Learn to make a smoked turkey breast no brine recipe with tons of flavor that's both quick and easy. Instead of the slow process of brining, just make our 5-minute super flavorful turkey rub, spread it on the turkey, and smoke.
1-2turkey rub seasoningstore bought or our recipe below
1-2tablespoonextra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Remove the turkey breast from the fridge 30 minutes before smoking it to start bringing it to room temperature.
Preheat the smoker to 165 F on the "super smoke" setting if your pellet smoker has that setting, if it doesn't then skip that.
Use your favorite store-bought rub or make our easy turkey rub for smoking by combining ½ tablespoon garlic powder, ½ tablespoon ground onion powder, ½ tablespoon smoked paprika, ½ tablespoon chili powder, 1 tablespoon fine sea salt, 1 /2Tbsp course ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ½ teaspoon minced dried rosemary, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, and ½ teaspoon dried sage.
Mix 1 tablespoon of the dry rub with 1 tablespoon olive oil to make a paste for a small turkey breast, if you have a larger one use 2+ tablespoons of each.
Slightly loosen the skin of the breast and spread some of the dry rub paste under the skin, and also spread it on top of the turkey breast skin and on the bottom of the turkey breast.
Smoke the turkey breast for 1 hour at 165 F.
After 1 hour of slow smoking, increase the temperature to 375 F and continue cooking the turkey until the internal temperature when tested with a digital meat thermometer reaches 160 F, which took an additional 1 hour 40 minutes.
Remove the bone-in turkey breast, tent it with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
We used a small 1.5 lb bone-in turkey breast which took 2 hours to smoke on a Traeger. If yours is larger than that, it'll take longer to cook. Some turkey breasts are as large as 5 lb. You can use any rub of choice for your turkey, to make our turkey rub for smoking, combine the following (this makes about 5 tablespoon of rub):