Poultry SMOKED BONELESS TURKEY BREASTS

[RoadRunner18]

SMOKED BONELESS TURKEY BREASTS​

HARDWOOD: Cherry or Pecan

COOK TIME: 2 hours 30 Minutes + 30 minutes resting

EQUIPMENT:
* Aluminum Pans
* HD Aluminum Foil
* Meat Racks
* Mixing Bowl
* Large Brine Bucket

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 – 5 pound Fresh Turkey Breasts

BRINE:
* 2 – Gallons of Water
* 1 ½ - Cups of Kosher Salt
* 1/3 – Cup of Brown Sugar
* ¼ - Cup of Worcestershire Powder
* 2 – Tablespoons of Granulated Garlic
* 2 – Tablespoons of Granulated Onion
* 2 – Tablespoons of Rosemary
* 2 – Tablespoons of Dried Basil
* 2 – Tablespoons of Tyme
* 2 – Tablespoons of Oregano
* 1 – Tablespoon of Coarse Ground Black Pepper
* 1 – Tablespoon of Coriander seeds
* 1 – Teaspoon of Crushed Red pepper flakes
* 6 – Whole garlic cloves

TURKEY RUB:
* 1 – Cup of Honey Rub
* ½ - Cup of Turbinado Sugar
* 1 – TSP of Coarse Ground Black Pepper

TURKEY BASTING:
* Spray Butter
* 2 – Sticks of Butter
* Clover Honey

PREPARATION:

FRESH TURKEY OR TURKEY BREAST:
* Brine the day before your cook.
* Dump the Brine ingredients into the large Brining Bucket.
* Add 2 – Gallons of cold water and mix well until the salts and sugars have dissolved.
* On the day of your cook, remove the Turkey or Turkey Breasts from the brine and wash thoroughly.
* Place the Turkey Breasts on meat racks, and place inside aluminum pans
* Season all sides of the Turkey generously with the rub

YOUR COOK:

1. Set your Cooker to 200 degrees (Super Smoke if you have it)

2. Place Turkey Breast on the grill and smoke for 1 hour.

3. At the 1 hour mark, spray the turkey breasts with the liquid butter.

4. After 1 hour Set your Cooker to 325 degrees.

5. Set the meat probe for 145 degrees

6. Cook until internal meat temp reaches 145.

7. At 145 degrees remove turkey from the grill.

8. Place the Turkey Breast and meat rack inside an aluminum pan.

9. Coat the Turkey breast with honey, and reapply rub.

10. Place a stick of butter on top of each Turkey Breast, then wrap the pan tightly in aluminum foil.

11. Re-set your meat probe for 165 degrees and insert the meat probe into the Turkey Breast.

12. Return the Turkey breast to the grill and cook until internal meat temp reaches 165.

13. At 165 degrees remove Turkey Breast from the grill and let rest while wrapped for 30 minutes.

14. Run the juices from the aluminum pan through a fat separator.

15. Slice the Turkey breasts and pour juices over the turkey.

NOTES:

 

[RustyJake]

Does this look right? I thought a Turkey breast is suppose to be one piece? Not broken up into 2, 3 or 4 pieces. I decided on Holy Gospel rub. Had a little left in the bottle. Just beginning to rain here.

To me that looks like a butcher is cheating by using the elastic net to hold in pieces of a breast and labeling it as a turkey breast. False advertising, no. But not what I would be expecting,. They should have to state that it is pieces. That goes back to butchers gluing meat together to create steaks and roasts. They don't have to state they have done it on the packaging
To me, that would have needed to be tied or left in the net. Just my personal choice

I forgot this was a Butterball, makes sense now as it is mass produced and being mechanically packaged

 

[RustyJake]

This is from my recent go at smoking a couple skinless turkey breasts
Post in thread 'What's for dinner tonight? Dinner ideas?' https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-for-dinner-tonight-dinner-ideas.93/post-30249

 

[CMTiger]

To me that looks like a butcher is cheating by using the elastic net to hold in pieces of a breast and labeling it as a turkey breast. False advertising, no. But not what I would be expecting,. They should have to state that it is pieces. That goes back to butchers gluing meat together to create steaks and roasts. They don't have to state they have done it on the packaging
To me, that would have needed to be tied or left in the net. Just my personal choice

I forgot this was a Butterball, makes sense now as it is mass produced and being mechanically packaged

yeah......it's frozen butterball.......feels like cheating but it is what it is. It's about half and half with me on whether it's one large direct breast or a few smaller ones. Even when smaller there is usually one that's at least half the total weight.

 

[CMTiger]

SMOKED BONELESS TURKEY BREASTS​

HARDWOOD: Cherry or Pecan

COOK TIME: 2 hours 30 Minutes + 30 minutes resting

EQUIPMENT:
* Aluminum Pans
* HD Aluminum Foil
* Meat Racks
* Mixing Bowl
* Large Brine Bucket

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 – 5 pound Fresh Turkey Breasts

BRINE:
* 2 – Gallons of Water
* 1 ½ - Cups of Kosher Salt
* 1/3 – Cup of Brown Sugar
* ¼ - Cup of Worcestershire Powder
* 2 – Tablespoons of Granulated Garlic
* 2 – Tablespoons of Granulated Onion
* 2 – Tablespoons of Rosemary
* 2 – Tablespoons of Dried Basil
* 2 – Tablespoons of Tyme
* 2 – Tablespoons of Oregano
* 1 – Tablespoon of Coarse Ground Black Pepper
* 1 – Tablespoon of Coriander seeds
* 1 – Teaspoon of Crushed Red pepper flakes
* 6 – Whole garlic cloves

