Get that delicious smoky flavor for your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey with this liquid smoke brine! Simple ingredients, simple steps, simple turkey brine, perfectly flavored turkey!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- No fruity, sweet flavors! No cinnamon or cloves, either! (I'm just not a fruit-with-my-meat person)
- Simple way to get that smoked flavor in your Thanksgiving turkey without a smoker!
- Enough wet brine for a 12-14 pound turkey!
Ingredient Notes
- Liquid Smoke - This is where we get the delicious smoke flavor. I usually find the bottles of liquid smoke next to barbecue sauces and such. You can order from Walmart HERE, though, OR you can order it from Amazon HERE.
- Chicken Base - Why not use a chicken bouillon? Chicken base is SOOOOO much better. Deeper flavor. Fresher. Bouillon granules tend to have a stale flavor to them, in my opinion. If you've never used a base, don't worry. 1 teaspoon makes 1 cup of chicken broth. I really like the Better Than Bouillon brand.
- White Pepper - You could substitute black pepper; however, white pepper has such a nice flavor with a subtle heat. If you haven't tried it before, purchase some HERE. Trust me! It's amazing!
- Turkey - You'll need a thawed 12-14 pound turkey or a fresh turkey for this recipe. If you've purchased a frozen turkey, please thaw it using safe methods.
How to Make Step-by-Step Recipe Instructions:
- Bring 4 cups of the gallon of water to a boil.
- In a four-cup measuring cup or something like it, mix the 4 cups of boiling water with the 6 tablespoons of chicken base. Whisk until the chicken base is completely dissolved.
- Measure out and whisk in the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, smoked paprika, white pepper, and liquid smoke.
- Place your thawed turkey in a large stock pot. The one I use is a 20-quart capacity.
- Pour the 4 cups of concentrated brine over the turkey.
- Pour the remaining cold water from the gallon (12 cups) over the turkey.
- Swish the turkey around a little to mix. The turkey should be completely submerged.
- Place in the fridge and allow to brine for at least 2 days, 3 days if possible.
- Please do not bring your turkey to room temperature or just a cool place. It absolutely needs to be in the fridge, so make sure you've made enough space in the fridge to do this ahead of time.
- Remove the turkey from the brine, let the excessive brine run, discard the brine, and cook your brined turkey as desired.
- See here for... Step by Step How to Cook a Turkey - walks you through the cooking process so you're ready for turkey day!
- How to Roast Turkey - get out your roasting pan!
- How to Grill a Whole Turkey - don't forget your instant-read thermometer!
- How to Deep Fry a Turkey - gotta love that crispy skin!
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
Brine is a flavored water salt mixture that you soak meat in to add flavor to it. This particular recipe is for a wet brine. For a dry brine, click here.
Roughly 1 gallon per 12 pounds of turkey. You want enough to completely cover the submerged turkey.
I usually brine mine for at least 2 but preferably three days in the refrigerator.
Nope, just remove the turkey from the brine, let the excessive runoff, and cook your turkey.
Please freeze or consume leftover turkey within 4 days. Click here for information from FoodSafety.Gov.
Food poisoning is not fun at all!!! Here's the safety fact sheet from FoodSafety.gov. Click here for more safety info from the CDC. There can be some really bad information out there about thawing, storing, and roasting turkeys and their leftovers. So if you're unsure about something, check out these resources.
Recipes for Leftover Turkey
Have you tried this recipe? If so, leave me a rating and a comment below! And don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get my latest recipes sent right to your email! You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram!
Smokey Turkey Brine Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Gallon of Water
- 6 Tbs. Chicken Base
- 2 Tbs. Salt
- ½ Tbs. White Pepper
- 3 Tbs. Liquid Smoke
- 1 Tbs. Garlic Powder
- 1 Tbs. Onion Powder
- 1 Tbs. Smoked Paprika
Instructions
- Bring 4 cups of the gallon of water to a boil.
- In a four-cup measuring cup or something like it, mix the 4 cups of boiling water with the 6 tablespoons of chicken base. Whisk until the chicken base is completely dissolved.
- Measure out and whisk in the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, smoked paprika, white pepper, and liquid smoke.
- Place your thawed turkey in a large stock pot. The one I use is a 20-quart capacity.
- Pour the 4 cups of concentrated brine over the turkey.
- Pour the remaining cold water from the gallon (12 cups) over the turkey.
- Swish the turkey around a little to mix. The turkey should be completely submerged.
- Place in the fridge and allow to brine for at least 2 days, 3 days if possible.
- Remove the turkey from the brine, let the excessive brine run, discard the brine, and cook your turkey as desired.
Notes
- This is enough brine for a 12-14 lb turkey. Â
- The nutrition facts for this recipe are a little odd. They don't include the turkey. They are the facts for the gallon of brine.
Tawnie Kroll
Used this for a Friendsgiving we had over the weekend - SOO good! Thank you!
Zeke
Lets be honest - any recipe with smoked paprika in it is a winner! This looks amazing and can't wait to try it on my thanksgiving turkey!
Kristen
This brine made my turkey taste amazing! Thank you!
Nathan
I've never made a turkey brine myself before, so I'm excited to try this out for Thanksgiving this year! And I'm with you, I don't love the fruit and meat combination, so I think this particular brine will really work for me. Thanks for the recipe!
Jess
Love all the smoky flavor in this gravy!!
Jeff
Works well when smoking a turkey