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Time to do up a split turkey breast with a new rub and injected marinade. This sage rub imparted such an awesome flavor on the surface of the breast. In fact the kitchen smelled like sage all day after putting this together.
This turned out so moist and tender that the juices were running slightly while I was carving it up., even though I let it rest for a half hour before carving.
If you’re looking for a really tender, tasty and juicy bird for Thanksgiving, or an any day meal for that matter. give this a try. I know you’ll love it!
Sage Rubbed Smoked Turkey Breast
Rub Ingredients
1 Tablespoon sage leaves
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery seed
Marinade Ingredients
1 cup white cranberry juice
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon ginger
Rub Preparation
Measure out all the ingredients together into a coffee grinder. Grind on the “Fine” setting briefly until celery seeds and sage leaves are ground up.
Note: The leaves will not become powdered. You can leave them finely chopped.
Marinade Preparation
Mix all the ingredients together.
Preparing the Turkey Breast
I used a 6.25 lb. turkey breast with the bone. Thoroughly rinse the bird inside and out. Now pat it dry, and put it into a foil baking pan.
The first thing I do is inject it with the marinade I made up. You should use about 3/4 of the marinade for injecting. You can use it all up if you want, but I believe this is about all the meat will hold. You’ll know when it’s taken all the injection it can stand, because it will keep coming back out of the puncture holes. Just pour the remaining marinade in the bottom of the pan.
Now lets rub it down. Reach under the skin being careful not to tear the skin. You can gently pull it loose from the breast. Now put some of the rub in your hand and between your fingers, and reach under the skin rubbing all the spices into the surface of the breast meat. Reach as much as you can, then make sure the skin is back in place.
Loosely wrap aluminum foil around the pan to cover the bird and put the injected, rubbed bird into the refrigerator over night for about 8 hours.
Lets Smoke it!
Get your smoker going. You’ll want to get the temperature settled in at around 230 to 250 degrees F before you put the turkey on. I’m using pecan wood for this one.
Put the bird on the smoker and maintain an average temperature of 260 degrees F. This will cook it fairly quick without drying it out. You can go down to a temperature of about 225 degrees, but you’re going to be adding about 2 hours more to the cook time. Personally, I don’t think the meat is that much more moist for the two extra hours.
Note: Watch the liquid level in the pan. You don’t want too much liquid to collect on the bottom of the pan. Too much, and the bottom of the bird gets a little soggy. I remove the excess liquid along the way with a turkey baster, and only leave a little for added moisture.
We’re going to take the turkey up to an internal temperature of 170 degrees F. This is measured at the thickest part of the breast with a digital probe. If you don’t have a digital probe, I highly recommend you get one. It takes all the guess work out of knowing when the meat is done. (For an example, there is an add on the upper right corner of this site).
Once it’s reached 170 degrees F, take the turkey out of the smoker and wrap it in aluminum foil or put it in a sealable container. Let this rest for at least a 1/2 hour. This allows the juices to redistribute through the meat as it cools.
Slice it up and enjoy, because if it turns out as well as mine did, I know you will! Here’s a picture at what mine looked like just before I took it out.
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