Thanksgiving Smoked Turkey: A Delicious and Simple Recipe for Your Holiday Feast

If you own a Pit Boss and haven’t tried a Pit Boss smoked turkey, you’re in for a pleasant surprise! Recipes for smoked turkey are a wonderful way to reinvent a beloved holiday dish or a refreshing summertime chicken substitute! This tasty turkey with a simple maple BBQ rub is so juicy and flavorful, with a perfectly crispy and browned skin, and it can be smoked to perfection in less than three hours!

This recipe is easy to follow and produces an incredibly delicious brined and smoked turkey for Thanksgiving that will wow your guests! Your turkey will be juicy, flavorful, and the star of the show.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Pit Boss Turkey Bucket Kit
  • 16-18 lb Turkey (fresh is best)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 apples, 2 pears, and 2 oranges (whole)
  • Pit Boss Chicken & Poultry Rub

Instructions:

  1. Brining the Turkey: Rinse the turkey inside and out with cold water, then pat it dry with paper towels. Prepare the turkey according to the instructions in your Turkey Bucket Kit, including the brining process.
  2. Prepare the Grill: Preheat your Pit Boss Grill to 225°F.
  3. Seasoning the Turkey: Coat the turkey skin with olive oil, making sure to get under the bird as well. Shake on some extra Pit Boss Chicken & Poultry Rub for added flavor.
  4. Stuffing the Turkey: Cut the apples, pears, and oranges into quarters and place them inside the turkey cavity.
  5. Smoking the Turkey: Place the turkey on a shallow pan or drip tray to catch the drippings for gravy. Insert the temperature probe into the thickest part of the breast, ensuring it doesn’t touch any bones.
  6. Cooking Time: Cook the turkey at 225°F for 30 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
  7. Resting the Turkey: Once the turkey reaches 165°F, remove it from the grill and let it rest for 20 minutes before slicing.

Recipe Notes:

  • While this recipe can be made on any grill, we recommend using a Pit Boss Wood Pellet Grill for the best results.
  • For a delicious gravy, use the drippings from the pan to make a flavorful sauce.
  • This recipe is a great starting point, but feel free to experiment with different flavors and ingredients to create your own signature smoked turkey.

Additional Tips:

  • Brining is key: Brining the turkey ensures that it stays moist and flavorful throughout the cooking process.
  • Don’t overcook the turkey: The best way to ensure a juicy turkey is to use a temperature probe and cook it to the correct internal temperature.
  • Resting is important: Allowing the turkey to rest before carving will help the juices redistribute, resulting in a more tender and flavorful bird.

With this recipe and a little patience you’ll have a Thanksgiving turkey that will leave your guests wanting more. So fire up your Pit Boss Grill and get ready to create a memorable holiday feast!

The Perfect Pit Boss Smoked Turkey with Maple BBQ Rub

Hello everyone, today I’m handing my hubby Justin a blog takeover with this delicious recipe for smoked turkey that we prepared the other weekend for a small gathering. It was the holiday season, and we needed to thaw a turkey we had in our freezer for a less formal gathering.

The allure of a smoked turkey is its less formal preparation method, which is usually saved for special occasions. You can enjoy this easy-to-make and delicious smoked turkey recipe throughout the year.

If you’re the kind of cook who would rather set it and forget it, this turkey recipe is ideal for you. It’s simple, it’s versatile and it’s gosh darn easy and delicious. This recipe requires a lot of patience to execute, but the results are well worth the effort. The results speak for themselves.

Justin can take it from here, but hey, if I can cook a turkey on the Pit Boss, anyone can!

Why smoke a turkey?

Smoking your turkey is a long process of love but it is one that’s pretty hands off and basically just requires patience. In time your turkey will be finished cooking and with that, you will have a crispy skinned bird with juicy meat inside. Together every bite is a wonderful combination of flavor and taste. Even the leftovers taste incredible!

How do you smoke a turkey in a pit boss pellet smoker?

One of the easiest ways to smoke a turkey on a Pit Boss pellet smoker is to spatchcock the turkey, then place it right on the grill grate to cook. The spatchcock method allows for even cooking of the bird and gets more surface area of the turkey browned and crispy.

There’s nothing better than juicy, tender meat underneath perfectly crispy and browned skin. This is the BEST smoked turkey recipe when you follow along with the step by step instructions. It doesn’t get much easier than this!

For this smoker method, I kept the temperature lower at 300F for most of the cooking time, then increased the temperature to 350F for the last half an hour to reach that ideal level of browning and crispiness on the skin and seal in the moisture.

What kind of pellets should I use?

I recommend the Pit Boss competition blend pellets, but you can use any pellets you prefer. If you want to stick with the pit boss brand then you have a lot of great and flavorful options including charcoal pellets, Georgia pecan, mesquite, a classic blend, hickory, apple, and fruit-flavored too.

Pick and choose which ones you want and create a wonderful and subtle taste of heaven in every bird.

Note that you do not have to stick with the Pitboss brand pellets for this recipe if you do not want to. Other brand pellets will work just fine in this recipe and can offer you a bigger flavor variety as well.

Is a pit boss smoker electric or gas?

Pit boss makes smokers that are electric and they make some that are gas. For this recipe, I am using my gas smoker but you are more than welcome to use an electric smoker if your turkey can fit.

