometer to check meat before pulling it off the smoker. Enjoy!!

My dad has made turkey this way for years. It really is simple and easy to do.

Great recipe...terrific flavor! I had never used a smoker before and it came out perfectly. Not sure what the problem was with the underdone turkey in another review, but this method is pretty well fool-proof! My smoker directions did explicitly say NOT to use Match Light charcoal. We did use a roasted garlic butter rub under the skin that added a nice flavor to the bird as well. We simply roasted a full head of garlic in the oven and squeezed it in some softened butter and rubbed it in. Thanks Glenn! Not sure we'll ever fix turkey another way!

I used a turkey breast and this turned out fabulous...tender...juicy... smokey! I'm not sure what was going on with the person whose turned out Raw but it sounds like her charcoal went out and she didn't know it. This is a great way to make turkey!

We brined our turkey first with an apple juice brine overnight. We then stuffed it with oranges, onions, carrots and celery. We used apple/cherry chips to the charcoal also. We cooked our 15 lb turkey about 3.5-4 hours on a Big Green Egg at 300 degrees until the temp reached 180. It remained VERY juicy and delicious!!! See photo!

I have smoked everything under the sun. Smoked turkey is great! But 180 degrees will leave your turkey like sawdust! 160 in the breast is best, and it will still be cooking while it rests. (Brine it and it will always be juicy.) Also, smoking a Turkey at 240 degrees will take a full day and half a night to reach those kind of internal temperatures. By then the outside of the turkey will be like rubber. Cook it first and finish it on the smoker. It will be perfect and WAY faster.

This is a very easy and basic recipe. I recommend brining prior to smoking to get a juicier bird. be sure to let the turkey rest at least 20 to 30 minutes prior to carving. I will be cooking 2 birds tomorrow and I will post photos

I am smoking this as I type this reveiw, so dont know what I am reviewing yet. But I do have SERIOUS questions about whomever this company is that did the nutritional details. Geeze, this is turkey, with no fixins...How in the heck are they thinking there is 800+ calories, and 40+ grams of fat in Turkey. Please someone let me know they are as crazy as I think they are.

nummy nummy nummy!!!! I've always eaten my dad's smoked turkey and never did one on my own until today. Being Christmas eve....Thank God It took little to no effort and it was fabulous!!! Wasn't planning on making a turkey for Christmas but hey it was free ;-). Followed the directions to a T, with my electric smoker. And the turkeys skin was that amber leather that kept all the juicies in and meat suculant! Will totally make the bird again this way. I even threw in 5 chicken leg quarters in the smoker with the turkey and my husband and son said it tasted like cowboy heaven! Totally pleased! TY

I've been doing my meats like this for years, and turkey is best done this way (I usually rub the bird with butter then spinkle onion power, garlic powder, salt & peper on it or creol seasoning, it's great!)I've only had 1 bird turn out bad,{which was probably articqueen's problem too, not enough air flow and coals went out) other than that everything else was a hit. I don't have a smoke, so i use a barrel type smoker/grill and put my coals on one side and meats/birds on other to cook on indirrect heat, this way it'll never burn on the outside, but, nice and juicy on the inside. just make sure you have an accurate meat thermometer to insure you bird is done thouroughly 165 -180 degrees (f) no less and preferrably no more

Great, easy recipe. I think articqueens problem was that she didn't realize that smoked turkey is very pink. It is done, the temperature should be above 170, but the meat will look raw because smoking releases nitrites causing it to be very pink. I don't think her turkey actually was raw, just looked that way.

pretty much how i smoke a turkey, except i use an electric smoker and use hickory chunks. pretty fool proof, takes me more like 8 hours

I basically followed this recipe to the letter. The meat turned out moist and had a good flavor. Some notes: -Get a remote thermometer. It doesn't matter what temperature it is in the smoker, if your meat isn't 175-180, it ain't done. There's no other way to know that than with a remote thermometer. As other people pointed out, you don't want to lift the lid of your smoker even once, or you loose all of your heat, so a remote thermometer is a must. -When you put your thermometer in, make sure that the pin is entirely surrounded by meat as much as possible, particularly the tip. -Don't use lighter fluid. I used one of those electric starters. It's a loop that gets really hot when you plug it in. Works like a charm. -Get extra charcoal. We ran out and had to finish the cooking in the oven. -Turkey turns golden almost right away. This is to be expected. It won't get burnt if you leave it in longer. -It cooked in about 3 hours for me, which was much faster than I thought it would be.

I really liked this recipe! But I had a problem with my smoker, which wasn't getting hot enough, so six hours into the smoking, I transferred the turkey to the oven and finished cooking it at 400 degrees for 1 hour. It was very good, but I recommend adding turkey gravy for flavor.

Best bird ever. Followed instructions to a T . I have had many suggestions on how to do this from family and friends but simplicity tastes sooo good.

