Smoked Boneless Turkey Breast for Thanksgiving

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For many people, the big turkeyabsolutely must be on the table in all of it's glory for Thanksgiving but if you really want to make it simple and tasty without the fuss, smoked boneless turkey breast is the best way to go.

They are easy to prepare, devilishly delicious, can be cooked in the smoker in under 4 hours, and are easy to slice into individual servings. It's a win-win for everyone!

Helpful Information

Prep Time: 10minutes
Brine Time: 4hours
Cook Time: 4hours
Smoker Temp: 240°F
Meat Finish Temp: 165°F
Recommended Wood:Apple

What You’ll Need

Boneless turkey breasts (each one weighs about 3 lbs and feeds 5 to 6people)
Turkey brine recipe (below)
Cooking oil
Jeff's original rub

About Brining

I almost always brine poultry and especially the cuts that contain mostly white meat like the turkey breast. Brining turns out birds that are a lot more awesome than they are without brining.

Brining in a nutshell is simply soaking meat, such as turkey, in a 6% salty solution for several hours. The salty solution is drawn deep into the meat fibers making it more flavorful and more moist. If you add flavors such as herbs, spices, juice, etc. to the brine, those flavors also end up inside the meat. It's easy to see how potentially beneficial and exciting this can be.

Below you will find the turkey brine recipe that I created for this Thanksgiving and I am using it on all of the turkey that I prepare this month.

Make the Brine

Get the brinemade up a day or two early so it can cool down in the fridge before you need to use it. You can always add ice but that dilutes it some.

Ingredients:

3 quarts ofwater (approx.)
1 to 1.5 quarts of ice
Acouple of 4-inchsprigs of thyme
Acouple of 4-inch sprigs of rosemary
1tablespoon of course ground black pepper
1tablespoon of red pepper flakes
8-10 garlic cloves smashed with the side of a knife to release lots of flavor.
1 cup of kosher salt

Directions:

Add 1 quart of the water, the rosemary and thyme, black pepper, red pepper flakes and garlicinto a medium sized pot. Cover the pot and bring it just to boiling and then turn off the heat. Let the ingredients steep in the water for 20-30 minutes before removing the cover. Put the “tea” in the fridge to cool down. I recommend giving it several hours at least but overnight is best.

If you procrastinated, don't worry.. I have your back. Simply pour the hot brinethrough a sieve into a gallon sized pitcher. Add about a quart of ice and stir the ice and brine mixture to cool it down.

Add more ice if you need to to cool it on down.

Finally, to the pre-cooled brine mixture, add enough cold water to bring it up to a gallon.. you should have a total of 1 gallon of liquid in the pitcher.

Add 1 cup of kosher salt to this liquid and stir gently for a minute or two until the saltis completely dissolved.

This, my friends, is your brine.

Note: if you want to make a simple brine with nothing extra, add 1 cup of kosher salt to 1 gallon of cold water and stir until the salt is dissolved. This will also do wonders for the juiciness of the turkey.. it just won't add anything other than a little bit of saltiness to the meat.

InitialPrep

There's not a lot to do to these boneless wonders. Remove the outside packaging but leave them in the net they come in as this holds them in that football shape while they cook.

Brining the Turkey Breast(s)

Place the netted turkey breasts into a large zip top bag and pour brine over them to cover.

Seal the bagand place it down in a larger bowl in case of leakage.

For many people, the big bird absolutely must be on the table in all of it's glory for Thanksgiving but if you really want to make it simple and tasty without the fuss, smoked boneless turkey breast is the best way to go.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time4 hours hrs

Total Time4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Ingredients

▢ Boneless turkey breasts (each one weighs about 3 lbs and feeds 5 to 6 people)
▢ Turkey brine recipe (below)
▢ Cooking oil
▢ Jeff's original rub

Instructions

Remove the turkey breast from the packaging but leave the net intact as this is what holds it's shape while it cooks.
To a medium pot add 1 quart of water, 1 TBS of course ground black pepper, 1 TBS of red pepper flakes, 2 long sprigs of thyme, 2 long sprigs of rosemary and 8-10 garlic cloves smashed with the side of a knife.
Bring to a boil then remove it from the heat and let it steep covered for 20-30 minutes.
Place the mixture in the fridge for several hours to cool.
To make the brine, add 3 quarts of cold water to a gallon sized pitcher and 1 cup of kosher salt.
Stir the mixture until the salt is dissolved.
Add the cooled mixture from the fridge into the brine and stir to combine.
Place the turkey breasts into a brining container and pour the brine over the turkey to cover and then into the fridge for 4 hours.
After brining is complete, rinse the turkey breasts under cold water.
With the net still intact, brush on a little cooking oil and season the outside of the turkey breasts liberally with Jeff's original rub.
Set the seasoned turkey onto Weber grill pans, Bradley racks or regular cooling racks and they are ready to go into the smoker
Setup your smoker for cooking at 225-240 °F with indirect heat.
When the smoker is preheated, place the pan with the turkey breasts into the smoker.
Let the turkey cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 162°F.
Remove the turkey from the smoker and let it rest under loose foil for about 10-15 minutes.
Remove the net from the turkey breasts being careful to not disturb the crust more than necessary.
Slice and serve.