Learn how to smoke a turkey with this great recipe. It’s nearly impossible to cook a large bird on a barbecue grill so a smoker is best for this. It may not be your traditional holiday turkey, but this moist, tender, hickory-flavored turkey will be surely be met with rave reviews.
Turkey in a Smoker Recipe
Learn how to smoke a turkey with this great recipe. It's nearly impossible to cook a large bird on a barbecue grill so a smoker is best for this. It may not be your traditional holiday turkey, but this moist, tender, hickory-flavored turkey will be surely be met with rave reviews.
Ingredients
- 10 pound whole turkey neck and giblets removed
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 tablespoons seasoned salt
- ½ cup butter
- 12 fluid ounce cans cola-flavored carbonated beverage
- 1 medium apple quartered
- 1 medium onion quartered
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups hickory wood chips or more as needed (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat a smoker to 225 to 250 degrees F (110 to 120 degrees C).
- Rinse turkey under cold water, and pat dry.
- Rub crushed garlic over the outside of the turkey, and sprinkle with seasoned salt. Transfer to a disposable roasting pan.
- Fill the turkey cavity with butter, cola, apple, onion, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cover turkey loosely with foil.
- Add wood chips to the smoker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Place the roasting pan in the preheated smoker. Smoke the turkey, basting every 1 to 2 hours with juices from the bottom of the roasting pan, for 5 hours.
- Add more wood chips if desired. Continue smoking and basting, until turkey is no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 5 more hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 180 degrees F (80 degrees C).
Notes
Cook’s Note
I like to use hickory chips or hickory wood in my smoker. Hickory generates a more even smokiness than other woods, and it doesn’t matter whether the wood is green or seasoned.
For best results, maintain a temperature of 225 to 250 degrees F (110 to 120 degrees C) while cooking and basting the turkey.
