I am a new member, and have noticed many members in the forum advised against smoking a stuffed turkey. I had cooked stuffed turkeys on my Weber kettle for many years now, with turkeys weighing as much as 22#, and never had any problems with the stuffing not getting cooked in a timely manner, to avoid salmanila problems. However, I was somewhat concerned about smoking the stuffed bird in a smoker for a more extended cooking time in my new Weber smoker. I believe the rule of thumb was to allow roughly 30 minutes per lb of bird, while maintaining 250 F.
I decided to raise the cooking temp. up to 300-320 F, and I smoked a 18 1/2 lb stuffed turkey in a little under 5 hrs. The turkey was brined, and it turned out be the best smoked turkey I've ever had. The first 2 hrs I had the turkey with the breast meat down in a rack, then turned it over so the breast meat was on top for the next 3 hours, at which time I saw the bird was approaching 175 F internal temp. I removed the bird and wrapped it in foil till we ate it an hour and a half later. The bird cooked much faster than I expected.
So I do recommed stuffing the bird, even if it is going to be cooked in a smoker. Even all my in-laws and out-laws at our Thanksgiving dinner gave praise on how tastey and juicey the turkey & dressing turned out, and requested any future turkeys to be prepared the same way. I quote, "Don't change a thing".
Just thought I would pass it along.
I decided to raise the cooking temp. up to 300-320 F, and I smoked a 18 1/2 lb stuffed turkey in a little under 5 hrs. The turkey was brined, and it turned out be the best smoked turkey I've ever had. The first 2 hrs I had the turkey with the breast meat down in a rack, then turned it over so the breast meat was on top for the next 3 hours, at which time I saw the bird was approaching 175 F internal temp. I removed the bird and wrapped it in foil till we ate it an hour and a half later. The bird cooked much faster than I expected.
So I do recommed stuffing the bird, even if it is going to be cooked in a smoker. Even all my in-laws and out-laws at our Thanksgiving dinner gave praise on how tastey and juicey the turkey & dressing turned out, and requested any future turkeys to be prepared the same way. I quote, "Don't change a thing".
Just thought I would pass it along.