TURKEY RUB:
* 1 – Cup of Honey Rub
* ½ - Cup of Turbinado Sugar
* 1 – TSP of Coarse Ground Black Pepper

TURKEY BASTING:
* Spray Butter
* 2 – Sticks of Butter
* Clover Honey

PREPARATION:

FRESH TURKEY OR TURKEY BREAST:
* Brine the day before your cook.
* Dump the Brine ingredients into the large Brining Bucket.
* Add 2 – Gallons of cold water and mix well until the salts and sugars have dissolved.
* On the day of your cook, remove the Turkey or Turkey Breasts from the brine and wash thoroughly.
* Place the Turkey Breasts on meat racks, and place inside aluminum pans
* Season all sides of the Turkey generously with the rub

YOUR COOK:

1. Set your Cooker to 200 degrees (Super Smoke if you have it)

2. Place Turkey Breast on the grill and smoke for 1 hour.

3. At the 1 hour mark, spray the turkey breasts with the liquid butter.

4. After 1 hour Set your Cooker to 325 degrees.

5. Set the meat probe for 145 degrees

6. Cook until internal meat temp reaches 145.

7. At 145 degrees remove turkey from the grill.

8. Place the Turkey Breast and meat rack inside an aluminum pan.

9. Coat the Turkey breast with honey, and reapply rub.

10. Place a stick of butter on top of each Turkey Breast, then wrap the pan tightly in aluminum foil.

11. Re-set your meat probe for 165 degrees and insert the meat probe into the Turkey Breast.

12. Return the Turkey breast to the grill and cook until internal meat temp reaches 165.

13. At 165 degrees remove Turkey Breast from the grill and let rest while wrapped for 30 minutes.

14. Run the juices from the aluminum pan through a fat separator.

15. Slice the Turkey breasts and pour juices over the turkey.

NOTES:

Do you have any finished product pics you could share?

 

[RoadRunner18]

Do you have any finished product pics you could share?

No, I don't have any pics of this cook.

 

[CMTiger]

No, I don't have any pics of this cook.

Thank you. I’m gonna give this a goish…..I don’t have a fat separator so that step I may be having to skip and not have the juices

 

[JPSBBQ]

Thank you. I’m gonna give this a goish…..I don’t have a fat separator so that step I may be having to skip and not have the juices

You can separate the fat manually. Simply pour juices into a container, allow time to settle and separate, finally spoon the oil off the top. You will be left with flavorful juices. It is easy to see the line between fat and juices.

 

[CMTiger]

So do y’all think you would want to put something like a cup of water in the pan for the first part of this cook? Seems without the dripping would just burn until you add the butter/honey

 

[RoadRunner18]

CMTiger,

If I am reading these threads correctly, I see you plan to cook a Butterball Turkey. In my recipe I used fresh, boneless and skinless turkey breasts, which are quite a bit flatter and not as dense as a ButterBall. I usually order two or three 5 pound breasts from my butcher just before Thanksgiving. But last Thanksgiving I made two fresh breasts and one boneless and skinless Butterball, so the recipe works either way. Now, not knowing if your butterball is partially pre-cooked or not, My advice to you is to cook by internal meat temperature instead of time, since the butterball is a much thicker piece of meat. Certainly Not meant to insult you cooking skills and I am quite sure you already know this, but some recipe's I've seen on Websites do call for cooking times vice internal meat temps.

A few things to note here if you are following the recipe I posted:

a. In the preparation phase I placed the fresh turkey breasts in an aluminum pan to season them with rub before the cook, I don't use the aluminum pans again until Steps 7 & 8.

b. Your question: "Would you want to put something like a cup of water in a pan for the first part of the cook, seems without the drippings would just burn until you add the butter/honey?"

Answer: When I start the cook, the turkey breasts are placed directly on the grill grates (no pan), and smoke for the first hour at 200 degrees (SuperSmoke if you have it). So there is no pan to capture the drippings for the first part of the cook. After the first hour I do spray the breasts with liquid butter to create flavor and moisture while they are still on the grill grates.

c. The breasts don't go into an aluminum pan until internal meat temps reach 145 (steps 7 & 8), and then are coated with honey, a home-made rub or a granulated honey rub, and topped with one stick of butter for each breast (steps 9 & 10). Now you are capturing the juices from the breasts, the honey, rub and butter. I like to use garlic herb butter for this.

d. Now having said this, there is absolutely no problem adding a water pan to your cook if you are concerned with moisture. I do this when cooking Briskets low and slow.

 

[CMTiger]

This is helpful. I was thinking you might have meant you didn’t use a pan till the butter/honey stage.

The other poster is using the butterball, but I have cooked several and always use my InkBird for doneness. The main thing I was trying to gather was more info on the process.

Thanks for your time and help. Will let you know how it turns out this evening. I will be using MC Honey Hog as my rub base

 

[RoadRunner18]

When you get an opportunity, go to youtube and check out "Honey Smoked Turkey Breast" This is another great recipe

 

[CMTiger]

Turned out very good. Thanks again

 

[RoadRunner18]

Very Nice! Congrats!