Texas Style Turkey Recipe Smoked over Post Oak
#texasturkey #texassmokedturkey #howtobbqright
Texas Style Smoked Turkey Breast
Texas is known for its luscious, post oak smoked, brisket… but pit masters in the Lone Star state also know how to smoke a mean turkey breast.
Restaurants keep smoked turkey on the menu year-round and if you haven’t tried Texas Style Smoked Turkey you’ve been missing out.
This recipe is pretty much standard when it comes to smoking turkey the Texas way. It starts with extra-large, boneless turkey breast. These can be difficult to source in my area, so I reached out to my friend Kevin at the Butcher Shoppe down in Florida. https://www.facebook.com/TheButcherShoppe/
I knew if anyone could find some Goliath sized turkey breast it was Kevin. Sure enough, after a few phone calls he was able to source just what wanted. He packaged it up and shipped it to my front door.
First the turkey breast gets a light trim. Remove the skin and cut away any excess fat or silver skin. Then the outside is seasoned with a good dose of Coarse black pepper and Kosher salt. A good ratio is 2 parts Coarse Black Pepper to 1 part Kosher Salt, but you can add a little garlic or herbs if you want… but the pepper and salt are most important.
Now fire up the bbq pit. You can use any smoker for this recipe but to keep in true Texas form I pulled out my stick burner. I load Ms. Jolene with a bed of Royal Oak lump charcoal to create a hot bed of coals; then I start adding sticks of Post Oak to hold the pit at 275 degrees. Once it stabilizes the turkey breast goes on the pit.
Smoke it for 2 hours adding more post oak as needed to maintain steady temperature. After about 2 hours the outside of the turkey will start to turn golden brown and have a nice crusty bark from the salt and pepper.
At this point it’s time to wrap. Lay out a double layer of aluminum foil and cut up 1 stick of butter. Place half the butter on the foil and lay the turkey breast “top side” down on the butter. Place the remaining butter on top and fold up the foil tight. Insert a probe thermometer (I use a Thermoworks DOT http://bit.ly/ThermoworksDOT ) and return the turkey breast to the pit. Continue to cook until the internal temperature reaches 162 degrees.
Remove the turkey breast from the pit and rest it for at least 20-30 minutes before slicing. In Texas you order turkey by the pound and it’s sliced right in front of you. Typically, the slices are about 1/4” but you can request it however you like.
I recommend reserving some of the butter for drizzling over the top. It makes a fine dipping sauce. And don’t even think about covering it in bbq sauce; you won’t need it. This turkey is packed with flavor and moisture. The salt and pepper create a flavorful bark on the outside and the post oak gives it a true Texas-style smoked flavor. You’ll be smoking turkey year-round once you try this recipe!
Texas Turkey Breast Ingredients:
– 4lb Boneless Turkey Breast
– 2 Tablespoons Killer Hogs TX Brisket Rub *(substitute 2 parts Coarse Black Pepper to 1 part Kosher Salt)
– 1 Stick Butter
Texas Turkey Breast Directions:
1. Prepare smoker for indirect cooking at 275 degrees using Post Oak wood for fuel and smoke flavor.
2. Remove the skin from the turkey breast and trim away excess fat.
3. Season with Killer Hogs TX Brisket Rub*
4. Place the turkey breast on the pit and smoke for 2 hours.
5. Cut the stick of butter into pieces. Place half the butter on a double layer of aluminum foil and set the turkey breast top-side down on the butter. Place remaining butter on top and wrap the foil around.
