This smoked turkey brine recipe is the best around. My uncle gave me this recipe; he is an avid meat smoker.
Ingredients
- 2 gallons water
- 1 ½ cups canning salt
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
Directions
Step 1
Mix together water, salt, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and pepper in a food-grade bucket or container large enough to hold your turkey. Carefully submerge turkey in brine.
Step 2
Cover and store in the refrigerator. Soak for two days before smoking or roasting.
Editor’s Notes:
This recipe uses canning or kosher salt, not table salt. Using table salt in this amount will make the brine too salty.
source by allrecipe
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- by: Zeva Perkins
- 19 years ago
Tried this for the first time this Thanksgiving…and I must say it was the BEST turkey I have ever tasted. I was a little leary at first and hoped that it would be seasoned enough, but it was perfect. I stuffed the inside of the turkey with a stick of butter, three stalks of celery and about 5 cloves of garlic. Then placed the bird, breast side down in a disposible roasting pan and covered tightly with foil. Then a put it on the smoker Thanksgiving morning. It was the juiciest turkey I have ever cooked! My family RAVED over how good it was.
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- by: Teresa Ruzycki
- 19 years ago
this was the first turkey I put in brine. I let it set two days, used a frozen turkey, about 20 lbs. I added an extra half of this recipe to cover it completely.I put it in a large clean pail/bucket, covered it and put it in the garage(34-35 degrees F. in the garage,) the weather was perfect. when cooked, it was flavorful and really nice.
my husband even commented on the difference. will try with chicken sometime. A+++++ -
- by: VORCHA
- 18 years ago
This is the perfect base for killer smoked, deep fried or even oven roasted turkey. I just bought a new 5-gallon bucket with lid that I could put in a cold corner of my garage for 3 days. Just remember to drain and dry your turkey extremely well before cooking by any methods. Even the breast meat comes out as tender and as juicy as dark meat!
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- by: Larry J
- 18 years ago
Used this to brine a 12# turkey for the 4th of July. Followed directions exactly. Put “Memphis Rub” on turkey after rinsing and drying after 2 days brining. Refrigerated overnight and smoke cooked the turkey about 4 1/2 hours next morning. Made baste of butter and additional rub. This made a very moist, tender and delicious smoke cooked turkey. Will try a different rub next time. Reason for only 4 stars is because this was my first attempt at doing a turkey this way.
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- by: Cookdap Member
- 18 years ago
My first attempt at doing a brine and I will NEVER prepare a turkey any other way from now on. This definitely was out of this world, moist and tasty. It was very easy to do also. I just bought a new 5 gallon pail, mixed up the brine and plopped the bird down inside. Covered it and put it in the garage overnight, then roasted using Alton Brown’s method (from Food Network) which was to start it in the oven at 500 degrees for the first 30 minutes, then turned it down to 350 degrees for the remainder. Awesome, phenomenal….best turkey I ever put in my mouth!!!
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- by: KELKEL94877
- 18 years ago
I loved this recipe, I used a roasting pan and soaked it breast side down for 24 hours and then Wing side down for 15. When we begain roasting I left the cover off at 425 for 25 min then turned the pan for another 25 min. placed the cover back on and and turned the temp to 325 and our 16.5 lb turkey cooked in 3 hours and it was delicous!
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- by: BUCKLES303
- 18 years ago
I had never cooked a turkey before and decided to add the extra step in brining it. It was an 18lb turkey so I emptied the bottom drawer from my fridge and brined it overnight in there. I was only able to put about 3/4 of the water that the recipe called for and was worried that it would be salty but it wasn’t. Also, it would have helped dissolve the salt in hot water and then add the rest of the water. I added salt and it kind of just sat at the bottom.
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- by: Frenchvanilla96
- 18 years ago
Even though this was a pain in the butt to pull off, I would do it again. I tried the garbage bag in a cooler approach and it was very messy. I don’t think I added enough salt, turkey was not as moist inside as I expected it to be. Next time I would inject something like italian dressing or butter/garlic, as well.
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- by: MEEMS13408
- 18 years ago
The name of this recipe says it all! I halved the recipe and used it to brine a chicken instead of turkey. I then slowly roasted the chicken over indirect heat on my charcoal grill with hickory chips to get the smokey flavor. It was by far the best chicken I have ever had. It was so moist-even the breast meat! I won’t ever make chicken without brining it first again!
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- by: Blondebiker
- 18 years ago
I cut this recipe in half and used it for a 3-4lb. chicken. Left it in the solution for maybe 8 hours then oven roasted it (unstuffed) at 375 for 1 1/2 hours. Absolutely delicious! Possibly the best roast chicken I have ever made. It also made great chicken sandwiches a couple of days later.
