How To Get Crispy Skin On Smoked Turkey

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There is nothing like a smoked turkey, but one of the best parts is the crispy skin of smoked turkey, along with the cranberry sauce and all the trimmings. However, it can be tricky to achieve both juicy, moist, flavorful meat and crispy skin.

The balance between the high heat needed to get crispy skin and keeping the meat moist is tricky. Read on for some tips on how to ensure your smoked turkey has both crisp skin and moist meat.

What Really Goes Into Getting Crispy Skin?

Before we proceed, it is worth understanding the science behind achieving crispy skin on poultry. Poultry skin contains collagen and fat, both of which need a really high temperature to render down and become crispy.

It is much easier to get crispy skin on your turkey in the oven because ovens are designed to reach that high temperature. Whereas smokers are for going low and slow. This can mean you end up with rubbery skin. Below, we will discuss the tools and methods you need to ensure you get crispy skin on your turkey every time.

How to Get Crispy Skin on Turkey

Achieving crispy skin on your turkey begins before you put it in the smoker; it primarily occurs during the preparation stage. After defrosting your fresh turkey, you want to brine it. There are two brining options, dry brining and wet brining.
Both work well in conjunction, whether you’re cooking a spatchcock turkey or smoking a whole turkey. If you don’t have time, you can do one of these brining methods.

Wet Brining

First, take note whether your turkey is pre-brined. If it pre-brined, it might say on the label it was soaked in water and salt, which means it’s already brined, which means you can skip this step. I prefer to buy a turkey that isn’t brined and do it myself.

When you wet brine, you add flavor and moisture; the water and salt permeate the meat. This helps the proteins to break down as well as ensure the meat stays moist during the low and slow smoking process.

You should brine for 24 hours and no more than 30 hours. Once the turkey is brined, dry it off it with paper towel.

Dry Brining

If you only wet-brine your turkey, towel-dry it, and apply a rub, you won’t achieve crispy skin. I also like to dry brine the turkey, this is a process in which you apply a dry brine to the skin which dries out the skin whilst in the fridge.

You need a kosher salt turkey rub; you apply the rub to the inside and outside of the turkey. When cooking a spatchcock turkey, ensure you season both sides.

Then, you put the turkey in the oven, uncovered, for at least 2 hours, but if you have time, overnight is best. The salt in the dry brine will draw the moisture out, and dry the skin of the turkey, this ensures when you smoked it you get that delicious crispy skin.

You can also use baking powder instead of the rub, this also to also dry out the skin and draw out the excess moisture. Once the skin is thoroughly dried, you can coat the entire bird in baking powder and then rub it with butter or oil. Oil will produce a better result, as butter naturally contains water. 

What You Need to Ensure Crispy Skin

1. Brining Container: A large stock pot, ideally 16 quarts, is perfect for brining. If brining multiple turkeys, consider using a cooler. If using a cooler, continually add ice to maintain a safe temperature, mimicking that of a refrigerator.
2. Chopping Boards: You will need these for both preparing and slicing.
3. Paper Towels: You need lots of paper towels for drying the skin. You’ll need plenty for patting dry the skin after brining.
4. Probe Thermometer: You need a leave-in style thermometer so you can monitor the internal temperature of the turkey while it is smoking.
5. Instant Read Thermometer: While the probe thermometer will help you monitor the internal temperature over the whole cook, you should also get an instant-read thermometer. Make sure you check the temperature in the thickest parts of the turkey.
6. Kosher Salt: Ensure you have kosher salt; avoid table salt, as it contains iodine.

Mastering The Smoking Process

It doesn’t matter what type of smoking you’re using, it’s all about smoking at the correct temperature. I have also included some information on the type of wood that produces crisper skin, my thoughts on basting and resting your turkey.

Does Your Choice of Wood Chips Matter?

The wood chips you pick not only contribute to the flavor but also to the moisture level of the turkey. I usually use wood chunks or wood chips made from fruitwood, such as applewood or cherrywood. Both burn at a low rate and impart a mild smoky flavor which is good for poultry.

Turkey Preparation

We discussed this in the previous section, you need to either wet brine or dry brine or if you have time do a combination of both. You want the turkey skin to be dry. Remember to prep the turkey and use a leave-in thermometer to ensure you are monitoring the internal temperature of the turkey. You want to make sure the thickest part of the bird, which is the breast, reaches 165°F. If you overcook it, the skin may go rubbery.

Resting The Turkey

Once the thickest part of the breast reaches 160°F, you can remove the turkey from the smoker and place it on a wire rack. Don’t tent the turkey as we mentioned below, this can create steam and make the crispy skin go rubbery. All you want to do is place foil loosely over the turkey.

