How to Smoke a Turkey on a Traeger

Traeger Smoked Turkey is one of my favorite ways to cook turkey for Thanksgiving. Check out my tried and true method on how to smoke a turkey, along with my 8 pro tips for the best smoked turkey! You’ll love the delicious smoky flavor you get with this cooking process!

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Creating This Traeger Smoked Turkey

The Traeger has seriously been one of our best purchases during the last couple of years. Or, at least one of our favorite purchases.

We use it so much and everything we cook on it tastes great! I honestly can’t believe it took us so long to get one.

One of my favorite ways to cook turkey these days is to smoke it on our Traeger Pellet Grill.

With Thanksgiving ONLY ABOUT A WEEK AWAY, I thought that I’d write a post about How to Smoke a Turkey on a Traeger and share my 8 Pro Tips for the Best Smoked Turkey.

Our Traeger Smoked Turkey Method

I even consulted with Kevin on this one just to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything from our method! Though, you should know, that I do plenty of the cooking on the Traeger myself.

The turkey is the center piece of the Thanksgiving meal and is arguably the trickiest part of the meal. Learn all about turkey brining, turkey smoking times, and turkey smoking temperatures.

What Do You Need for this Smoked Whole Turkey Tutorial ?

Before you begin preparing your Traeger smoked turkey, you’ll need to make sure you have some of the required equipment. If you aren’t new to smoking, none of this should be new to you.

In order to smoke a turkey, you need a few things:

• Probe Thermometer
• Pellet Smoker, such as a Traeger
• Wood Pellets

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions to smoke a turkey, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

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What’s the Best Wood for Smoking a Turkey?

The best smoked turkey wood really depends on your personal preferences, so it is important to experiment to find out what you like best.

We have tried all different types of wood pellets for our Traeger Smoked Turkey. Our favorite wood pellet flavors are: apple, pecan, oak, and hickory.

• Apple – mild and sweet flavor
• Pecan – rich, sweet, nutty flavor.
• Oak – medium flavor, not overpowering, quintessential smoking wood
• Hickory – mellow smoky flavor, not over powering, savory, hearty, one of the most versatile.
• Mesquite – intense, strong flavor with earthy notes. Much stronger flavor than other woods.

Don’t be afraid to mix different wood pellet flavors together. Using blends of different type of wood pellets can give the turkey extra flavor depth. We often use a combination of apple and hickory blended together.

How to Smoke a Turkey on a Traeger

I always purchase a smaller turkey. If we need more than 12 lbs, then we purchase 2 turkeys. In my experience larger turkeys take longer for the breast meat to finish and can end up dried out.

Some recipes I have seen recommend raising the temperature to 325 degrees F after the initial smoke phase. We prefer the way the turkey turns out when we cook it at 250 degrees F.

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8 Pro Tips for the Best Traeger Smoked Turkey

In our house, we have a running joke where we frequently say things like “hey, pro tip here…” when we’re giving one of the kids advice or something.

I thought I’d give you some of MY “pro tips” to make the best smoked turkey. These tips are all personally tried be us and have yielded great success for us when it comes to smoking a turkey.

Here’s a quick overview of the tips I’ve shared in the post below:

Read on for more details and explanations on all of the tips!

Pro Tip #1: Smoke 2 Small Turkeys Instead of 1 Large One

Larger turkeys have a tendency to dry out on a smoker since they take so much longer to reach the appropriate temperature.

If you need a lot of meat, it is better to use 2 smaller turkeys than 1 large turkey when you are smoking a turkey.

Multiple smaller birds will allow you to cook faster, have plenty of meat, AND have meat is still juicy. A 12-14 pound turkeys is the ideal maximum size.

Another option is to smoke several turkey breasts rather than whole turkeys. We do this quite often as most of our family prefers the white meat to the dark meat.

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Pro Tip #2: Brine Your Smoked Turkey

When thinking about Smoked Turkey Preparation, one of the most important things to do is brine the meat.

You’ll have much juicier, more flavorful meat. The brine flavors paired with the flavor of the smoke is delicious!

Pro Tip #3: Don’t Stuff Your Smoked Turkey

I don’t recommend stuffing a turkey if you are smoking it.

Here’s why you shouldn’t stuff a smoked turkey:

• Lower cooking temperatures that occur in smoking can cause the turkey to stay in the danger zone (40-140 degrees F) for too long if the bird is stuffed. The stuffing will not reach a high enough temperature to kill any bacteria.
• Besides safety reasons, the heat, and smoke, needs to circulate freely throughout the bird for optimal flavor.
• And lastly, your turkey will cook faster without a stuffed cavity. A stuffed turkey will take longer to cook than the guidelines in this recipe.