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- by: Christina
- 17 years ago
I used this with a whole chicken. I brined it for 2 days, putting it in the brine frozen. I was going to rub it with seasonings before I baked it, but ended up not having time and there was no need! Very flavorful and juisy. Delicious!!! Everyone loved it – and I have 4 kids, hard to please everyone in a family of 6!!!
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- by: Jeneen Skewes Pylant
- 17 years ago
This brine was wonderful. I scaled down to 3 servings as I was only brining 4 chicken breasts (bone in). It was absolutely perfect. We usually season our chicken with a salt based seasoning mix. If I use it next time I would cut the salt a bit. You don’t need any additional seasoning with this brine. It was moist and wonderfully flavored. I was very impressed. We have tried countless methods for moist chicken breasts and by far this was the easiest. Thak you for a great brine. We, a family of 6 are very grateful.
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- by: Wendy
- 17 years ago
Cut the recipe to 2 servings, and brined 4 boneless skinless turkey breasts. This was some of the best turkey I’ve ever had. Moist and juicy. To prepare them I buttered them, sprinkled with a little seasoned salt, and put them in a slow cooker with a little water and slices of celery and onion. Wonderful! Don’t think it was the slow cooker because these were better than anything I’ve had out of a Crock Pot, too.
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- by: Laurelstein
- 17 years ago
Wonderful! I’d never brined a turkey before, and felt rather silly putting a turkey in a garbage bag in the fruit drawer of my fridge, but the results were AMAZING. Highly recommended. Make sure you can sneak a piece of the turkey skin when it’s cooked – the brine gave it an incredible flavor!
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- by: Brandy
- 17 years ago
Wow, I was really reluctant to try this recipe and ruin the turkey as I like my turkey well seasoned and marinated. We had an early Thanksgiving dinner this weekend since we were not all going to be together in Thanksgiving day in a few days so I decided to make a stress free, easy early Thanksgiving day so I gave this recipe a try. I am glad I did. I was suprised how good the turkey came out. I didn’t have to baste. I just glazed it during the last hour with a pomegranate glaze, I usually put in all my turkeys and I ended up with the tastiest, perfectly browned, moist turkey I ever hoped for. The only changes I made was to use Kosher salt, added sprigs of fresh rosemary and a bit of garlic and Onion powder to the water. Thanks for sharing!
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- by: Cookdap Member
- 17 years ago
This was easy and the turkey turned out great! I made a single, bone-in, turkey breast so I scaled the recipe down a good bit. I used regular salt as that was all I had. I brined it in a ‘turkey’ oven bag and placed that in a 9×13 dish. I turned the breast over 2-3 times in the 2 days it was in the brine. I cooked the turkey in another bag in the oven. It was very juicy and tasty! I would brine a turkey again!
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- by: Cookdap Member
- 17 years ago
Excellent! This was my first time brining and I was very pleased with the results- a very juicy bird!! My turkey was 22 lbs so I adjusted the recipe a little bit. Also, my turkey was already pre-injected with broth and stuff, so I lowered the salt in the brine to about half a cup so as not to make the turkey too salty. Thank you!
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- by: UILANI1
- 17 years ago
THIS WAS THE BEST!!!!! I followed the advice of another reviewer and brined the turkey in a baking bag in the roasting pan in the fridge. This made it easy to keep cold and brined. The only thing i added was a dash of liquid smoke and it turned out tasting just like smoked turkey!!!
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- by: Mmr
- 17 years ago
Great turkey this Thanksgiving. Everyone raved about how moist and flavorful it was. I used this brine recipe and let it soak about 18 hrs. After rinsing I covered the skin with melted butter and stuffed the cavity with onions, celery, sage and thyme. Poured some white wine in the pan. I roasted in my convection oven at 325 for 10 minutes per pound, covering the breast with foil once it was browned. The turkey was perfect and the gravy was very flavorful as well.
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- by: Alicia Phares Verburg
- 17 years ago
I really had no idea that brining would make such a huge difference! My husband could not stop talking about how incredibly moist the turkey was. He is a self-proclaimed white meat hater and he devoured all the leftovers within 2 days! I will never make another turkey without brining!
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- by: NITELIGHT
- 17 years ago
The only way to cook a turkey. The white meat is so juicy that I even like eating it. We used an ice cooler because our turkey was 18lbs. We just checked it a couple times a day to make sure there was still ice in the cooler to keep the turkey cold. We brined it for 2 days
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- by: Mamaw
- 17 years ago
I made this for Thanksgiving, exactly as it was called for in the recipe. Although it was a tender and moist turkey, there was a definitely salty taste to the meat and the gravy. We like salt, so it isn’t like we’re purists. However, the saltiness was overwhelming and really made the gravy inedible.
