Smoked and Sous Vide Turkey Breast – New Method!

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This impossibly juicy, smoked and sous vide turkey breast is nearly foolproof and perfect for holidays or any time you crave a show-stopping turkey sandwich. The result? The juiciest, most flavorful smoked turkey breast you’ll ever taste. Give it a try, and you might never cook turkey any other way!

Here’s the deal: we all want to impress at Thanksgiving (or whenever the turkey craving hits). But nothing ruins a gathering faster than a dried-out turkey breast and a chorus of “pass the gravy.” So I turned to this smoke-then-sous-vide method to take the guesswork out of smoking turkey breast.

First, we give the turkey breast a heavy dose of smoky goodness on the grill, making sure not to overcook it and risk drying it out. Once the turkey hits the right temperature, we seal it with a generous amount of butter and sous vide it to perfection. This guarantees an incredibly moist, tender turkey that’s bursting with flavor—no more rubbery skin or guessing games.

Not only do you get the delicious smoky flavor of the pellet grill or smoker, you also get the slow-cooked, juicy texture of the sous vide method. This smoked turkey breast really is the best of both worlds.

Plus, buttery smoked turkey sandwiches the next day? It’s what dreams are made of.

Here’s my recipe for smoked sous vide style turkey breast…and be sure to check out my other flavorful smoked turkey recipes, including the Cajun smoked turkey and smoked apple cider brine turkey. 

The Benefits of Sous Vide Turkey Breast

Turkey breast is an amazing meat to cook on your pellet smoker (and not just for Thanksgiving). The seasoned smoked flavor makes the turkey breast better than anything that could be achieved in the oven. But, I was wondering if combining the smoke style of cooking with a sous vide preparation would make this turkey breast even better.

When you use a sous vide method to cook the turkey breast, you can cook the turkey breast through all the way without having it turn into a chewy, less than delicious piece of poultry. Using hot water at the right temperature will cook the turkey breast without overcooking it.

Added bonus: combine sous vide style cooking with a smoking process and the end result will likely be a turkey breast that offers flavor, the right temperature, and a juicy component. 

Why We Smoke First Then Sous Vide

If you’re wondering why you should smoke the turkey breast first, then sous vide it, the answer is simple – smoking first gets the flavor in there. If you would sous vide the turkey breast first, it would bump the turkey breast up to the proper temperature, leaving you little time to smoke it and get the flavor soaked in there.

Smoking the turkey breast first ensures that your turkey breast won’t just be cooked, it will be filled with tons of flavor. Just make sure to not overshoot the temperature when smoking poultry, so that you have enough time to slowly bring it up to the final temp in the sous vide bath.

Ingredients Notes

• Turkey breasts: I tried the recipe using two different types of turkey breasts: one boneless roast-style breast with netting to hold its shape and one regular bone-in turkey breast. You can use your favorite style of turkey breast – both were delicious!
• Seasoning: Our homemade Texas-style rub is ideal for smoking the turkey breast. It includes a mixture of coarse black pepper, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, garlic powder, and seasoned salt. 
• Butter: Lots of butter gets added to the sous vide bag to create a “butter bath” for your smoked turkey breast. You can use salted or unsalted, but definitely don’t substitute margarine in this recipe.

How to Make Smoked Sous Vide Turkey Breast

Step 1: Combine the spices. Combine the black pepper, kosher salt, seasoned salt, and garlic powder together in one jar, and shake well to mix. Use a ratio of 2 parts black pepper to 1 part of each of the remaining spices.

Step 2: Heat the pellet grill or smoker. Set your grill or smoker to the lowest possible temperature to ensure maximum smoking time – ideally 180 to 200°F (82 to 93°C). If your pellet grill has a Super Smoke mode, you can use that as well. *We used our favorite Smokin’ Pecan pellets and set our pellet grill to 190°F.

Step 3: Remove the turkey breast skin. Cutting the turkey breast skin off is a good idea so you won’t be left with a chewy, less than tasty outer layer. Plus, I like to remove the skin so that the seasoning is able to penetrate the meat more.

Step 4: Season the turkey breast. Lay the turkey breast on a rack-covered baking sheet and season liberally on all sides with the rub, pressing gently to adhere. If needed, you can rub turkey juices from the package on the breast to lightly moisten the surface of the meat – this helps the seasoning stick.

Step 5: Smoke the turkey breast. Put the turkey breast on the top rack of the grill, and smoke until it hits an internal temperature of 130°F (54°C) on a digital thermometer. Then remove the smoked turkey breast from the grill and allow it to rest until the internal temperature stops climbing.

Step 6: Vacuum seal with butter. Place the turkey breast in a vacuum sealed bag with a generous amount of sliced butter and insert a wireless probe-style thermometer into the thickest part of the meat before vacuum sealing. 

*NOTE – The thermometer probe will be sealed in the bag to monitor the internal temp. You don’t want to puncture the bag to add the thermometer after sealing, because then your turkey will be exposed to the water.

Step 7: Sous vide time. Place the vacuum sealed bag in the 160°F water and let it cook for approximately 2-3 hours, or until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 160°F.

Step 8: Remove, marvel, and enjoy. Remove the turkey breast from the water once the sous vide process is complete, and allow the turkey to rest, still sealed in the bag.

Then open the bag, reserving all of the buttery juices for drizzling on top of the sliced turkey. Slice the breast and serve!

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