Smoked Duck Breast on a Pit Boss

Sharing is caring!

Want to to learn how to make a tasty smoked duck breast using a simple smoke and reverse sear method? It’s a great way to add some pizzazz to a classic duck breast recipe for gatherings with friends and family.

Whether you’re celebrating or just showing off your cooking skills, this recipe is easy. Just make sure you understand the steps: dry brining for crispy skin, smoking, and finally, searing for that delicious crispy finish. 

There are a couple of tricks to it though, it’s not as easy as just whacking it in the smoker. But they’re easy to nail if you follow along below.

Why You’ll Love This Smoked Duck Pit Boss Breast Recipe

You’ll love this smoked duck breast recipe because it’s super easy to do.

It is one of those recipes you can keep in your back pocket if you ever impress a crowd or throw together a super quick dinner party.

What You’ll Need to Cook Traeger Smoked Duck Breast

Duck Breast
BBQ Rub

How to Make Smoked Duck Breast

Step 1: Set Your Smoker to 225°F

Add your chosen wood chips to your smoker and set it to 225°F and give it time to heat up.

Step 2: Prepping Your Duck

While the smoker is heating up, prep your duck by lightly scoring the fat in a cross-hatch fashion.

Then season both sides of the breast with your bbq rub. You can season it at least an hour before smoking or overnight for more flavor.

Step 3: Smoking the Duck

The smoker should now be at 225°F. Leave breasts in the smoker for 45 minutes, or until the internal meat temperature of the meat hits 130°F.

You can attach your probe to a breast to monitor the internal temperature.

Step 4: Searing the Duck

Let the breast rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, crank up the flame broiler. We want to get a nice sear on the duck breast 1 to 2 minutes on each side.

If you want it to be extra cooked, you can cook the breast until 140°F for medium doneness.

What Temperature to Smoke Duck Breast At

You’ll need to heat the smoker to 225°F before putting in the duck .

What Internal Temperature You Need to Reach for Smoked Duck Breast

For perfectly smoked duck breast, aim to reach an internal temperature of around 130-135°F (54-57°C).

This ensures a tender, juicy result with a beautiful medium-rare to medium doneness. 

To achieve this, you should use a reliable meat thermometer and monitor the temperature carefully during the smoking process.

Once you hit the target temperature, proceed with the final sear for that crispy skin.

How Long to Smoke Smoked Duck Breast

The duck breast will need to be smoked for at least 45 minutes or until you reach 130-135°F (54-57°C).

How to Store Leftover Smoked Duck Breast Pit Boss

The best way to store duck breast is in the fridge for up to three days.

Best Wood Chips for Smoked Duck Breast

The best wood chips for smoking duck breast are fruity wood chips like cherry, maple, apple, and pecan.

I’m a big fan of hickory however it does have a strong flavor, so it really depends if you like a mild smoky flavor or a strong flavor. 

What to Serve With Traeger Smoked Duck Breast

Duck breast works well with light salads and simple flavors. Some things I would serve with smoked duck breast are:

• Potato Salad
• Green Vegetables
• Fried Rice
• Ceasar Salad
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Creamy Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Why Score Duck Meat?

Scoring the fat side of the duck before smoking helps render down the fat so the skin will crisp up when you eventually sear it on the grill.

It’s the standard thing to do when preparing duck breasts. Scoring also helps with storage later on down the track. 

You can smoke the duck in a cast iron pan as well and use the duck fat later to drizzle on top of vegetables or other sides you have.

Smoking the duck breasts in a cast iron pan helps to collect the fat. 

How to Reverse Sear Duck Breast

Searing the duck is using a naked and open flame to quite literally burn the meat. (Of course, don’t literally burn it— in this case, we’re searing it).

For this recipe, I only sear them for a couple of minutes on each side but you can sear them for longer if you like your skin crunchy.

You can use a pan for this process which is called pan searing.

You’d just need a cast-iron pan which would need to be heated up on the flame broiler and the breasts transferred to the pan to be seared on.

I don’t include this in my recipe because not everyone has a cast iron pan, so I’ve made it friendly for those who don’t!

How to Tell When a Duck Is Finished Cooking

Duck breast should be a dark brown color when cooked.

The best way to know when the duck is finished cooking is by using an instant-read thermometer or a temperature probe, but the fat should be nice and crisp and the meat itself should be tender and dark brown.

Looking for More Duck Recipes?

Love to cook duck as much as me? Then you need to try some of my other recipes

Duck Jalapeno Poppers

Cherry Chipotle Smoked Duck

What Sort of Duck To Use?

There are a couple different types of ducks you can get when you’re at the supermarket. They are:

White Pekin: has a tender, mild flavor.

Muscovy: is larger with a more robust flavor

Moulard: is a hybrid of a female Pekin and a male Muscovy.

The breasts on these birds (magrets) are prized because of their larger size and steak-like eating qualities. but it’s not necessary you have them for this recipe.

Duck breast 500g
Bbq rub

Smoke On!

Charlie

Hungry For More?