GREAT RECIPE!!! EASY for MOST!! JUST HAD to leave a review to show that STUPID ppl should NEVER try to SMOKE AYTHING!!! ARTCIQUEEN prbly had a hard time keeping the PAPER LIT as they TRIED to SMOKE their BIRD!!!

I have smoked turkeys for years like this and this is a great recipe. My turkey was always the first to go.

Simple and spot on. The weight/time/temperature ratio works out perfect. Of course, always use a thermometer to make sure it's done. I'm partial to using pecan chips which are kind of sweet and mild and give the bird a nice golden color. Also, a quick massage of olive or peanut oil and a rub of kosher salt, cracked black pepper, and rosemary are a nice touch. But if you're looking for a simple, delicious bird this recipe will get you there in a jiffy. Thanks for sharing.

A fully cooked smoked turkey will show some pink on the inside.Use your meat thermometer. If you're at 165 in the breast and 180 on the thigh - you're smoked and fully cooked. Most of the pink areas are near the bones, the central meat areas will look like ordinary "white" turkey meat. Pink is OK if the temperature is right.

Glen....You The Man! Broke in my new Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker with this recipe and WOW. Very nice recipe. Whole family loved the smoked Turkey. Will definitely being making another in the not so distant future! Once again Thanks.

I used an 8lb breast and smoked it for just about 7.5 hrs . I soaked the hickory chips overnight. Turkey turned out great! I will be doing this again! Thanks

what a tasty treat for the holidays

My husband does the grilling part and I prepare the bird. The first thing is not to get too big of a turkey, he says keep it under 15 pounds. A large Weber is his grill, and he soaks the hickory wood chips ahead in a bucket of water. He puts a foil pan with some water to maintain the heat in the middle of the bottom of the grill and charcoal on each side with the hickory added in. You can go to Weber.com and see how to do this. Add charcoal and chips as needed while cooking, keeping temperature close to 350°. I put some chunks of onion, garlic celery in the pan with a bit of chicken broth poured over, not much, for Aromatics. I place the bird in the foil pan over the vegetables, and rub olive oil all over it, and put tabs of soft butter under the skin and mush it in good. I then sprinkle, Kosher salt, ground black pepper, and some shakes of dried parsley, oregano and sage. If I have extra vegetables I stuff them inside the bird. This year my husband started the bird upside down, breast to the bottom and cooked it for an hour before turning it over. OMG, did that ever make the breast juicy and flavorful. It takes two sets of hands and heat gloves to turn the turkey over. He does cover the leg and wing tips with foil if they are getting to cooked towards the last hour. We've never cooked a turkey beyond 170° at the fatty thigh. He removes it and wraps it in foil for a good twenty minutes to rest before carving.

Ours didn't take but only 3 hours on a 10 pound bird. Delicious! Looking forward to all of our turkeys being cooked this way.

Excellent recipe. I used chunks of wet maple from my woodpile instead of hickory chips and this worked well (spray the coals and wood with water once in awhile to keep the fire from flaring up). The turkey had two bags of giblets...I took one out and didn't catch the second bag until I started carving the bird. The liver and gizzards smoked along with the bird and they were exquisite!

Good basic recipe! I always inject my turkeys before smoking them. My favorite injection is Teriyaki sauce and I usually change it up a little by adding about a cup of brown sugar, onion and garlic powder and heating it up in the microwave to melt it all together. Get a good quality syringe with a long needle to inject the breast and dark meat thoroughly. It Will be the best turkey you've ever eaten!

We love smoking/grilling our turkeys for the holidays! it is a super simple and delicious way to prepare a bird folks will talk about for years. I brine mine for 24 hrs , Pat dry and rub with a compound butter. I reserve a qt. of the brine liquid to put under the turkey on the grill in a aluminum roasting pan. This method hasn't let me down yet.

I'm a minimalist, but this recipe made me pause. No salt? No butter? No herbs? Nothing but smoke? Tested it a couple of weeks ago, and it was awesome. Will be making another for Thanksgiving.

Mine burneed a little however, it was still very juicy inside. It was enjoyed by all.

Delish & easy! Took a little longer than they said.

I couldn't wait until Thanksgiving to try this, just in case it needed a few tweaks. I shot the turkey up with my secret seasons, and then smoked it for 4 hours. I did this on a Thursday afternoon, and nothing was left but bones on Saturday night when I went for another few slices... Great taste and really easy!!!

I used a propane smoker, cherry wood, 300 degrees for 6 hours on a 13# turkey... hourly spritzing with a mild apple cider vinegar mix. Put the excess skin around the neck into the cavity, all the fat made for a lot of super moist tasty juice steaming on the inside of the bird. Family wiped it out in two days... YUMMY!!!

Best turkey EVER!!! Use the jalapeno brine and cooked as directed in a Charbroil electric smoker. Had a Grilled pineapple, Jalapeno, apple chutney, baked sweet potato, side salad with sweet homemade dressing. BEST meal we have had in days!