The Best Smoked Turkey Breast
On October 31, 2022 (Updated November 05, 2024)
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This smoked turkey breast is not only flavorful, but juicy to boost. Cider-brined turkey breast combined with a sweet and savory sweet rub makes for a turkey breast that is just as good for a weekday dinner as it is served on a special occasion.
Smoked Turkey Breast
This recipe is for (no bias here) the best smoked turkey breast you’ll ever have. We begin with a delicious apple cider brine, season with my KILLER turkey rub, and finish up with a few hours in the smoker. These three elements combine to bring you a tender, juicy turkey breast that is like no other. Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself!
Smoking a turkey breast also infuses the turkey with amazing smoky flavor. Between the brine, seasoning, and the smoke, you can guarantee that this turkey will taste completely incredible. It’s also a great option if you’re wanting a delicious holiday meal but you’re only cooking for a few people.
This recipe calls for a boneless turkey breast, but you could also cook it with bone in turkey breast. It might be easier to find one over the other, but if you can find a boneless turkey breast over a bone in turkey breast, go with the boneless.
Smoked Turkey Breast Brine
Let’s take a moment to talk about the turkey breast brine in this recipe. This isn’t your mama’s turkey brine. No, no. It’s packed with so many amazing ingredients with the main goal of adding flavor, moisture, and tenderness to your turkey breast.
Make sure you have the following on hand prior to making this brine.
- 3 cups apple cider
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub
- 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon onion powder
Smoked Turkey Breast Rub
When seasoning this turkey breast, there are two great rub options to try:
1. Sweet Rub
I find that a good sweet rub is best to compliment the apple cider brine and smoke flavor.
If you like that sweet heat BBQ flavor, you can go with my homemade sweet rub. It combines 8 ingredients (including brown sugar and smoked paprika) that never overpowers the flavor of the meat. You can make your own Sweet Rub at home by following my recipe on this site.
For those of you who have been long-time Hey Grill Hey followers, you likely know how often I use this sweet rub. It’s my go-to, and one that I’m happy to share with my friends. If you want to stock up on this great rub, you can purchase my Signature Sweet Rub from Patio Provisions. We also sell 2-pound refill bags so you never have to worry about running out!
2. Turkey Rub
If you want to combine BBQ and traditional turkey flavors, I highly recommend my new Smoked Turkey Rub Recipe. It’s got BBQ zing with a great addition of traditional turkey herbs and spices. I think it’s pretty bomb!
How to Smoke a Turkey Breast
Guys, smoking turkey breast only requires 4 steps; it’s so easy! This is one that you can’t mess up. It’s a good one to try when you’re ready to branch out from simple turkey, and you want to try something that takes a little more time and effort. Here’s how to smoke a turkey breast:
- Brine the turkey. Whisk all ingredients for the brine in a bowl. Submerge the turkey breast in the brine, and refrigerate for 8-12 hours.
- Add some flavor! Remove the turkey from the brine, and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle the turkey breast with my Best Sweet Rub Recipe or my Smoked Turkey Rub. You can also purchase my Signature Sweet Rub pre-made and delivered straight to your door from Patio Provisions.
- Put that turkey in some smoke. Get your smoker going at 275 degrees F. You can use whatever wood you have on hand, but apple wood goes great with this turkey breast (it compliments the cider brine perfectly!). Smoke for 3 hours, or until the internal temp of the turkey breast reaches 165 degrees F with an internal thermometer.
- Rest and enjoy. Remove the turkey breast from the smoker, cover it with foil, and rest for 5 minutes. Serve warm.
How Long to Smoke a Turkey Breast
It will take approximately 3 hours to fully smoke a turkey breast when your smoker is consistently running at 275 degrees F. Keep the ol’ meat thermometer on hand (I used my instant-read thermometer for this smoke) and pull the turkey breast off the smoker when the internal temperature of the thickest part of the turkey breast reaches 165 degrees F.
The FDA recommends turkey breast be cooked to a minimum temperature of 165 degrees F, and for this turkey breast, that’s the exact temperature you want to be watching for. The turkey will come off safely cooked and beautifully moist.
More Smoked Turkey Recipes
It’s turkey season, baby! Turkey for me, turkey for you! And yes, I would highly consider eating turkey in my big brown shoe. Not only is turkey the quintessential main course for Thanksgiving, but it’s great on Christmas, and for Sunday dinner.
