Smoked Turkey Breast

This Smoked Turkey Breast uses a simple Apple Cider Brine is juicy, flavorful and will be one of your family’s favorites! 

I planned on smoking on the grill and prepared a few recipes for the day.  Fresh apple cider was at the farmer’s market and that was my cue to prepare this recipe as I love cider brines. Cue up How to a Smoke Turkey Breast!

Why This Recipe Works

Quick and Simple Brine: Brining makes such a difference with the outcome of meat, especially when it can be dry cut of meat. This brine is fast to do so you can get on with your life.

Incredibly Juicy Turkey Breast: This Smoked Turkey Breast Recipe will have you reaching for poultry at the grocery store all year long. They are tender and juicy every single time so it will become a regular on your smoker.

Flexible: This is a great stand alone recipe but it works great as a meal prep base. Simply after cooking, shred them like we did the Pulled Chicken, freeze in individual packs and use for future meals like pulled turkey sandwiches, cranberry turkey sliders, smoked turkey nachos, smoked turkey and wild rice soup.

🍗 Ingredients

Turkey Breast – I opted for the smoked bone-in version, mostly because it is the most common option at the grocery stores.  Turkey breasts are notorious for drying out.  That is one of my chief complaints when you grill the whole bird. It is much easier to control that when you cook it separately, and when you use a brine.

Brine – I used a fairly traditional brine.  Kosher salt is the agent that penetrates the skin and the meat.  The brown sugar tempers the salt, and the other ingredients provide the fantastic flavors.  In this case, fresh apples, apple cider, cinnamon, and citrus fruits provide a fresh autumn flavor throughout the meat. Use this brine for the Smoked Spatchcock Turkey as well.

Dry Rub – Both the turkey and the brine provide a fairly mild taste that you want to highlight.  So, a strongly flavored rub might overpower the other flavors.  I used a simple five-ingredient homemade rub that complemented the meat perfectly.  

Apple Wood Smoking Chips – Smoke is the final flavor that binds this all together.  A strongly flavored wood like Hickory or Mesquite risks overpowering the dish.  I stayed on the mild smoke flavor end of the spectrum by using a mild fruit wood like apple. If you aren’t sure which intensity of smoke you want, reference the Best Wood for Smoking Turkey and Smoking Wood Cheat Sheet.

🍽️ Instructions

This recipe requires a little bit of prep work, but the results are well worth it. 

⏲️ Preparing the Brine

Step One: Cut the apples and your citrus fruits into sections and place them in a bowl. Add the bay leaf, cinnamon, brown sugar and kosher salt.

Step Two: Add the apple cider and water in a 1:1 ratio.  I used two cups of each, which was enough to cover the breast.  Stir the mixture well to dissolve the salt and the brown sugar.

Step Three: Add the turkey breast and make sure that it is fully submerged to allow the brine to do its job.

Step Four: Cover the bowl with Saran Wrap and refrigerate for 8-10 hours.  

Note: I prepared the brine before I went to bed and it was ready to go the next morning.  Just make sure you plan accordingly.

🥣 Prepare the Dry Rub

This is extremely easy and you probably already have these seasonings in your house.

Step One: Combine all of the ingredients into a small glass bowl.  If you make any substitutions, now is the time to make them.

Step Two: Mix well with a fork.  

That’s it!  You can’t get much easier!

🍗 Prepare the Turkey Breast

Step One: Remove the breast from the brine and place it in a fresh bowl of water for 15 minutes. I agitated the water to loosen any salts that might have stuck to the skin.  This step is critical.  I skipped it once and found the skin was much saltier than I liked.

Step Two: Remove it from the fresh water and pat it dry with a paper towel.

Step Three: Coat the turkey with the dry rub. Make sure you get all the cracks and crevices.  

🍎 Smoke the Turkey

Step One: Set your grill to indirect heat.  For Kamado grills, like the Big Green Egg, install the plate setter.  For gas grills, turn off the burners in the middle.

Step Two: Bring the smoker temperature to 275 degrees.

Step Three: Add the wood chips to the grill.  For Kamado grills, place them on the lump charcoal.  For gas grills, add them to a smoking box.

Note: I say this in all my smoking recipes – a little goes a long way!  A small trickle of smoke is much better than a huge billowing cloud of smoke.  It is too easy to ruin a recipe with too much smoke.  Your food might turn out tasting like ash instead of having that complex hint of smoke.

Step Four: Smoke until the turkey breasts internal temp reaches 165 degrees.  That typically takes about 30 minutes per pound cooking time. Because this is brined, it is a little more forgiving with the temperature, but definitely monitor it with a wireless meat thermometer.  

How Long to Smoke Turkey Breast

Smoke the breast for 30 minutes per pound but always cook to temperature, not time. The internal temperature needs to be 165 degrees, per the USDA.

🍴 Substitutions

The brine is easily customizable.  Have fun with substituting the ingredients for what your taste buds like, and with ingredients you already have in the house.

Try these other classic autumn flavors

• Allspice Berries
• Cloves
• Cracked Peppercorns 
• Star Anise
• Fresh Herbs

💡 Expert Tips

If your grill starts producing too much smoke, move the wood chips to the side.  I used my ash tool to get under the plate setter, and it worked great.

The brine adds a lot of juicy flavor to the breast.  That gives a bit of leeway when smoking.  Typically, an overcooked turkey breast will be too dry, but the brine minimizes that risk.  Still monitor the temperature, but know that you have a little bit of a buffer here.

After you remove it from the grill, let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.  Allowing it to rest will keep the juices inside the bird, just like you want!

Recipe FAQs

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