These turkey breasts are butterflied, stuffed with delicious stuffing, cranberries and pecans and then smoked for a delightful finish that has holiday written all over it. I have done these for Christmas in the past but they are also a great addition to your Thanksgiving meal.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Smoker Temp: 225°F
- Meat Finish Temp: 165°F
- Recommended Wood: Pecan, Cherry (Any fruit wood)
- 2+ Turkey breasts, skinless and boneless
- Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub)
- Cranberries, dried and sweetened
- Pecans, chopped
- Stuffing (homemade or boxed)
- Jeff's Texas style rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub)
- Cooking twine
- Meat mallet
- Butter, melted (for basting during cooking)
Please note that my rubs and barbecue sauce are now available in 2 formats-- you can purchase the formulas and make them yourself OR you can buy them already made, in a bottle, ready to use.Lay the turkey breast on the cutting board.
Slice through the short ends and one of the long sides.
Leave one of the long sides uncut.
This allows you to open the turkey breast like a book.
Completely butterflied
Lay plastic wrap on top of the turkey breast and pound the meat to flatten it evenly to about ¼ inch thickness.
Use a meat mallet to accomplish this task.
Note: start in the center of the meat and work towards the outside edges.
Before:
After:
As you can see, I was able to increase the surface area quite a bit. This also evened out the thickness which will help us to roll it and it will cook more evenly.
Sprinkle a little of my original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) on the inside surface area of the turkey breast.
Make a small batch of your favorite stuffing either homemade or boxed.
Spoon some of the uncooked stuffing onto the top of the seasoned meat.
Leave about ½ inch around the edges and about 2 inches on the end away from you.
Add some dried sweetened cranberries and chopped pecans to the top of the stuffing.
Roll up the turkey breast as tightly as you can.
Use 4 pieces of cooking twine to tie the stuffed and rolled turkey breast into place.
I used the Texas style rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) on the outside of the turkey breast but you can also use the original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) as well if you prefer.
Place the turkey breast(s) on a Bradley rack, Weber grill pan or cookie sheet to make it easy to transport to and from the smoker.
Small items such as this work really well in all types of smokers including the electric and gas models. Set up whatever smoker you have available for cooking at about 225°F using indirect heat. If your smoker came with a water pan, use it.
Once the smoker is heated and ready, place the stuffed, rolled turkey breasts directly on the smoker grate.
By the way, if you are looking for a good solid smoker then look no further than the Camp Chef Woodwind.. it is one of the smokers that I use most. With 100% real wood for heat and smoke and tons of features that will allow you to spend more time with the family and in your bed instead of tending the fire, you'll love it!
I know I do!
Use pecan wood if you have it or any fruit wood will work really well with this.
I recommend keeping the smoke going for at least 2 hours if possible. You can also keep the smoke going the entire time as long you keep the smoke thin and light.. what we call thin blue smoke.
About once every hour, I recommend basting the turkey with a little melted butter to keep the outside of the meat moist so it does not dry out.
Use a digital probe meat thermometer such as the Smoke by ThermoWorks to monitor the temperature of the meat while it cooks. When it hits 165°F in the center, it is perfectly done and should be removed from the smoker right away.
Let it sit on the cabinet for 10 minutes then remove the strings.
Snip-snip
Slice it into ½ to ¾ inch slices.
Serve immediately with all of your other favorite fixings and sides.
Please note that my rubs and barbecue sauce are now available in 2 formats– you can purchase the formulas and make them yourself OR you can buy them already made, in a bottle, ready to use.
I have hundreds and hundreds of smoking recipes in every imaginable category on this site and all of them are absolutely free. The only thing I offer for sale are the recipes to my (2) amazing dry rubs and my one-of-a-kind barbecue sauce.
Please understand that this is how I support the newsletter, the website and all of the other stuff that we do here to promote the art of smoking meat.
Read these recent testimonies:
I recently purchased both recipes. The files did not come thru right but Jeff was prompt to get it fixed. I tried them both last weekend and they were a huge hit. I followed his burnt ends recipe to the letter and my neighbors thought I was some master chef! Thanks Jeff! -Susan T.
