Anyone who’s ever cooked any sort of turkey, wild or domesticated, knows that the breast meat can get dry in a hurry. Smoked boneless turkey breast chief among them.
That’s because a boneless turkey breast doesn’t have the breastbone to protect it from drying out. Fear not, however, I’ll show you how to go about it.
The end goal is that tender, juicy turkey breast, smoky, maybe a touch sweet, but you don’t want it dry as the Sahara, or with the thinner, tail end of the breast turned into jerky.
I do this with two techniques: First, slice off the triangular tail end, and use that for another recipe, like maybe turkey parmesan, and just smoke the thick part. Here’s how you cut it:
The second technique is to brine or salt cure the meat: That’s the secret to fantastic smoked boneless turkey breast.
And while you can get away with not brining a store-bought turkey, smoking a wild turkey breast requires a salt brine. Period. If you are not familiar with what brining does, it uses the power of salt and osmosis to slightly denature the proteins in the meat, swelling them with salty moisture and trapping more liquid in the meat than it would otherwise be able to contain.
So when you cook it, and you get the inevitable moisture loss that heat causes, there was already so much moisture in the brined meat to begin with that it remains juicy.
I use what is called an equalization cure for my “brine,” which is not really a brine. It’s dry salting. You do this by weighing the turkey breast in grams — yes, you need a scale
— and then weighing out 1.5 percent of that weight in kosher or sea salt. Add to this some brown sugar (that weight need not be exact) mix and massage into the turkey breast.
Ideally you’d vacuum seal it and set it in the fridge for at least 3 days, and really up to a week or more — this cure will not make the turkey breast too salty, unlike other ways of brining or salt curing.
Once you have that set, you need to dry the turkey breast to form what’s called a pellicle on the surface of the meat. A pellicle is a thin sheen or skin of denatured proteins that, when it dries out a bit, becomes tacky. This allows smoke to adhere to the meat far better then if you put wet meat into a smoker. This is an important step in smoking ignored by a lot of amateurs. Don’t be that guy.
I like smoking over fruit woods (cherry in this case), but you can use whatever. Oak, hickory, walnut, beech, alder, mesquite… Whatever you want will be fine, only no conifers! Pine pitch and turpentine are not good eats.
To give the turkey one last punch, I paint it with something sweet. I used honey here, but maple syrup, birch syrup, agave nectar, a fruit syrup or even molasses would work. Why do this? Um… is there a person on earth who doesn’t like the combination of sweet-salty-smoky-meaty?
I didn’t think so.
I generally use a smoked boneless turkey breast as lunch meat, for sandwiches. But if that’s not your thing, make a meal out of it and serve your smoked turkey warm. Maybe with a gravy. You can also slice, then roughly chop, your smoked turkey for the meat in turkey tacos.
Once made, this will keep about a week in the fridge, and it freezes well.
Smoked Wild Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- 1 skinless turkey breast, trimmed (see note above)
- kosher salt (see note above)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup honey, maple syrup or other syrup
Instructions
- Mix together the salt and sugar. Massage the mixture into the meat and, ideally, vacuum seal it. If not, put the salted turkey into a freezer bag. Set in the fridge for at least 3 days to cure.
- Remove the turkey breast from the bag and set it in the fridge, uncovered, for an hour or three to form the pellicle, a sheen that allows the turkey to take on smoke better. Turn the turkey over a few times while you do this. Don't skip this step!
- Smoke the turkey slowly at about 200ºF until it reaches an internal temperature of about 160ºF -- this takes about 4 hours with my smoker. Let the turkey smoke undisturbed for an hour, then paint it with honey every 45 minutes or so until it's done. When the turkey is ready, take it out of the smoker and set it on a rack. Paint it one more time with the honey and serve any way you like it: Warm for dinner, or cold for sandwiches.
Hello Hank,
I loved your other smoked turkey recipe (the one where you truss the breasts). Is there any way I can get a copy of it?
Thanks,
Tony
Tony: Sorry, this one is just better, and simpler. As for the trussing, you can do that with this recipe.