6. Set the turkey back on the pit and insert a probe thermometer.
7. Continue to cook until internal temperature reaches 162 degrees.
8. Remove the turkey breast from the pit and rest for 20-30 minutes before slicing.
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Original of the video here
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Video Transcription
hey welcome back to how to barbecueright I’m Malcolm Reed today I’m goingto show you how I do a Texas styleturkey breast now in Texas turkey is onthe menu at every barbecue joint I’veever been to and it’s not like yourtraditional Thanksgiving turkey it’sseasoned with that same rub that theyput on those briskets and the ribssalt and pepper heavy a little bit ofherbs to round it out it goes in somegood post oak smoke and then they wrapit up with some butter to finish it offyou know it’s gonna be good and this ishow I do Texas style turkey let’s get tocooking so today I’ve got some bonelessskin-on turkey breasts they’re about 4or 5 pounds eachnow the hardest thing about this recipeis sourcing those turkey breasts I’venever been able to find them that big atmy grocery store so I caught up my buddyKevin down at the butcher shop and hesourced something for me they came froma local farm no Bryan no pre injectionnone of that stuff they’re just freshturkey breasts first thing we’re gonnado is take the skin off of these turkeybreasts because I’m not trying to renderthe skin down in this cook in Texas theycook it with the skin off and they taketheir seasonings and build this barkover the outside that’s where all yourflavor is so it’s exactly what I’m gonnado we’re just gonna take a knife trimthe skin off and you can also trim offany excess fat or any seenu that’s onthere you just really want to clean themup and you have a ton of great meat leftyou’re not wasting much when you buyturkey breasts like this now to seasonthese turkey breasts I’m going with thatTexas style salt and black pepper it’stwo parts coarse black pepper to onepart salt I threw in a little bit ofgarlic a little bit of onion some herbsto make it my own version of a Texasbrisket seasoning so first we’re gonnaput some seasoning on the bottom side ofthese breasts I really want a good doseof it because I wanted to make that barkas it cooks you just want to hit all ofit up and then we’re gonna flip each oneover we’re going to do the top sides andthe edges now what I like about the saltand pepper is you can really see thecoarseness of the pepper the flakes ofsalt mixed in with it a little bit ofthe herbs all of the seasonings gonnaBrown up so it’s going to make theseturkey breasts beautiful so that looksgood on the seasoning now let me showyou what we’re gonna cook these on todayI’ve got my offset stick burner missJolene out today we’re gonna fill thefire basket up with some royal loaf lumpcharcoal use a couple tumbleweeds to getthe fire going in about 20 minutes we’llhave a hot bed of coals that’s what wewant to start adding the wood now I’vegot it split a post oats that I’mputting on here it’s gonna give us someTexas style smoke also give us some goodBTUs to hold this kit at 275 today nowas the tips come up we want to adjustthe vents on the firebox door and thenon the smokestack it’s about a quarteropen that’s gonna let air flow that’sgonna hold us right at 275 you can cookthis turkey breast on any kind of pityou just want to keep it at that sametemperature all right miss Jolene isrunning right where I want her so we’reready to get these turkey breasts on thepit what we’re gonna do is just kind ofset them right in the middle and I’mcooking down here on the end I’m justgonna kind of shape it up as I put themin the way I want them to cook theseturkey breasts are gonna cook exactlyhow we set them on here bunch them up alittle bit cuz they do kind of thin outon the end a little now we got to justget the lid closed I’m gonna give MissJolene the wood she’s gonna stay rightwhere I want her to it’s gonna be 275about every 45 minutes I need to go backput a piece of that post oak on therelet that smoke roll all over this turkeybreast it’s been about 45 minutes we’regonna look at our fire the pits stillsetting on 275 you can see our logsburnt down we still got a good bed ofcoals the charcoal has done its job nowI’m just going to keep adding anotherstick that’ll be perfectwe’ll check it again in about another 45minutes okay it’s been about two hoursand this is the point where our turkeybreast should have a beautiful color youcan see they’ve kind of turned likegolden color you can still see theseasoning on the outside it’s all stuckto it and set in it so let’s wrap thisturkey breast I mean look at thebeautiful color on that side we’ve gotsome color going on the bottom side aswell you can still see the seasonings sothe first thing I’m going to do is getsome butter down I’ve got half a stickI’ve just sliced it in half it’ll laythat turkey breast right on it