This delicious smoked turkey breast is flavorful, tender, and has the perfect crispy skin after smoking. We love this recipe for a smaller Thanksgiving or a smaller group of people. The leftovers make great turkey salad and turkey quesadillas, too.
Do you have a bigger group to feed? We have a whole smoked turkey recipe and a delicious roasted turkey recipe as well as other easy Thanksgiving recipes that are made with whole and easy ingredients.
Delicious Smoked Turkey Breast
When you don’t need quite as much turkey as a whole turkey offers, go for a turkey breast! This bone-in smoked turkey breast recipe offers flavorful and tender turkey every time.
This turkey breast is brined, rubbed with a delicious dry rub, and spritzed with an orange juice and apple cider vinegar spritz during the smoke time.
Check out some of our other turkey brine recipes: Smoked Turkey Brine and How to Brine a Turkey.
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Turkey Seasoning
Ditch the store-bought turkey seasoning and use the most Flavorful Turkey Seasoning made with 9 ingredients you can actually pronounce. This seasoning is made up of garlic powder, brown sugar, kosher salt, and other simple seasonings.
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Smoked Turkey
This smoked turkey recipe is exceptionally juicy. It is brined overnight and seasoned with a delicious turkey seasoning. It may take a bit of time, but it is so worth it.
Get RecipeWe highly suggest brining the turkey before you smoke it. Prepare the brining liquid and submerge the turkey breast in the brine after it has cooled off. You do not want to put your turkey in a warm brine.
Place the brining turkey in the refrigerator and brine the turkey overnight.
Remove the turkey from the brine and carefully rinse the turkey under cold water. Pat the turkey completely dry before adding the dry rub. Season the turkey with the turkey dry rub. Massage the dry rub into the turkey with your hands and add the white onion into the cavity of the turkey breast.
This is also the time to add the orange juice and apple cider vinegar to a spray bottle to spritz the turkey during the cook time.
Preheat the smoker to 240ºF and then place the turkey breast on the smoker for 2 1/2-3 hours or until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 165ºF.
A 4-6 lb. turkey breast will take around 2.5 to 4 hours to smoke. Make sure to cook until the internal temperature is 165ºF.
Remove the turkey breast from the smoker and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Let’s talk about smokers. If you have a smoker that you love, you can skip this section. We have smoked many different types of meat on many different smokers. Automatic pellet grills or smokers, manual smokers, and even regular grills.
Our favorite smoker is the Traeger electric smoker because (like a slow cooker) there is minimal work required once you set the Traeger. This smoker uses pellets rather than wood chips and it automatically feeds the smoker to adjust the temperature
That’s right, nobody has to add wood chips or wood pellets themselves to keep the temperature up.
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Thermoworks Thermapen
We swear by using a meat thermometer when cooking any cut of meat. The Thermapen is our go-to meat thermometer that works every time.
Buy NowSmoker Essentials
Check out all of our favorite smoker products, including what smoker we use in the Fit Foodie kitchen for testing recipes!
Traeger Pro Series 575
OXO Thermometer
OXO Tongs
Traeger Signature Pellets
Top Tips for Smoking Turkey Breast
Can I use a regular grill to smoke?Yes, you can use a gas grill or charcoal grill as a smoker. It does take a bit more work. All you have to do is buy one of these wood chip smoker boxes and then add wood chips throughout the smoking process to maintain the correct temperature.
What type of pellets do I use?You can use whatever pellet you would like! We used the original Traeger pellets for this recipe. You can use hickory, cherry, or any other pellet flavor you’d like.
Why brine your turkey before smoking?We swear by a wet brine for our turkey breast before smoking because it not only adds a ton of flavor but also helps the turkey retain moisture during the smoking process.
We recommend brining your turkey for at least 12 hours or overnight. So, you can do this the night before so that it’s ready for smoking in the morning!
Store your turkey leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Yes, you can freeze leftover turkey for soups, salads, or any other recipes. Let the turkey cool completely and then place it in a freezer-safe bag and freeze it for up to 3 months.
try it!
Turkey Seasoning
Ditch the store-bought turkey seasoning and use the most Flavorful Turkey Seasoning made with 9 ingredients you can actually pronounce. This seasoning is made up of garlic powder, brown sugar, kosher salt, and other simple seasonings.
get recipe
More of our Favorite…
Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes
- Smoked Turkey
- Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey
- Baked Turkey Tenderloin
- Smoked Turkey Legs
- Sous Vide Turkey
- Spatchcock Turkey
- 4-6 lbs. bone-in turkey breast completely thawed
- 12 cups water
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 5 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 medium white onion chopped and separated
- 2 tablespoons turkey seasoning
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- Remove the packaging from the turkey breast and discard any extra turkey parts that came with the turkey. Set the turkey aside.
- Make the turkey breast brine. Add 12 cups of cold water to a large 5 gallon bucket or pot. Remove 2 cups of water from the bucket and add it to a small saucepan. Add the salt to the water and whisk.
- Bring the water to a boil over high heat and allow the mixture to boil until the salt has dissolved completely.
- Add the salt water to the bucket and stir to combine. Add the thyme, rosemary, and half of the white onion to the bucket of water. Place the turkey breast in the bucket of water. Be sure the turkey breast is submerged in water. Refrigerate the turkey overnight to brine.
- The next morning, preheat the smoker to 240ºF* and remove the turkey from the brine and rinse it under cold water. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
- Season the turkey breast with the turkey seasoning on both sides. Massage the turkey seasoning into the turkey. Add the other half of the chopped white onion into the cavity of the turkey. Set aside.
- Add orange juice and apple cider vinegar into a spray bottle. Shake to combine.
- Place the turkey on the smoker and smoke the turkey breast for 2 ½ – 3 hours, spritzing the turkey breast with orange juice every 30-45 minutes.
- Remove the turkey breast from the smoker when the internal temperature reaches 165ºF. Let the turkey breast rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
- Turkey breast can be hard to find outside of the holiday season. You can usually find bone-in turkey breast at your local butcher or in the frozen section of specialty grocery stores.
- We suggest preparing the whole recipe of the turkey seasoning and storing it in a cold and dark place.
- Some smokers have set temperatures so anywhere between 230-250ºF will work for this recipe. The timing just may change depending on what temperature you can use.
- You can use a boneless turkey breast, but be sure to monitor the internal temperature of the turkey breast closely so it does not overcook.
- We used Traeger Signature blend smoking pellets.
More of our Favorite…
Smoking Recipes
- Smoked Pork Shoulder
- Smoked Salmon Dip
- Ultimate Smoked Turkey Recipe
- Smoked Chicken Legs Recipe
- Smoked Chicken Thighs Recipe