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- by: SUE KLUVER
- 17 years ago
While I agree that this made for a very moist turkey, I’m amazed that no one (other than myself and “MamaW”) had the issue with the turkey and especially the gravy being too salty. I did use regular salt, as opposed to the “canning salt” called for in the recipe. I’m not sure if that would make any difference or not. I’d make this again, but I’d definitely cut way down on the salt!!
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- by: SUNSHYNE0217
- 17 years ago
Made the Turkey super moist, not salty, but not as flavorful as I thought. Did use an oven bag and marinated for a full 24 hours. I also did not have brown sugar so I used white table sugar which account for the lack of flavor. I will use again and next time do for 24 hours. I can definatley notice the difference with and without the brine. The meat was like butter silky and not dry. Being a total white meat fan this is important.
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- by: TAYLORSMOMMY
- 17 years ago
This brine resulted in the best, most flavorful, juiciest turkey we have ever made. My husband is a big turkey eater(orders it in restaurants) and said this was the best turkey he’s ever had. I would have to agree. I’m a white meat eater and even the white meat was moist and juicy.
I brined it for almost 48 hours in the fridge. I mixed the brine in one of the XL ziploc bags, etc…..put two plastic kitchen garbage bags over that and kept it in my fridge.
I roasted it per Alton Brown’s method (had seen it on Good Eats and wanted to try his technique). Turned out golden brown on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside.
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- by: Michelle
- 17 years ago
I tried this for the first time this Thanksgiving!! I paired it with a recipe that calls for a cup of butter melted then add a bottle of cooking sherry. Soak cheese cloth in the mix and put it over the turkey then pour remaining over it, seal tightly then bake. IT WAS FABULOUS!!
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- by: Carrie
- 17 years ago
This was my first Thanksgiving, and I have never cooked a turkey before. I didn’t even know what “brining” was until the day before Thanksgiving! I followed the recipe, but left out the garlic and we only let it set for about 14 hours since we had decided at the last minute to try it. It was fantastic!!
The turkey cooked a lot faster than I had planned (10 pound turkey took 3 hours, instead of the recommended 4).
And the meat was so tender, it was just falling off the bone – no need to carve at all!!
This was so easy to do, and the results are great – you would be silly not to do it!
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- by: VBHOKIE
- 17 years ago
This is an easy brine recipe that did a wonderful job on my Thanksgiving turkey. I made a few variations: I added two lemons and two oranges that I cut and lightly squeezed before adding to the brine. I also added a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and sage. To make this simple to store, I placed a large trash bag inside a 5-gallon bucket and then added the turkey and brine.
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- by: BULOVESTOCOOK
- 17 years ago
First time to use this brine yesterday, IT IS FANTASTIC, I did not have rosemary and sage, so I used two pieces of anise and a huge knob of ginger – I used Alton Brown’s way of roasting, 500F for 1st half hour, then cover breast with double foil and turn down to 300F for remainder of time – THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO BRINE AND ROAST, I WILL BE DOING THIS AGAIN AND AGAIN! Thanks to TAYLORSMUMMY who said in her review she used Alton’s way of roasting – my turkey was so good looking, almost did not want to cut into it. THE BEST TURKEY EVER!
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- by: Mark319
- 17 years ago
I’ve been using this recipe for years now. I stepped up my game a few years back and started smoking the bird and WOW! I agree, one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth! The smoking process gets the taste to a whole new level. This is now a family tradition every Thanksgiving. I can’t wait for Thursday, making it for a big family gathering this year. I use about a 14 pound bird and brine the turkey in a 12 quart stock pot for the recommended 48 hours in the refrigerator. Stick with kosher salt for the brine, anything else is too salty. I use soaked hickory wood and a charcoal smoker at low heat, around 200 degrees fahrenheit for 4-6 hours or until it’s at the recommended internal temperature. This year I’m going to try letting it dry in the refrigerator for 24 hours after brining because the smoking process can leave the skin a little rubbery. I think this will work to make the skin pop! I love this recipe, Don’t change a thing! I will never cook turkey without using this recipe again… thanks!
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- by: Klosam
- 17 years ago
Great simple wonder! FYI REGARDING SALT! You can NOT substitute regular table salt for canning or kosher salt. Table salt has MORE salt per measurement since it is a finer grain. A cup of table salt weighs 10 ounces, while a cup of kosher salt weighs between 5 and 8 ounces. If you use table salt witht the measurements provided you will have an DOUBLE the amount of salt in the recipe. Thus is the reason why a few in the 2007 holiday season stated it was way to salty. Cooking is chemistry!
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- by: Auntied.