Note that you can still use wooden pellets inside of your electric smoker so go right on ahead and enjoy a smoked turkey that is sure to have you dreaming of the holidays all year long.

How long does it take to smoke a turkey on a pit boss smoker?

Cooking time all depends on the size of your bird and if you use the spatchcock method or not. We went with a smaller-sized 5-7kg young turkey, and the total smoking time was 2.5 hours.

If you have a larger turkey, but still use the spatchcock method you can estimate approximately 25 minutes per kg, so a larger 9kg turkey will take approximately 3 hrs and 45 minutes (using the spatchcock method).

What is spatchcock turkey?

Spatchcocking means to butterfly the bird. This is when you remove the backbone of the chicken or turkey and lay it out flat to cook. When you do this, the cooking time significantly decreases and the bird cooks faster and more evenly.

With a more level surface space, the breasts and the thighs can cook and finish at about the same time instead of one before the other. There’s also more skin exposed to the heating elements so that means that the skin gets even crispier.

Should I spatchcock my turkey?

If you have the space for it, I always recommend it. This added butchering step really helps to provide you with the best holiday turkey results. By spatchcocking a turkey you can really shave down on the amount of time needed to cook it. By a rule of thumb, an oven-roasted turkey that was spatchcocked would take about ⅓ of the required time to cook.

When you smoke a spatchcocked turkey you allow more surface to be exposed for the flavorful pellets to penetrate as well so that means that your entire bird tastes incredible and that no areas are left unflavored.

So it is up to you whether or not you would like to try this method of cooking but there really are no downsides to it. You will need some strong kitchen shears and a large sharp knife to do this as that backbone can be a bit tough to get out, but after that, it’s practically as easy as a cakewalk!

Should you wrap a turkey in foil when smoking?

No. When spatchcocking a turkey, wrapping it with tin foil on the smoker is not required. Nor is it desired.

You want the smoke to penetrate the meat during smoking and tin foil would prevent this key aspect of the cooking. Not only that but it would also prevent the turkey from browning too much so you’d be left with a plain looking bird instead of one that’s golden delicious!

Also, because of the relatively short cooking period, the turkey is not at risk of getting dried out and therefore you don’t need to worry about covering it with foil to help seal in the moisture.

Without foil, this crispier skin turkey is still super juicy and delicious!

Smoked Turkey with Maple BBQ Rub Ingredients

To prepare this smoking turkey, and the barbecue rub, you do not need many ingredients. The rub is very simple to make but packs a ton of flavor.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1 5-7kg young turkey (neck and turkey giblets removed)
  • Butter (or non-dairy butter like Earth Balance)

Maple BBQ Rub:

  • Onion flakes
  • Garlic powder
  • Paprika
  • Montreal chicken spice mix
  • Dried thyme
  • Salt
  • Pure maple syrup

The combination of sweet and salty works so well with the smoky flavor created by the Pit Boss and the rub creates a nice crispy, caramelized skin that locks in the moisture of the turkey meat.

How To Prepare, Step-by-Step:

While Christal is a great cook, she definitely is not a pro with the Pit Boss. So, I walked her through the process of preparing her first smoked turkey and she was pleasantly surprised at how easy it really was.

This is pretty much a “set it and forget it” recipe. The great thing about smoking a turkey as compared to oven-roasting is that you don’t have to baste the turkey over and over again to avoid a dry bird.

Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Spatchcock the turkey with kitchen shears, then open it and lay flat. Place it cut-side down on a large baking/roasting pan. Then, rub 1 tablespoon of butter all over the turkey skin.

2. In a bowl combine the dry rub spices with the maple syrup and mix, then pour over the turkey and rub all over the skin, into the breast and legs to generously coat, then set aside.

3. Turn on the Pit Boss and set the temperature to 300 degrees F, pre-heat with the lid closed for 15 minutes.

4. Transfer the turkey directly from the pan onto the Pit Boss grill grate and close the lid.

5. Smoke for approximately 2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F.

6. Increase the smoker temperature to 350F and baste the turkey with the remaining 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and smoke until internal temperature reaches 165F(approx. 30 mins). A larger bird takes longer.

7. When finished, remove turkey from the smoker, cover with tin foil and let rest for 15 minutes, then carve as desired, serve, and enjoy!

For both novices and pros, this simple recipe for Pit Boss smoked turkey with maple barbecue rub is ideal. It’s easy, delicious, and great for a small gathering of friends or family.

There’s never a bad time for a delicious turkey dinner! Serve this smoked turkey for Thanksgiving dinner or all year long so you can use the leftovers (if any) to make the best leftover turkey sandwiches!

In the comments section below, share your story about preparing a whole turkey on a Pit Boss! And don’t forget to save the recipe’s image for later!

how to cook a turkey on a pit boss grill

Smoked Turkey On A Pit Boss Pellet Smoker

FAQ

How long does it take to cook a turkey on a pellet grill?

Place the pan with the pellet grill turkey on the grill grates. Close the lid and smoke for 2 1/2-3 hours. Increase the grill temperature to 350℉ and continue cooking until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 165°F, 3 1/2-4 hours more.

Is it better to smoke a turkey at 225 or 250?

When smoking at 225°F, it can take about 30 to 45 minutes to cook one pound of turkey. That means a 12-pound turkey should take at least six hours to cook in a smoker. To smoke your turkey faster, increase the smoker’s temperature to 250°F to 275°F.

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