One excellent method to cook large birds, like turkeys, without drying them out and to give the meat a deep flavor is by smoking them.
Obviously, the first thing you have to decide when smoking a turkey is what kind of turkey you want to use. But closely behind are the kind of wood you’ll be using and the flavor you wish it to impart.
Personally, we like the rich color and sweet-smoky flavor of cherry wood with a hint of hickory.
However, the kind of wood you choose will rely on your tastes, so we’ll give you all of your options rather than imposing our opinion on the best one.
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What are the best types of wood for smoking turkey?
As we’ve mentioned, different woods produce different flavor profiles that work nicely with turkey. Some of the most common choices include:
Pecans, one of the most widely used woods for smoking meat, add a perfect harmony of sweetness, smokiness, and sharpness to your turkey meat.
Pecan still has a lovely depth of flavor and subtle nuttiness, but it’s a little more robust than many of the fruitwoods we’ll discuss later.
Because of its strong flavor, we don’t recommend smoking it with hickory the first time; you can try it with apple or cherry instead. The combination of two strongly flavored woods can add an unpleasant sour harshness to the turkey meat.
But if you want a stronger smokey flavor after your first smoke, you can always add a small amount of mesquite or hickory shavings to increase the volume.
Maplewood adds a subtle earthiness and spice to your smoked turkey without overpowering the flavor of the meat.
If you already have a rub with strong herbal flavors, smoking over maple will help bring those flavors out.
The sweeter smoke from the maple gives the meat a beautiful golden color and a sweetness that is almost like honey.
Cherry is a delicious wood to smoke, and it can be further enhanced by adding small amounts of other wood, marinades, or rubs.
Our pellet grill turkey recipe uses cherry pellets as they impart a crowd-pleasing mild flavor.
We like to use a combination of cherrywood and hickory to give the turkey meat a richer, more nuanced smoky flavor, as we’ve already mentioned.
Another wonderful benefit of using cherrywood is that it gives your turkey a gorgeous reddish-brown color when it comes out of the smoker.
Apple is one of the more subtle woods on this list. The turkey’s flavor is delicately sweet from the long-smoking applewood, which balances the earthiness of the meat.
To taste it, though, you’ll have to smoke your turkey for a longer amount of time because the flavor can be very subtle.
The only negative is that you will need to pay more attention to your bird and make sure the meat doesn’t dry out by keeping a bottle of water or apple juice close by at all times.
Alder contributes a rich, earthy, smoky flavor that isn’t quite as strong as that of hickory, oak, or mesquite, despite being less dense than some of the denser woods on our list.
It can therefore be used to balance out stronger woods or amplify milder woods like apple or maple, making it a useful tool to have on hand.
Hickory is an excellent traditional smoking wood that will find use in nearly all smokers. However, it is really quite strong, more often used in barbecue than it is in smoking poultry.
However, one of the best things about smoking is that you aren’t restricted to using just one type of wood. To trim your hickory and add a deep brown color and rich, smoky flavor to your turkey without overpowering it, use fruitwood, like an apple or cherry.
Similar to hickory, oak is more commonly used in European smoking and offers a rich, smokey flavor that, if not used sparingly, can quickly become overpowering.
Red oak varieties give meat a striking reddish tint when used sparingly, and they blend beautifully with cherrywood. This is one benefit of using oak.
Another wood that packs quite a punch, mesquite delivers the strongest smokey spicy flavors. Avoid this one at all costs because mesquite, a common ingredient in Southwest barbecue, quickly overpowers the flavor of turkey and, if used in excess, leaves an unpleasant bitter taste.
Keep your smoker closed
It is a thrilling experience to smoke a large bird, and you will want to make sure everything goes as planned.
But, keeping the smoker door closed is the best way to ensure that your turkey gets the best, most even smoking and flavor, unless you absolutely must open it.
Here are the most frequently asked questions about which woods are best for smoking turkeys, along with the answers, to make sure you have all the information you need:
AWESOME Smoked Turkey Recipe For Beginners!
FAQ
Is hickory too strong for turkey?
What is the best pellet flavor for turkey?
What is the best turkey for smoking?
Is pecan good for smoking turkey?