Butterball Smoked Turkey Recipe
A simple and deliciously juicy Butterball Smoked Turkey for your holiday meal
Equipment
- 1 Smoker
Ingredients
- 8-12 lbs Whole Butterball Turkey Frozen, or Fresh Turkey (8 - 12 lbs.)
- 2 tbsp Dry Rub
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Cooking Oil
Instructions
- Note: Butterball Turkeys are usually pre-brined. For this reason, do not add salt to your marinade or dry rub. If you still want to brine your turkey, follow simple brine recipes before applying a marinade or dry rub. They have some great tips on smoking it here.
- If frozen, take the turkey out of the freezer and placing it in the fridge for a few days.
- Unwrap the turkey and remove the neck, giblets (and wingtips if you wish)
- To apply the dry rub, spread some butter all over the turkey and rub the dry spices all over. The butter makes the spices stick to the meat.
- Picking your wood, I recommend light flavors like applewood or Cherrywood for turkey as it complements the flavor.
- Pre-heat smoker between 225-250° F for 10-15 mins
- Brush skin with oil, place the turkey breast side up on the smoker, to get that crispy skin. Put oven-safe meat thermometer into turkey thigh
- Cover the smoker and close the vents a quarter of the way
- Check your turkey temperature after 3-4 hours and three-quarters of the smoke time. At the first and second temperature checks, the turkey temperature should reach 140° F and 165° F, respectively. Your turkey is fully cooked if it reaches an internal temperature of 175°– 180° F in the thigh and 170° F in the breast. Note the Butterball turkeys don't have a pop-up timer that lets you know when it's cooked.
- Turn everything off and allow the finished turkey to rest for 10-15 minutes
- Serve with your favorite sides