When it comes to smoked meat, it’s essential to choose the right type of wood to complement the flavor. However, it’s just as important to make sure you have enough wood on hand to get the job done.
Let’s find out how much wood you need to smoke a whole turkey.
How Much Wood To Smoke a Turkey?
When smoking a turkey, start with about 1 cup of wood chips, then add another cup every 45 minutes or so until the turkey is done. How much wood you use will depend on the size of the turkey and the smoker temperature. For example, a 12-pound turkey cooked at 275 degrees will take about 4 hours, so you’ll need 5 cups of wood chips for the smoke.
Wood Chips: A Primer
If you’re using a pellet grill to smoke your turkey, the wood flavor is a given. But if you’re using wood chips on a charcoal or gas grill, you might want to invest in a wood chip smoker box.
These devices will feed the wood smoke into the cooking environment at just the right pace, ensuring that your turkey tastes rich and appealing. It can be easy to overdo the smoke flavor when you’re dealing with poultry, so this tool will come in handy.
Be aware that some gas grills come equipped with a dedicated smoker box. If yours has one, then you’re one step ahead of the game.
As an alternative, you can make a packet for the wood chips out of aluminum foil. Be sure to poke holes in the packet to allow the smoke to pass through.
We should point out that it’s not necessary to enlist the aid of a smoker box or foil packet when you’re using a charcoal grill or smoker. Just put the wood chips directly on the bed of charcoal as soon as the coals turn white.
If you go this route, you don’t need to add quite as much wood as we advise in the sections below. Just a small handful of chips placed on the coals will provide plenty of smoke flavor.
How Much Wood to Smoke a Turkey?
You can expect to go through 1 to 2 cups of wood chips every 45 minutes when smoking a cut of meat. Since poultry has a mild flavor that can be overpowered by too much smoke, we would go for the one-cup measure.
When the smoker temperature holds steady at 275 degrees, the turkey should cook at a rate of 20 to 25 minutes per pound. That means a 12-pound turkey will be done in 4 to 5 hours.
If you follow our formula of 1 cup of chips for every 45 minutes of cooking time, you’ll need at least 5 cups of wood to smoke a 12-pound turkey. A 15-pound bird smoked at the same temperature will require about 6 cups of wood chips.
Tips On Smoking With Wood Chips
Before you begin, make sure that your grill has sufficient airflow. If the wood burns too fast, the smoke will give the turkey an unpleasant bitter flavor.
You can tell if the wood is burning at the proper rate by taking a look at the smoke. If it’s thick and white, the wood is burning too fast. You want a thin column of smoke that rises steadily and is silvery-blue in color.
Another topic that’s hotly debated in the smoking community is the question of whether or not to soak wood chips. While the practice has its defenders, we think it’s better to leave the chips dry.
First of all, it would take more than 24 hours of soaking for a noticeable amount of moisture to penetrate the chips. That means there’s no point in the practice unless you do it at least a day in advance.
What’s more, when the wood is saturated with moisture, it will produce steam, not smoke. Your goal is to imbue the turkey with smoke flavor, not create a steam bath.
Perhaps most importantly of all, soaking the wood can lower the temperature of the smoker. It can be hard enough to keep the smoker running at the target temperature; adding saturated wood to the fire will slow things down even more.
Best Wood For Smoking Turkey
It’s just as important to choose the right wood as it is to replenish it at the proper intervals. Before you can think about how much wood you need to smoke a turkey, you’ll need to select the wood you’ll be using. Here are our top picks.
Apple
First-timers can’t go wrong with applewood. It’s mellow and sweet, making it the ideal “gateway” wood when smoking a whole turkey.
Some seasoned pitmasters feel that the apple flavor is too subtle to do the turkey much good, especially since the meat cooks more quickly than cuts like pork butt. The bird might dry out by the time it’s had a chance to absorb the smoke flavor.
You can avoid this by setting the smoker at a lower temperature than you otherwise would. Of course, you’ll need to remember that the turkey will take longer to cook this way.
If you try smoking with applewood and find the flavor too mild for your taste, try experimenting with one of the other woods listed below.
Cherry
We like the sweet, fruity flavor that cherry wood provides, but it has another side benefit: It will give the skin of your turkey a lovely ruby hue. This can be off-putting with some cuts of meat, but for turkey, it’s a nice effect.
Cherry is a milder wood, so it won’t overwhelm the natural flavor of the turkey. This makes it a great choice if you’re smoking a large bird, which will take more time to finish cooking.
This wood pairs well with hickory. If you’d like to add a richer element to the smoked meat, go ahead and mix a bit of hickory in with your cherry wood chips. Just be careful not to overdo it—a few hickory chips for every cup of cherry should be enough.
Pecan
Speaking of richness, pecan is another sweet wood, but it has a more intense flavor than cherry. The nutty taste is sure to complement the juicy turkey, especially if you’re serving it with roasted chestnuts.
Be forewarned that pecan is even sweeter than cherry—too sweet for some palates. Also, there’s no need to mix it with other woods to add complexity, as the flavor is plenty rich on its own. If you add hickory to the mix, it will overwhelm the turkey.
Can You Use Mesquite To Smoke Turkey?
Mesquite is a popular smoking wood—the word itself is synonymous with great barbecue. But for turkey, it’s difficult to recommend.
Mesquite’s claim to fame is its bold, intense flavor. It’s so powerful, in fact, that it will overwhelm the lean poultry.
You might be able to get around this by mixing mesquite in with one of the milder woods. However, we’ve found that it’s best to reserve mesquite for cuts like beef brisket, which are better able to hold their own against the intense flavor.
Final Thoughts
There’s no dedicated rule as to how much wood to use when smoking a turkey—or any cut of meat, for that matter. Just use your best judgement and make sure the stream of smoke burns steadily throughout.
Happy grilling!
