April 20, 2025

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Cooking Is My World

Super Easy Smoked Turkey Brine

Super Easy Smoked Turkey Brine

This simple, vintage smoked turkey brine gives you the juiciest, most mouth watering holiday getaway turkey you have ever tasted.

You can use this smoked turkey brine for our scrumptious smoked turkey recipe or for our baked turkey tenderloin, roasted turkey breast, sous vide turkey, or any other poultry recipe.

Turkey Brine in a pot.

Smoked Turkey Brine for a Juicy Hen

Do not enable the phrases turkey brine scare you. It is super easy to make simple turkey brine for a tremendous juicy smoked turkey recipe. Just be guaranteed you have the correct applications and the proper bird and you are going to be all set to go.

To brine or not to brine?

That is the age-old query. The reply is to try getting ready your turkey many distinct strategies and decide on your most loved. We very suggest damp brining your turkey in advance of you smoke your bird. Nevertheless, we don’t assume you want to brine your bird if you are roasting it in the oven. To each individual their have.

If you are thinking when to use a dry brine, that write-up is coming before long!

We used this smoked turkey brine for our smoked turkey recipe and because the turkey sits in the smoker for a whole working day, a brined chicken retains a little bit more humidity than an un-brined turkey.

How to Select a Turkey

This brine calls for a 12-15 pound turkey that has not been treated. What does that imply?

A lot of turkeys are presently injected with a brine. If you test to brine a fowl that is by now brined or dealt with you are squandering your valuable time. The bird will not soak up as substantially of your homemade brine!

Just check out on the turkey’s packaging to make certain that the bird is naked and totally free of any remedy.

Smoked turkey brine ingredients on a plate.

Here’s What You Need

Here’s all you have to have to perfectly moisten and taste your Thanksgiving turkey. You want a number of brine ingredients and a several resources and then you will be ready to get ready your brine.

Ahead of you get started, be certain you obvious a place in the fridge for your brining container!

A Large Pot

This is very first on the record, simply because if you never have a vessel for your smoked turkey brine, you are heading to have a problem. There are a couple diverse items you can use to brine your turkey. We utilized a pot, but feel absolutely free to use any of the vessels below.

If you have a container with a lid, wonderful! If not you can address the brining container with plastic wrap or a dish towel.

Turkey

Figure out how many individuals you are serving and locate a turkey that will provide all those men and women.

Keep in mind to uncover on your own an untreated chook and for goodness sakes be absolutely sure you eliminate the innards from the body cavity of the fowl just before you flop it into the brine.

Now, this brining recipe is designed for a 12-15 pound turkey. If that is far too massive of a turkey for you have no panic, leftovers are often a fantastic point. Did you know you can now buy a turkey on Amazon? Sure, it’s legitimate.

Make our leftover turkey soup or turkey salad. Belief me, you will not regret it.

meat thermometer

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Thermoworks Thermapen

We swear by applying a meat thermometer when cooking any cut of meat. The Thermapen is our go-to meat thermometer that works each time.

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Salt

For wet brining, you can use kosher salt and table salt interchangeably. We like to use kosher salt for brining in typical, but you can use possibly.

Fresh new Herbs

We use fresh rosemary and contemporary thyme for this smoked turkey brine. If you only have dry herbs, have to dread, you can use those alternatively! This is not the variety of recipe in which dry or refreshing herbs make a huge change.

A further pleasurable herb component is a bay leaf! Throw a couple of bay leaves in the brine for anything added!

Garlic + Onion

Garlic and onion give this turkey brine a small little bit of flavor. We used contemporary garlic and white onion but you can use pre-minced garlic or a distinctive shade onion.

Peppercorns

Peppercorns include a bit of peppery flavor to your chook!  Don’t have peppercorns? A enjoyment way to add a little bit of a chunk to your brine is to insert full cloves!

Adding water and salt to a small saucepan.

FAQ

Really should I Incorporate Sugar to My Brine?

We did not add anything sweet to our turkey brine recipe, but truly feel no cost to insert 1/4 cup of brown sugar to your brine by dissolving it into the water with the salt. You can also add 1/2 cup of apple juice to your brine ahead of you insert the chook.

Do I have to thaw a Turkey Before I Brine it?

We recommend that your turkey is mainly thawed prior to you include it to the brine. You can have a few frozen parts of the turkey, but you want to turkey to be thawed plenty of to take in the brine and take out the innards, and so on

How Extensive Do I Brine a Turkey?

If you are likely to acquire the time to damp brine a turkey, brinning the turkey right away will make it all worthy of it!

flavorful turkey seasoning in a bowl

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Turkey Seasoning

Ditch the retail outlet-purchased turkey seasoning and use the most Flavorful Turkey Seasoning built with 9 elements you can essentially pronounce. This seasoning is built up of garlic powder, brown sugar, kosher salt, and other very simple seasonings.

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Pouring salt into a small saucepan with water.

How to Brine a Turkey

  1. Prepare your container. Wipe out whatsoever container you are working with for the turkey brine and be absolutely sure it suits in the fridge and will have enough place for each the brine and the turkey.
  2. Get the turkey completely ready. Clear away the innards from the turkey and cut off any unwanted areas of the hen.
  3. Dissolve the salt. It is crucial that the salt is dissolved in the h2o for the brine. To do this you warmth up drinking water and incorporate salt. Rather of heating up gallons of drinking water, we propose that you heat up 2 cups of h2o and 1 cup of salt right up until the salt is dissolved. Do not convey the water to a boil.
  4. Increase everything to the pot. Increase the salt h2o to the brining container and include the rest of the bringing elements to the pot. Include the turkey to the brine and be confident it is totally submerged in the brine.
  5. Refrigerate. You really don’t want to mess with temperature when it will come to brining a bird. Place your turkey in the fridge to continue to keep it interesting.
  6. Refrigerate. You do not want to mess with temperature when it comes to brining a bird. Position your turkey in the fridge to maintain it interesting. Some persons like to brine their turkey in a cooler, but it is a lot less dependable. 
  7. Discard brine and prep the turkey for smoking. When the turkey has brined overnight very carefully take away the turkey from the brine and location it in a roasting container. Discard the brine. Carefully rinse the hen with water and pat the fowl dry. Then, comply with the recipe for this smoked turkey.
Pouring water into a huge pot.

Smoked turkey on a platter

A turkey in a large pot.