The Most Amazing Apple Pecan Smoked Turkey Breast [+Video]

Impress your family and friends with this delicious apple pecan smoked turkey breast recipe. With a step-by-step video tutorial, you’ll have the perfect centerpiece for your holiday meal!

There is not a more juicy and flavorful turkey than this smoked turkey breast. It is our current favorite for Thanksgiving. I thought that Instant Pot Turkey was incredible, but man, this one just totally one upped that recipe.

We aren’t lacking for turkey recipes on our site. We love a juicy turkey slice for dinner, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t keep adding to it. That fried turkey from years ago is still ad favorite, the classic oven roasted whole turkey never disappoints, and we make the herb roasted turkey breast all year round for a healthy dinner recipe idea that isn’t chicken.

So even if you’re like us and there are other turkey recipes you’ve made before, take a chance and make the most amazing apple pecan smoked turkey recipe this Thanksgiving.

Ingredients for Smoked Turkey Breast

This list might look a little overwhelming at first, but there are a few components to this recipe in order for it to come together just perfectly! You need your smoker supplies, brine ingredients, rub ingredients and turkey gravy ingredients. Here is everything you’ll need:

For the Smoker

• Pecan Pellets or Chips
• Tin Pan

Turkey Brine

• Maple Syrup
• Brown Sugar
• Kosher Salt
• Apple Juice
• Orange Juice
• Chicken Broth
• Smoked Paprika
• Turkey Breast: Buy a bone-in turkey breast for the best flavor and texture.

Turkey Rub

• Brown Sugar
• Seasonings and Spices: Smoked Paprika, Ground Mustard, Kosher Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Chipotle Chili Pepper Seasoning, Pepper and Cumin
• Butter

Steaming Liquids

• Pineapple Juice
• Water

Gravy

• Cornstarch
• Water

This is meant to be just a quick overview of the ingredients you will need. The measurements and details for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

Turkey Basics

Before we jump in to making this smoked turkey, I want to cover a few of the basics:

• A frozen turkey will need thaw 24 hours per every 5 pounds.
• Turkey will need to smoke for 25-30 minutes per pound.
• Safe internal temperature for a turkey is 165 degrees F in the breast.

So let’s assume you are going to roast a 6.5 pound turkey that is frozen when you purchase it and you want to have your meal on Thursday afternoon. Here is your brief timeline:

• Remove turkey from freezer to thaw in the fridge: 2 days ahead of time (Tuesday afternoon – Wednesday evening)
• Brine: 10-12 hours (Wednesday evening – Thursday morning)
• Turkey smokes: 3-3.5 hours
• Turkey rests: 20 minutes

Now the turkey is ready to carve and eat Thursday afternoon! Now here are those same steps in a little more detail…

How to Make Apple Smoked Turkey Breast

Alright, let’s get down to how to make The Most Amazing Apple Pecan Smoked Turkey Breast. Start out by brining your turkey breast. Even though it’s not an entire bird, brining is essential to a tender and flavorful turkey breast.

How to Brine a Turkey

Brining a turkey needs two specific ingredients and then the remaining ingredients vary based upon your own individual recipes.

1. Liquid- Your turkey breast (or whole turkey) will sit in a liquid anywhere from 8-24 hours. The kind of liquid does in fact make a difference as they will help to flavor the meat. Brining, as well as marinating is not made to soak into the center of the meat, but to flavor the outside so well that as it cooks that flavor emerges.
2. Salt- It’s preferred that you use Kosher salt for brining as it’s a more coarse salt which will help to break down the meat, soak in the liquid for a more juicy meat and finally, the salt helps to flavor the meat more than just a rub later on.

Combine all the ingredients for the brine into a large pot with a lid. Rinse the turkey breast thoroughly and then submerge in the brining liquid. Store in the fridge with the lid on for 10-12 hours or overnight.