Thank you for the great advice. Followed your rib recipe and everyone loved them. Used your rub and sauce. On point! -Charles W.
Love the sauce and rub recipes. So far I have used them on beef ribs, pork ribs, and different chicken parts. Can't wait to do a beef brisket. Texas rub is great as well! -Peter S.
Love the original rib rub and sauce! We have an annual rib fest competition at the lake every 4th of July. I will say we have won a great percent of the time over the past 15 years so we are not novices by any means. However, we didn't win last year and had to step up our game! We used Jeff's rub and sauce (sauce on the side) and it was a landslide win for us this year! Thanks Jeff for the great recipes. I'm looking forward to trying the Texas style rub in the near future! -Michelle M.
I tried the rub on a beef brisket and some beef ribs the other day and our entire family enjoyed it tremendously. I also made a batch of the barbeque sauce that we used on the brisket as well as some chicken. We all agreed it was the best sauce we have had in a while. -Darwyn B.
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Smoking Meat: The Essential Guide to Real Barbecue – The book is full of recipes and contains tons of helpful information as well. Some have even said that “no smoker should be without this book”!
With more than 1000 reviews on Amazon.com and a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars, it comes highly recommended and is a Bestseller in Barbecuing & Grilling books on Amazon.
Smoke, Wood, Fire: The Advanced Guide to Smoking Meat – Unlike the first book, this book does not focus on recipes but rather uses every square inch of every page teaching you how to smoke meat. What my first book touched on, this second book takes it into much greater detail with lots of pictures.
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Printable Recipe
Cranberry Pecan Stuffed Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- 2 + Turkey breasts skinless and boneless
- Jeff’s original rub
- Jeff's Texas style rub
- Cranberries dried and sweetened
- Pecans chopped
- Stuffing (homemade or boxed)
- Cooking twine
- Meat mallet
- Butter melted (for basting during cooking)
Instructions
Butterfly and Pound the Turkey Breast(s)
- Lay the turkey breast on the cutting board and butterfly it.
- Lay plastic wrap on top of the turkey breast and pound the meat to flatten it evenly to about ¼ inch thick.
Season and Stuff the Turkey Breasts
- Sprinkle a little of my rub on the inside surface area of the turkey breast.
- Spoon some of the uncooked stuffing onto the top of the seasoned meat. Leave about ½ inch around the edges and about 2 inches on the end away from you.
- Add some dried sweetened cranberries and chopped pecans to the top of the stuffing.
Roll It Up and Tie It
- Roll up the turkey breast as tightly as you can.
- Use 4 pieces of cooking twine to tie the stuffed and rolled turkey breast into place.
Season the Outside
- Sprinkle the Texas style rub on the outside of the turkey breast.
- Place the turkey breast(s) on a Bradley rack or cookie sheet to make it easy to transport to and from the smoker.
Smoke the Meat
- Set up whatever smoker you have available for cooking at about 225°F using indirect heat. If your smoker came with a water pan, use it.
- Once the smoker is heated and ready, place the stuffed, rolled turkey breasts directly on the smoker grate.
- Use pecan wood if you have it or any fruit wood will work really well with this.
- I recommend keeping the smoke going for at least 2 hours if possible. You can also keep the smoke going the entire time as long you keep the smoke thin and light.. what we call thin blue smoke.
- About once every hour, baste the turkey with a little melted butter to keep the outside of the meat moist so it does not dry out.
Finish and Serve
- Use a digital probe meat thermometer to monitor the temperature of the meat while it cooks.
- When it hits 165°F in the center, it is perfectly done and should be removed from the smoker right away.
- Let it rest on the cabinet for 10 minutes then remove the strings.
- Slice it into ½ to ¾ inch slices.
- Serve immediately with all of your other favorite fixings and sides.
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Hi Jeff – I am deathly allergic to bell peppers and hot peppers (anaphylactic shock time) which includes chili powder and cayenne powder. Does your rub and sauce have any of these items in them? Black and white pepper is ok but that is all.
Thank you.
Zelda Nichols
The rub does contain both cayenne and chile powder.. this may mean that my rub is not something that you can use, unfortunately. The sauce should be ok if you omit the smidgen of red pepper that it contains.