Skin Not As Crispy As You Hoped?

If you find the skin still isn’t crispy to your liking, you can give it a quick blast in the oven. Set your oven to 450°F or 232°F and place your turkey on a baking tray, and allow it to cook for a few minutes. Watch it like a hawk, you dont want the turkey to char.

Different Smoker Temperature and Cooking Time

Using a Pellet Smoker

Start with a lower temperature of around 250°F. This is the best way to smoke a turkey on a pellet grill and still get crispy skin. This temperature will render the fat and collagen, after cooking for two hours, and then increase the temperature to 375°F, which will crisp up the partly rendered skin. If your smoker doesn’t go this high, you can put the turkey in the oven instead at 375°F.

Using a Charcoal Smoker

If you’re using a charcoal smoker, aim for a temperature of 275°F, and the key is maintaining a consistent temperature. This allows the smoke to penetrate the meat and render the fat, causing it to crisp up.

What Makes Turkey Skin So Rubbery?

There are a few reasons why skin can become rubbery. See them below so you can avoid them!

1. Maintaining the Temperature

The skin of a bird gives the first impression, and crispy golden brown skin wins over soggy grey every time. Low and slow is perfect for the gorgeous, smoky-flavored, juicy breast meat, but the process does little to achieve crispy turkey skin.

High heat is required to render some of the fat from the skin and crisp it up. Cooking the turkey at temperatures between 275-325 is the ideal temp. Cooking at temperatures lower than that is the biggest cause of soft and rubbery skin.

Of course, too high and the fragile skin burns away, and the flesh dries out, resulting in dry white meat.

If you have a frozen bird, defrost it completely in the refrigerator before preparing for cooking. Frozen or partially defrosted turkey will struggle to reach even internal temperatures and will release too much moisture. Regular monitoring with a digital meat thermometer is a must.

2. Avoid Tenting Turkey

Tenting is a process that allows the meat to rest and preserve the juices. it involves folding aluminum foil around the meat, once removed from the grill, in a tent shape to keep the meat moist and the internal temperature up while the meat is resting.

Unfortunately, it also causes moisture to become trapped under the foil, creating steam that softens the skin and prevents it from crisping up.

You can avoid this by ensuring there is good airflow around the bird while maintaining a high cooking temperature.

3. Avoid Basting or Using a Pan

As with the other two methods, basting with butter or chicken broth every 40 minutes is another way to maintain moisture. However, applying a liquid to the bird will have a cooling effect on the outer layers, and keep the skin too moist,

Avoid sitting the turkey in a dish that will allow the juices to pool around it. This will just tend to boil the meat and leave it soggy. The more contact with moisture the skin has, the harder it will be to achieve crisper skin.

Not Sure How Much Turkey You Need?

If you’re wondering how many pounds of turkey breast per person, you need to allow for 1¼ lbs of raw turkey per person, and for a whole turkey allow 1¼ lbs of raw turkey per person.

Our Secrets Techniques to Crispy Skin

• Cooking time will vary ensure you have a thermometer, so you can an eye on the internal temperature.
  
• Plan out your cook; you don’t want the smoked turkey done too early before your guests are ready to eat. The longer it sits around, the soggy the skin will be.
  
• If you have a wood smoker that struggles to reach high temperatures, consider transferring the turkey to a conventional oven for the final cook and crisp.
  
• Try smoking a butterball turkey, they are already seasoned, which makes it easier to get crispy skin.
  
• If your use a rub make sure you apply a binder on the turkey first. You can use mustard or oil
  
• If you are smoking your turkey in an electric smoker, be sure to use cherrywood chips, which complement the flavor profile well.
  
• Using a Pit Barrel? You need to smoke your turkey for at least 3.5-7 hours on a Pit Barrel until the internal temperature of the turkey legs reaches 180°F and the turkey breast reaches 165°F.
  
• The meat won’t lose any of the amazing flavors, as it’s already been infused with the smoke flavor during the first stages of the cook.
• Looking forward to leftovers? If you want to know how to reheat smoked turkey legs or whole turkey, its recommended you use an oven and put some juice in the pan to ensure it stays moist.

As you may have guessed, any excess moisture is the enemy when trying to crisp up the skin. The only thing worse than soggy skin is dry turkey meat!

Try some of the above methods with your favorite smoked turkey recipe and hopefully your next turkey will be the magic blend of crispy skin, smoky flavor, and juicy moist meat!

Smoke On!

Charlie

Hungry For More?

Smoke On!

Charlie

Hungry For More?