- 16 years ago
This was my first time brining a turkey-WOW! I have never tasted turkey so flavorful and JUICY. It just melted in your mouth. I did use a small amount of the water hot – just to dissolve the salt, and then used almost ice water for the remainder to make sure that the solution was not warm when putting the turkey in. otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. I roasted in the oven instead of smoking, but turned out great! This is the only recipe anyone needs for preparing turkey! Thank you, SUDEMERS, for this outstanding recipe.
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- by: Danny
- 16 years ago
Decided to try this for my Thanksgiving turkey breast. I had to cut this in half to better suit my meager needs, but it worked out really well. Brining really did make a difference, and we had the juiciest turkey breast ever. I’ve used this also for chicken since then with the same juicy results.
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- by: Meg
- 16 years ago
This is awesome. I cut the recipe in half and used a whole chicken and soaked for 24 hours. This is seriously the best chicken I have ever made. My hubby smelled it roasting was excited, then when he started eating his first words were he would fight me for the leftovers.
I roasted it in chicken broth, with garlic, onion, parsley, and bay leaves. Afterwards I strained it and made gravy for mashed potatoes. I will definitely do my Turkey in this for Thanksgiving.
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- by: Yummy
- 16 years ago
I have to say I cook a great turkey to start with and was really excited to try this recipe. I did roast it and was wondering if I should still stuff it or if it would change the flavor, It did. The turkey was extemely tender and juicey(perfect) but the worchester sauce in the brine changed the flavor of my dressing. I will diffently brine again next time, but I think I will try the other recipe on this site. The ingredients will better suit stuffing.
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- by: Chowchick
- 16 years ago
I don’t think I will ever bake a turkey with out brining it first! This was great!!! The turkey was so moist! I baked it as other had suggested; Bake @ 500 for the first 1/2 hour and then the rest of the time at 300 with the breasts covered with foil. I also cooked in in a turkey bag. Awesome recipe!!!
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- by: Atomicdogs
- 16 years ago
Followed the recipe exactly- I brined the turkey in a jumbo size ziplock bag overnight, (11 lb fresh turkey) . Put the turkey and brine in the ziplock then put this inside a big plastic bowl in the fridge and it worked well. This was the juiciest and best turkey we ever had, everyone loved it. Also made gravy with drippings- a little salty but we liked it salty so it was good. Absolutely will make again and again. As an additional note I now use a round Igloo cooler (used at construction sites for water) to brine in, it works perfect.
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- by: Chef Louie
- 16 years ago
Great recipe. I use a cooler to put bird in and put ice cubes in the water to keep temp down. I did the triple crown last year, brined bird, smoked with apple chips for 2 hrs, then deep fried the bird in peanut oil. Also try a bit of Old Bay in the brine..gives it a different, pleasant essence.
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- by: Mrs. Nix
- 16 years ago
Last Thanksgiving, I used this recipe for the first time in conjunction with the Easy Herb Roasted Turkey recipe also found on this site. The result was the best turkey my husband and I have ever eaten. We are making our turkey the same way this year. I stuffed with celery, apples, lemons, onion, and garlic and then roasted it following the Easy Herb Roasted Turkey recipe. I followed that recipe to the letter. I’m telling you…that was the best turkey I’ve ever tasted.
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- by: Desertrat
- 16 years ago
I used this for a twenty two pounder and as I do a lot of grilling/smoking I find using a five gallon bucket with a thirteen gallon trash bag for a liner work really good for brining. Just put your meat in the bag, add the brine/marinade and close the bag around it all purging the air and tie it shut. In cool weather you can just leave it outdoors in a shady spot. I really like this brine ecipe.
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- by: Kandi Brooks
- 16 years ago
What a wonderful method for creating the most flavorful, moist meat I have ever tasted. I tested this brine on a whole 5 lb chicken a few days ago, adjusting the recipe of course, and brined for 8 hours. Best chicken I ever roasted!
My turkey was just as good! I will always brine from now on! Note: I took out the middle shelf of my refrigerator to accomadate the bucket that I brined the turkey in, worked great! -
- by: Shelly
- 16 years ago
In one word: FANTASTIC! I never brined a turkey before and now I never will make my turkey any other way. I was afraid that it might be too salty, but it was perfectly seasoned! I used a 15 pound fresh turkey and followed the recipe exactly. The pan drippings were somewhat salty, but I anticipated that and had prepared a salt free turkey stock. When I added the drippings, the gravy came out perfect.
This is definitely a keeper!
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- by: ALPINDELL
- 16 years ago
We brined a 19 lb. turkey in this solution for about 20 hours and then grilled it for Thanksgiving. Because it was a self-basting turkey, I cut the salt a little. It was the juiciest turkey we’ve ever made (matched only by deep-frying injected turkeys). The breast meat was practically squirting as we carved it, and the turkey platter made multiple rounds around the table as the guests gobbled it up. We’ll be using this recipe often, and I can’t wait to try it with roast chicken.
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