This is quite literally the BEST wild turkey recipe I’ve ever tried, and I have tried a lot. I just pulled it off the smoker and sliced it… goodness it’s fantastic. Would highly recommend!
I just made this an honestly love it. SO good. I do have a question though as an uneducated chef.. why is it considered done at 160 degrees? I would assume 165 like chicken. Is it because of the salt curing? Thanks for a reply! Ryan
Ryan: That 165F temperature is old, and is the USDA standard, which is far higher than most cooks do. I like mine at 150F, to be honest.
Looks like a great recipe, I smoked my first turkey breast last year with out curing and it came out OK (not great). Hope to try this recipe this year.
Curious whether you rinse off the brine before resting to form the pellicle? Recipe doesn’t mention it explicitly, and I’d think the final product would be very salty if not.
I’ll be honest Hank, I had trouble with this one. For this recipie (and corned venison as well) I find the brine guidelines are always way too salty. Personal preference maybe.
Absolutely fantastic,
Turned my wild Tom into gold! Will continue to use this method for as long as I am alive.
Turned out awesome, thanks Hank! Threw a little fresh basil and chives on it too. Apple flavor smoked.
Absolutely fabulous! I followed the recipe but added some spices to the brine as well (onion and garlic powder; cayenne, pepper, thyme and bay leaf) Very moist with excellent smoke ring using this method. Highly recommend this recipe. Another hit from Hank!!!!
Cooked a domestic turkey breast for 4 hours at about 215 degrees, basting with honey and smoking with alder and apple. Best turkey sandwiches ever
I’ve always smoked skin-on and it covers the meat just fine. Your meat looks very dry, did you over-cook it?
John: No, and it isn’t.
Hank, why skinless?
Eric: Because the skin won’t cover the meat very well.
Can the 2 halves of the breast be sprinkled with unflavored gelatin to ‘bind’ them together before tying? Seems it would be easier to slice.
Kent: Only one way to find out!
You mentione trimming the breast prior to trussing. Do you have “before and after” shots or steps ? I just want a reference for what you are trimming (you mention squaring it up).
Alain: I don’t have photos, but what I am talking about is trimming the front half of the breast, the fat part that was close to the head. You can slice off the thinner, triangular part of the breast in one piece, then make a couple cuts to the remaining thick part to square it off a bit.
I’m sure it will be fine with a domestic bird?
Sounds awesome can’t wait to try it out! I’m an avid turkey hunter, and kinda getting tired of deep fried turkey.
Have a frozen breast in the chest freezer thinking of thalling it out this weekend!
Made this today for a Mothers Day BBQ and it was awesome! Great smoky flavor and plenty of moisture – it was the hit of the meal. Has converted my wife who had given up on wild turkey as everything I’d tried before came out tough and/or dry.
Why skinless?
Jean: I’ve never been able to make the skin on a wild turkey edible with this method. It will crisp up, but needs to be fried or seared. When smoked like this, it get leathery and nasty.
Hank- I’ve made this recipe a number of times and made a believer of many concerning how good a wild turkey can be. One question- I’ve read many debates about whether or not to use a water pan while smoking turkey. I’ve tried it both ways with this and the product seemed a bit chewier when I used the water pan. Do you have a preference? Cheers from Minnesota.
Brian: I don’t use a water pan in my Traeger because it will hold 185F or thereabouts easily. I have used one with my Bradley, and the turkey still came out nice.
You suggest there is a video on how to truss wild turkey breast. Where do I find it? Do I tie both breasts together?
I got my first smoker last year, and my nephew promptly handed me 1/2 of a wild turkey, that he had just harvested. I followed this recipe to the letter, and I was blown away by how good it was. I have yet to best that result, save last Thanksgiving; when a store-bought turkey breast yielded nearly the exact same result. Everyone at the table wanted to know how I had cooked that turkey. This is a truly fool-proof recipe, that yields delicious results!
One of my favorite recipes. I added sriracha to the honey glaze and it added a little more sweet heat. Highly recommend