| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 7 hr 15 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 7 hr |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 1/2 cup red pepper flakes
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2 jalapeno peppers, sliced
- 1 13-pound turkey (neck and giblets removed)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon packed dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 pound sliced applewood-smoked bacon or guanciale
Instructions
- Make the brine: Combine 1 cup salt, the red pepper flakes, garlic, jalapenos and 2 quarts hot water in a large bucket or pot, stirring to dissolve the salt. Add the turkey, breast-side down, then add enough cold water so the turkey is fully submerged. Cover and refrigerate 12 hours. Drain the turkey, rinse and pat dry.
- Soak 2 large bags each mesquite and applewood chips in water, 1 hour. Meanwhile, make the spice blend: Combine the chili powder, coriander, cumin, brown sugar, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt and 2 teaspoons pepper in a bowl. Loosen the skin of the turkey breast with your fingers, then rub the mayonnaise under the skin. Rub the spice blend all over the outside of the bird. Place the turkey, breast-side up, in a large disposable roasting pan. Lay three-quarters of the bacon over the breast, overlapping the slices, and secure in several spots with toothpicks. Wrap the legs with the remaining bacon, securing it with toothpicks.
- Drain the wood chips. Prepare a smoker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, using the soaked wood chips; preheat to 210 degrees F. (Or use a grill and put the wood chips in a smoker box under the grates; preheat to low.) Put the turkey in the disposable pan on the smoker or grill grates; cover and cook 6 to 7 hours, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 190 degrees F. Add a few handfuls of soaked wood chips every hour to maintain the smoke. If the bacon is browning too quickly, loosely cover the turkey with foil.
- Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and let rest 30 minutes. Remove the bacon and carve the turkey. Chop the bacon and sprinkle on top, if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 525 |
| Total Fat | 35 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 5 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 2 g |
| Protein | 45 g |
| Cholesterol | 302 mg |
| Sodium | 1506 mg |
Reviews
This is the best recipe I’ve found. We’ve done our turkey with this recipe for the last 4 yrs. never liked turkey too much before because it was alway dry but since I’ve been doing this way my whole family and friends can’t get enough. So delishes follow this recipe and you will have great tasting moist turkey every time. Also I found using the pop up thermometer pins work well to know when it’s really done for sure.
Hi!
190 degrees is way too done. Go with 155 for the breast and 165 for the thigh and you won’t be disappointed.
oh my this is so so good! i used a turkey breast on a weber gas grill. did my own brine of brown sugar, salt, thyme and water overnight and then used the rub and mayo as described. used applewood chips and kept it at 250 for the first hour or two which barely cooked it so then moved it up to 300 to get it done to just over 160 and it moved to 165 while resting. so the cooking process was longer then expected but the results are way worth it. perfect smokiness and oh so tender and delish. had the leftovers the next two days and wonderful hot or cold. can’t wait to make it for thanksgiving!!
I made this for my wife’s family, some of who seldom eat meat. Everyone loved it (everyone). It is in my recipe file now. Great bird
i yhink we will try this,sounds yummy
Made this last year for Thanksgiving. It was so good that I’ve managed to convince my mom to let us smoke the turkey this year at her house using this recipe again. It had a great flavor and was really moist. The one thing that we didn’t do was tent it with foil so the bacon was black from the smoke so we didn’t use it for a garnish.
My parents made this for Christmas, and it was one of the best, most moist turkeys I’ve ever had.
I made this turkey for Thanksgiving on my grill and it was fantastic! I followed the recipe as written. I had a lot of wood chips leftover. I think one bag of each would have been fine. My husband insists on gravy so I made the Alton Brown’s standard gravy using the pan drippings and my oh my! What great gravy! It had heat from the jalapenos in the brine and a wonderful smoky taste. The leftover turkey was wonderful as well. I think I will smoke my Thanksgiving turkey every year!
Extremely Tasty! Moist…..Flavorful….worth slicing the jalapenos!!