Next up is the rub on the turkey. Do not ever make a turkey without this step as this is where all of those yummy flavors are going to come from. Here’s what you need to do:

Rub for a Turkey

1. Spices- You usually see a lot of herbs with turkey, but spices are great to bring out a little extra flavor. In this case, we throw in smoked paprika to really drive home the flavor but also the color with that deep red. Cumin, garlic and even ground mustard bring a balance to the spices that creates a warm, aromatic experience.
2. Sugar- Just a stitch of brown sugar like any good BBQ or Smoked recipe adds the tiniest amount of sweetness which really balances the garlic and smokiness.
3. Butter- Butter is essential to add a little more juiciness and flavor to the meat. It also helps the spices to stick to the meat.

Combine all the ingredients for the rub and set aside. Remove the turkey from the brine and pat it dry with paper towels. Spread the rub all over the turkey breast, under and on top of the skin.

That’s not all though, you still need to fill a drip pan with liquids that will help to steam the bird as it smokes. Trust us on this one, you do not want to just go with water.

Drip Pan with Juices

Fill a tin pan, we just get ours at the local grocery store, with pineapple juice and water. Even though this is an apple juice brined turkey the pineapple juice adds a really interesting level of flavor to the bird and the gravy.

Apple or orange juice may be used if you can’t find pineapple juice in the can.

How Long to Smoke a Turkey Breast

Preheat your Traeger smoker to 300 degrees F with pecan pellets. Place the drip pan with the smoking liquids in it under the rack of the smoker. Then put the turkey breast side down, on the smoker grill grate and close the lid.

Let it smoke for 3 – 3 ½ hours or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the turkey breast reads 165 degrees F.

Once it has reached the desired temperature, remove the turkey from the smoker and tent it with foil for 20 minutes to let it rest. RESERVE the drippings in the drip pan to make the gravy.

Combine the water and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk together to combine. Pour all the drippings from the turkey into a saucepan on the stove top and bring to a boil. Once boiling, slowly add the cornstarch mixture and whisk everything together until thickened.

read more: Looking for Traeger recipes? Try our Traeger Smoked Chicken Breasts next! Or check out our tutorial on How to Make Smoked Chicken (this recipe is for a whole chicken!). 

Can Smoked Turkey be Pink?

A smoked turkey will sometimes have a pink ring around the meat, but that’s from the smoke and flavor, it doesn’t mean that you need to keep cooking the turkey.

In fact, sometimes that pink hue can really penetrate into the meat, so it’s important to recognize if it’s the smoke or raw meat, which do in fact look different.

What Goes with Smoked Turkey

Oh my goodness, let’s talk about sides before we forget. Here are a few of our favorite things to go with smoked turkey.

• No Fuss Make Ahead Stuffing
• Cheesy Potato Casserole
• Loaded Sweet Potatoes
• Best Potato Rolls
• Green Bean Casserole
• Best Mashed Potatoes

And it can’t be Thanksgiving without pies too! So make a pecan pie, razzleberry pie, lemon meringue pie and of course, classic pumpkin pie!

What Temperature for Smoked Turkey

Depending on your smoker and how much time you have you will want to adjust the temperature of the Traeger Pellet Smoker. We prefer 300 degrees F for 3-3 ½ hours. You could also do 325 degrees F for 2 ½-3 hours, but we much prefer to have a low and slow meat.

Can You Freeze Smoked Turkey?

You can easily freeze smoked turkey, but only keep it in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. If you wish to keep it for 1-2 months, use a Food Saver like Cade and I have.

BEST. INVESTMENT. EVER.

How to Reheat Smoked Turkey

Place turkey in a casserole dish, and cover well with aluminum foil. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and cook only until warm.

You can also use a microwave with paper towels wrapped around the meat to keep it from drying out.

Take your Thanksgiving turkey to the next level with this mouth-watering apple pecan smoked turkey breast recipe.

Thanksgiving RECIPES:

• Easy Apple Dumplings with Sprite
• Healthy Herb Veggie Dip
• Garlic Honey Mustard Ham
• 5 Minute Reese’s Snack Mix
• The Best Potato Rolls
• Homemade French Silk Pie
• No Bake Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• The Best Prime Rib

Watch How This Smoked Turkey is Made…

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