How to Safely Stuff a Traeger Smoked Turkey

If you really love stuffing inside your turkey, there is a way to safely stuff a smoked turkey.

1. First, prepare and cook the stuffing separately while the turkey smokes.
2. Then, place the stuffing into the turkey once it is done smoking.

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Pro Tip #4: Cook Your Traeger Smoked Turkey by Temperature, Not Time

There are a few things to know about smoking your turkey, and an important keys to success is cooking by temperature.

Turkey smoking times vary depending on a variety of things, such as:

• the size of the bird
• internal temperature the bird when you begin
• outdoor weather conditions (cold or windy days may cause your Traeger to run cooler)

So, it is better to have general time guidelines and specific temperature milestones to meet rather than cooking for x number of hours.

You avoid overcooked dry meat and undercooked unsafe meat when you use a digital probe meat thermometer. Place the probe in the thickest part of the breast before you begin cooking.

If it is very cold outside, you will need to monitor the temperature on your Traeger’s display and adjust the cook temperature accordingly so the temperature displayed on the digital readout matches the temperature the recipe says to cook at.

• For example, if your Traeger is set to 250 degrees F but it is so cold outside that the Traeger is only cooking at 200 degrees F, you will need to adjust the temperature settings until the Traeger is producing the appropriate temperature.
• Do this in small adjustments until you reach the correct temperature.

Pro Tip #5: Don’t Lift the Lid While Smoking Your Turkey

Heat and smoke escape every time you lift the lid and the Traeger will have to work harder to keep up with the temperature settings – this is especially impactful on cold days.

Just don’t do it. Your thermometer will tell you everything that you need to know.

Pro Tip #6: Don’t Make Panic Induced Adjustments

Perfect, tender, smoked turkey takes time. Don’t be impatient.

When smoking, meat can often experience a “stall.” It might seems like the thermometer is stuck at the same temperatures for hours at a time.

Don’t make the mistake of impatiently increasing the heat. Seriously, one of the worst things you can do is panic and make a bunch of rapid fire adjustments on your Traeger.

You think the turkey isn’t cooking fast enough, so you crank the temperature way up. Then, you crank it down because it is cooking too fast.

Sound familiar? If the answer is yes, it is time to stop doing that. If you need to make adjustments, don’t adjust the temperature by more than 25 degrees at a time, giving it time to increase the heat in between adjustments.

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Pro Tip #7: Finish the Smoked Turkey in the Oven

You can certainly keep the turkey on your Traeger Smoker until the breast meat reaches 160 degrees F.

I prefer another way. I’ve found that the best way to get a nice, brown, crispy skin on a smoked turkey is to pull it off the Traeger and finish the turkey in the oven.

Pro Tip #8: Let The Turkey Rest

I know, the last thing you want to do after spending ALL DAY smoking a turkey is to wait even longer before slicing in to it.

Let the turkey rest for 20 – 30 minutes before slicing into it for the best results. The turkey will be easier to cut and the meat will stay juicer. It is worth the wait.

Traeger Smoked Turkey FAQs

Got questions about smoking a turkey on a Traeger? Here are the answers to a few commonly asked questions. Feel free to leave any other questions in the comments on this post and I’ll respond with answers.

Can I Use this Traeger Smoked Turkey Recipe with a Different Pellet Grill?

Yes! We happen to have a Traeger grill, but I am reasonably confident that if you have a different brand wood pellet grill, you’ll still have great results with this recipe.

How Much Traeger Smoked Turkey Should I Plan Per Person?

Plan to purchase 1 lb. per person attending your turkey dinner.

If you like to have plenty of leftovers for the freezer or cooking up a big batch of soup, plan on double that, about 2 lbs of turkey per person.

What if you don’t want a lot of meat? Try smoking a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. You can follow the same tips and methods described in this post for making a smoked turkey breast.

Another alternative is to make this recipe for Easy Smoked Chicken, which is the perfect size for smaller meals.

Should I Brine a Traeger Smoked Turkey?

YES! Brining a smoked turkey before you put it in your Traeger helps the meat to retain moisture that is often lost when poultry is exposed to long cook times.

Rather than dry turkey meat, you’ll end up with a juicy, flavorful bird that is seasoned all the way through rather than just on the surface.

You’ll want to look at the label before purchasing your turkey and avoid anything labeled as kosher, pre-salted, or salt injected. Brining any of these will result in an over salted turkey.

You’ll find a lot more information about how to brine, along with a variety of recipes, in the below posts.