putanother half a stick on top then we’regonna wrap it up double layer a foilmake sure everything stays inside turnit that way roughly pull over and I’musing the heavy-duty foil on this so itwon’t tear we’re gonna put it right backon the pit skin side down it’s goingright back on the pit down and I’m gonnaput a thermal works dot in itthis one right here you just want to goin the thick part we’re looking forabout 162 we know it’s gonna carry over165 finished em well we got this probein it we’re sitting on about 141 rightnow so we know we’ve probably got aboutan hour left to get it up there when itstarts getting a hundred sixty I’m gonnalet it go a couple more degrees andwe’ll get them off we gotta rest themthe best part I get to try it I can’twait all right you can hear our dotgoing off these turkey breasts have hittemp they’re setting it 162 but we’renot ready to cut them up what I’m gonnado at this pointsilence my dot up here and we’re gonnatake these off and just let them rest inan aluminum pan sitting out I want themto drop several degrees before I cutinto them was I want them to be juicylast one we’re just gonna stack it ontop get the smoker closed miss Jolenedid her job we’re ready to go back tothe cutting board and let these guyshang out then we’re gonna slice one upand I’m gonna try it alright so I letthe turkey breasts hang out for about 20minutes here on the cutting board justsitting at room temperature now we’regonna take them out of the foil see howthey turned out is as good as it smellsI know it’s gonna taste good I’m gonnaget them all out we got to look at allof them this is coming out of the butterwe still got our pepper our salt thatbark we created on the outside don’tthrow this buttery Turkey drippings awaybecause you can use that to serve theseback over to keep this turkey nice andmoist I’m just going to set it to theside I’m also gonna unwrap these ooh youcan still see some steam coming off ofitI mean this is gonna be some good eatinright here I wish you’d just call thisbutter turkey because it’s gonna be richtasty and juicy I guarantee I’m gonnacut one of these dudes up it’s time totry some turkey just got a roast carvingknife you can use your same brisketknife cut it as thick or as thin as youwant now on the thinner side of it whatkind of skew the knife a little bit thenget some hiked out of these turkeypieces man is looking goodsee it’s got a little smoke color stilljuicy still plenty of moisture insidethis turkey and you can feed a lot ofpeople with one of these when you getthis at a barbecue restaurant they’rejust gonna cut it off for you by thepound how much ever you want I getprobably two or three slices wait turnit see what I’m doing now you can startas you get back into the thicker partyou can just start going straight downwith it almost like you’re slicing abrisket I’m cutting these about aquarter-inch and I don’t know how manyI’m up to but I’m guessing I got 16 to18 slices out of just one breast sothat’s a lot of sliced turkey but lookhow beautiful that is let me just kindof turn these pieces where you can seeon camera all this nice turkey with abark on it that’s salt and pepper I meanit just looks fantastic I’m gonna get meone of these pieces right out of themiddle still juicy still a lot ofmoisture in it and let’s try it this isthe moment oh don’t get off that boardwe want you right up there and lettingit rest you don’t lose all that moistureout of it it holds it in the meat thatreminds me of Lockhart Texas right thereit’s so good you get that post-docflavor from that offset smoker salt andpepper just makes a great seasoning onthe outside and it has flavor throughand through but it’s juicy turkey I meanthat’s the way turkeys supposed to tasteespecially smoked turkey one last littlebite I got that bark piece there off theback end even the edges are still tenderstill juicy and it was really simple todo I took that course black pepper mixedit with some kosher salt a little bit ofherbs maybe garlic onion if you want putit on the outside of these bonelessturkey breast pulled that skin offtrimmed them up just a little bit we gotit in some Post Oak smoked for about twohours till we got them that golden browncolor and then we wrapped them up with astick of butter and we stuck athermometer in them and just watched ittill they got up to about 160 degreesyou let it rest that’s gonna carry overto about 165 and then slice it when itstarts dropping and you’re gonna havesome juicy some delicious smoked turkeyTexas style and it’s not traditional butman it’s so good y’all got to try thisonethanks for hanging out with us here athow to barbecue right if you like whatwe’re doing subscribe to our channel youcan find us on Facebook Instagram andTwitterMichelle and I are gonna talk about thisturkey recipe in more detail in ourpodcast at the end of the week we’ll seey’all next timemmm delicious I just do that okay I’mputting that butter in there goodfreezes