And with Hey Grill Hey by your side, you can make a different turkey for each occasion, and each one will come out bursting with flavor and perfectly cooked. Check out more smoked turkey recipes below:
Smoked Turkey Breast Recipe
Smoking a turkey breast for your family should be easy, and Hey Grill Hey is here to help! Here at Hey Grill Hey, we’re in the business of helping you make better BBQ, feed the people you love, and become a backyard BBQ hero. You can find more of my smoking and grilling recipes here on my website (browse the Homepage for inspiration) on Instagram, YouTube, or our Facebook Page.
This post was originally published in November 2019. We recently updated it with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
The Best Smoked Turkey Breast
Video
Ingredients
- 1 4-5 pounds boneless turkey breast fresh, not previously brined
- 1 Tablespoon Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub or Turkey Rub (recipes in notes)
Cinder Brine
- 3 cups apple cider
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup salt
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub
- 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon onion powder
Instructions
- Make the brine. Combine all ingredients for the brine in a large bowl and whisk until the sugar and salt dissolve.
- Brine the turkey breast. Submerge the turkey breast in the brine. Cover and refrigerate for 8-12 hours.
- Preheat. Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees F. Apple wood goes great with this meat to compliment the apple cider.
- Season. Remove the turkey breast from the brine and pat dry. Sprinkle the turkey breast on all sides with Sweet Rub or Turkey Rub.
- Smoke. Place the turkey breast on the smoker, close the lid, and smoke for approximately 3 hours or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees F.
- Rest and enjoy. Remove the turkey from the smoker. Cover lightly with foil, let rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Your recipe sound amazing! Sounds so good it might make me a convert from the dark side! However, can same recipe and procedure be used for turkey legs?
Also we don’t have a smoker, an item we don’t choose to buy; so can your recipe be converted to gas grill or oven? Any other ideas? Plus I can’t find a fresh breast, any modifications if it is frozen?
Need this for this weekend (11/14)
Thank you.
It should work great for legs! You can cook this on any grill or in any oven, just follow the provided times and temperatures. If it’s frozen just make sure it’s thawed before using it with this recipe.
Hi! I plan on making this for Thanksgiving. Can you use apple juice in place of apple cider or will that alter the taste too much?
What brand/type smoker do you use for this?
You can use whatever you have! I used my Camp Chef pellet smoker.
I’m a newbie to smoking and a subscriber to your channel. I soaked this recipe today with a 6.7 lb frozen breast from Giant. Thawed in and brined it overnight with your recipe less salt, since it stated it came already brined. My family thinks this is the best ever. Thanks so much for sharing
Hi! I made this for Thanksgiving camping trip. I smoked it in a Dutch oven over campfire coals. It was amazing! Super juicy and flavorful. A great centerpiece to my exclusively campfire-cooked Thanksgiving!
I am having trouble finding boneless turkey breasts that aren’t brined or frozen, please help! Love your website and all of the wonderful recipes.
Is the SALT ingredient table or other salt?
I usually use kosher salt.
I think the recipe is heavy on salt. I reduced to ⅛ cup of kosher salt and am much happier with the results.
I will be traveling traveling for the holiday and want to smoke in advance. What is the best method to reheat and not dry out the turkey?
Sounds great I will be trying this for Thanksgiving. Thanks for all the recipes. You did great on the show earlier
I plan on trying this recipe while smoking a prime rib (your garlic butter recipe is awesome and will be using that method again.) Since I want to stay more true to the prime rib temp of 225, how long do you think the turkey would take at that temp and do you see any cons to smoking the turkey breast at 225 with oak/cherry?
It’d only take a little bit longer! I don’t think there are any cons.
One other question… I see you left the skin on during the brine but couldn’t tell if you removed it before smoking. I am leaning towards removing the skin before smoking as I think it will be rubbery at 225?
I used this recipe on a bone in, skin on turkey breast . It took about 5 hours to reach 165, but it was perfect. The skin was not rubbery at all. The brine really soaked into the meat. It was delicious.
Due to health issues I must keep all sugar from diet…is it absolutely necessary to add the brown sugar to brine and rub?
No, but it will alter the taste!