Here are my favorite Traeger turkey brine recipes to get you started:

• Fresh Herb Citrus Brined Turkey combines lots of fresh herbs with a subtle hint of citrus.
• Brining your turkey with this Apple Cider Sage Brined Turkey before smoking will not only infuses the meat with the delicious flavors of fresh apple cider and sage, but it will help keep the meat moist and tender.
• Brining a turkey in this Rosemary Beer Brine will tenderize the meat and infuse it with a TON of flavor for Turkey Day.
• This recipe for Garlic Herb Peppercorn Dry Brine is really simple and produces juicy, seasoned turkey meat. There is no soaking required!

How Long Does it Take to Smoke a Turkey?

For general guidelines, you can plan for approximately 30-45 minutes per pound of turkey for your total cook time. But, these are just guidelines.

Cooking time will always vary due to individual smoker (does your smoker run hot or cold?), did you start with a cold turkey or a room temperature turkey?, and what is the weather like outside?, did you open the lid a lot?

I always let the turkey sit at room temperature for about an hour before starting the smoking process.

Can I Smoke My Turkey the Day Before and Reheat It?

Yes – that’s a great way to spread the work of Thanksgiving out over multiple days! You’ll need to store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator after.

How to Get a Crispy Skin on a Smoked Turkey

Do you prefer the skin of the turkey to be crispy like it is when it comes out of the oven? Here’s how you can still get that with the smoke flavor from the Traeger:

1. When the internal temperature of the turkey measured at the thickest part of the turkey breast reaches 140 – 145 degrees F, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
2. At the turkey temperature of 150 degrees F, remove it from the smoker.
3. Transfer to a roasting pan and roast in the 425 degree F oven until the temperature probe reads 160 degrees F in the breast meat.
4. Let rest for 20 – 30 minutes before carving.

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My Smoked Turkey Finished Cooking Too Early – What Do I Do?

First, don’t panic! There are plenty of solutions to troubleshoot a turkey that has cooked too fast!

If you’re meal time is in 2 hours or less:

1. Place a disposable roasting tray inside a well insulated cooler.
2. Then, place the finished turkey on the roasting tray.
3. Close the cooler, and store until ready to serve (within a reasonable amount of time).

The cooler will act as a warming drawer for the turkey, and the juices will have plenty of time to redistribute while it rests.

If your turkey finished earlier than 2 hours too early, then you’ll need to follow these steps:

1. Let the turkey rest for 30 minutes.
2. Carve the breast meat, legs, and, thighs.
3. Arrange the carved meat on a large serving platter.
4. Cover the platter with foil. Transfer the platter to the refrigerator.
5. Just prior to serving your meal, reheat the platter in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Can I Make Gravy with Smoked Turkey Drippings?

Yes, you can. Place a wire rack inside of a disposable turkey roasting pan and smoke the turkey on that. That will allow air circulation on the underside of the turkey but still allow you to catch the drippings.

How Can I Make My Smoked Turkey Gravy Less Smoky?

Adding in some turkey or chicken stock to the drippings to augment the amount would help lessen the smokiness if you are concerned about your gravy tasting too smoky.

For example, in this How to Make Turkey Gravy with Drippings post, I say that if you have 2 cups of drippings but you want 3 cups of gravy, you would need to add 1 cup of broth. Maybe something like that?

I would love to hear how it turns out if you try it! I wish I was more help on this particular question!

What Should I Do with Leftover Smoked Turkey?

My post on How to Use Leftover Turkey covers everything! From making turkey stock, to leftover storage tips, and tons of recipes you can make with turkey after your holiday meal.

Still Have Questions about Traeger Smoked Turkey?

If you haven’t answered all of your questions by the time you reached this point, you’ll find that there are even more questions and answers about smoking a turkey from readers in the comments section of this article.

Be sure to check those out if you have any other questions that aren’t covered here. You’ll find the comments below the printable recipe card. I’ve replied to as many of the questions with my answers and tips as I can.

If you are wondering how to roast a turkey, check out my Turkey Roasting Tips to learn more about the method that I like to use to roast my turkey. There are tons of hints, tips, and tricks for roasting a juicy, flavorful, and tender turkey.

Try this Traeger Smoked Turkey!

Next time you’re looking for a new way to cook your Thanksgiving turkey, give this smoked turkey recipe a try!

Did you think it produced tender meat with a delicious smoky flavor? Leave a comment below and give it a review for others to see what you thought of this delicious holiday season recipe.

On Instagram? Share your photo and tag me @goodlifeeats #goodlifeeatsrecipes. I’d love to see your photo of this flavorful turkey!

What Readers thought of this Traeger Smoked Turkey

Now that you know how to smoke a turkey on a Traeger, it’s time to actually do it!

Here are some recent reader reviews for this pellet grill turkey tutorial:

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Have you had smoked turkey before?