South Dakota Thanksgiving: How to Smoke a Turkey, Recipe and Pics

How to Smoke a Turkey, Recipe, and Pics

We hit a home run on smoking a turkey and thought I'd share the recipe and pics - and it was a ridiculously juicy bird.

I used a thawed 13 -14 lb. turkey and patted it dry. Remove the neck and giblets. Now go ahead and stuff that bird with a cup of real butter, apples, and a large quartered onion. Now, hang on...this is going to get crazy: pour 2 cans of cola in the cavity.

We didn't go crazy on the seasoning. Rub the outside of the bird with poultry seasoning, seasoned salt, and coarse ground pepper. Let that bird sit loosely covered with foil and preheat your smoker between 225 - 250 degrees F.

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Place it on the smoker. This is very important to get that skin just right: Every hour or two, take a large spoon and baste the bird with the pan drippings. The cola will give it a great shine.

The 14 lb. bird took about 7 hours on the smoker. I waited until the internal temperature reached 180 degrees F.

This turkey turned out great and the family has requested we do it the same way for Thanksgiving. That's a Dad win.

Ingredients:

• 13 - 14lb. turkey thawed
• 1 cup real butter
• 1 large apple
• 1 large onion
• poultry seasoning
• season salt
• coarse ground pepper
• 2 cans of cola