Smoked Barbeque Turkey Breast
People fuss around with a whole turkey for the holidays because it is traditional. There are many times when you don’t want to cook a whole bird because you don’t have that many people to cook for or you don’t have the time to prepare all the fixins for a whole turkey. When you would like to scale down the effort consider just doing a breast.
The problem with a breast is that it is easy to overcook and dry out the meat. Especially is you want to have smoked turkey. It doesn’t have to be that way. Just follow the brining steps below and you will have a very moist and succulent turkey breast that your familiy will enjoy. The picture above is a turkey breast that we did for the holiday. The recipe, by the way, applys to a whole turkey, legs, or breast.
Ingredients for the Brine
- 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 1 gallon water, 2cups
- 1 gallon apple cider, plus 1 cup
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons peppercorns
- ¼ cup onion powder
- 2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon chipotle ground chili powder
Ingredients for the Spice Blend
- 1 ½ Tablespoons season salt
- 2 Tablespoons garlic salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
- 2 ¼ Tablespoons course ground pepper
- 1 stick room temperature butter
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Directions
- Mix dry spices together and set aside.
- In a large pot, boil the water dissolving the salt and sugar.
- Combine the all the other brine ingredients into the pot. Turn off heat and let the mixture come to room temperature.
- Half fill an ice chest with ice. Then line the ice chest with a large clean plastic garbage bag. Put the turkey in the bag and pour the cooled brine over the turkey.
- Squeeze out the excess air and seal the bag with a plastic tie. Place more ice over the sealed bag and close the ice chest.
- Marinate the turkey for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours.
- Using a smoker, ceramic cooker, or prepare your grill for indirect grilling (with a drip pan). I use a combination of charcoal and pecan shells to cook the meat.
- The optimal temperature is 270 – 280 degrees.
- Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse. Pat the turkey dry.
- Inject some of the brine into the breast, thighs and drumsticks of the turkey.
- Brush ½ of the butter all over the turkey and place some butter under the turkey skin.
- Fill the water pan with 1 cup of cider and 2 cups water.
- Place the turkey in the cooker over the water pan and cook according to your smoker’s directions.
- In 3 ½ to 4 hours the turkey is about half done at this point; brush the turkey with more butter and sprinkle with the spice blend.
- Add more liquid to the drip pan and cook turkey about 3-4 more hours (or until the internal temperature of the breast meat 165 degrees or 175 degrees for thigh meat).
- Total cooking time 8 to 9 hours.
- Allow the turkey to rest 15 minutes before carving.
Enjoy!
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