Traeger Smoked Turkey
Have you been looking for the perfect Traeger turkey recipe that guarantees you a juicy, deliciously smoky turkey with crispy golden skin for your holidays meal?
Equipment
- 1 Pellet smoker
Ingredients
- 1 10 pound turkey
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
Brining liquid
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup salt
- 2 L apple juice
- 3 L cold water
- 3 whole oranges cleaned and quartered
- 4 ounces ginger thinly sliced
- 6 leaves bay leaves
- 6 cloves garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- 15 whole cloves
Basting liquid
- 200 g Unsalted butter
- 1 bunch Chopped fresh herbs thyme, sage, parsley
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Instructions
- To a large saucepan add the apple juice, brown sugar and salt.
- Over a high heat bring to the boil making sure you stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Boil for one minute once dissolved then remove from the heat. Cool at room temperature then refrigerate until 40°F.
- In a large container, add the remaining ingredients together into the apple juice mixture.
- Place the turkey into the brine breast side down. You might need to weigh down the turkey with a weight to keep it fully submerged.
- Set aside in the fridge for 12 – 24 hours (for best results leave for 24 hours).
- - After 12 (or ideally 24) hours remove the turkey from the brine.
- Thoroughly pat dry with paper towels and set on a rack inside a baking tray lined with baking paper and set in the fridge to air dry overnight.
- Remove the turkey from the fridge. Tie the legs together and fold the wings under the body.
- Set aside and let rise to room temperature. Now you can start to prepare and pre heat your gas smoker.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter to another bowl and microwave for another 30 seconds.
- After it has melted, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and stir in the rub to make a paste. Generously work this paste into the turkey skin and cavity.
- Then, tuck the wing tips under the turkey and loosely stuff the cavity with fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, and fresh sage for amazing aromatics.
- Preheat your Traeger Grill to 350°F
- Place a small rack into a disposable aluminum pan so that the smoke can circulate around the turkey.
- Transfer the prepped turkey to the roasting pan and place the roasting pan onto the grill grate.
- Place your turkey in there then turn it down to 230°F.
- As a rule of thumb at 230°F a whole turkey will take around 30 minutes per pound.
- You need to smoke the turkey until a meat thermometer reaches 165°F in the thickest park of the breast.
- This should be around 5– 8 hours depending on the size of your turkey.
- Continue smoking the turkey until the breast temp comes to 150°F.
- After it reaches an internal meat temp of 150°F, increase the smoker's temperature up to 350°F until the thickest part of the turkey breast reaches a temperature of 165°F.
- You can start basting the turkey when enough turkey drippings have accumulated in the bottom of the pan.
- Continue smoking the turkey until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Once the turkey is cooked remove from the gas smoker and rest for 20 – 30 minutes uncovered.