By C.Britt
While smoking a turkey on a pellet grill is not tricky, I decided to demonstrate how to smoke a turkey on a kettle grill (such as a Weber), using a technique called the “snake method.”
First, the turkey preparation.
The first step is to prepare your turkey for the smoker. You can use a fresh turkey or a frozen turkey that’s been completely thawed. It’s best to use a smaller turkey in the 10-12 pound range. If you go with a larger turkey, you run into the potential for food safety issues. A turkey must pass through the temperature range from 40-140 degrees F within 4 hours of being in the smoker. Otherwise, it could start to spoil before it cooks through.
I like to inject the entire turkey with a butter-based injection rather than wet brining. Wet brining is time-consuming, requires costly ingredients, and takes up a good amount of real estate in your fridge—all for a minimal change of taste.
For the Injection:
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Melt it all in a pot and inject the bird throughout
Prepare the kettle
Stack briquettes individually in a semicircular pattern around 2/3rds of the kettle. Do it again creating concentric circle. Repeat the process by stacking another set on top of what you have. Add wood chunks to the first half of the semicircle. I prefer a fruit wood like apple or cherry. You can go with 2 by 2, but I prefer a 1 by 2 so I’m not wasting charcoal.
Light a chimney with about a dozen briquettes and place a water pan in the middle of it all for moisture.
Place the lit briquettes at the beginning of the snake.
Cover the grill with the top holes away from the starting point. Open the top holes fully and the bottom ones about halfway. For the first 20 minutes dial in your temperature by opening and closing the top holes until you can maintain about 275 degrees.
Put your bird on and your temp probe into the breast meat without touching the bone.
This will smoke your bird at about 30 minutes per pound. When the temperature hits 165, it is done. Let the bird rest for at least 30 minutes and then slice away. A juicy bird with flavorful smoke.
Happy Thanksgiving! From our house to yours.
