Cranberry Pecan Stuffed Turkey Breast
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These stuffed 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 (107°C)
- Meat Finish Temp: 165°F (74°C)
- Recommended Wood: Pecan, Cherry (Any fruit wood)
- 2+ Turkey breasts, skinless and boneless
- Jeff's original rub
- Cranberries, dried and sweetened
- Pecans, chopped
- Stuffing (homemade or boxed)
- Jeff's Texas style rub
- Cooking twine
- Meat mallet
- Butter, melted (for basting during cooking)
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 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 on the outside of the turkey breast but you can also use the original rub as well if you prefer.
Place the turkey breast(s) on a pan with a 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 (107°C) 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, 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 (74°C) 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.
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.
- 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 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.
- Sprinkle the Texas style rub on the outside of the turkey breast.
- Place the turkey breast(s) on a pan with a rack to make it easy to transport to and from the smoker.
- Set up whatever smoker you have available for cooking at about 225°F (107°C) 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.
- Use a digital probe meat thermometer to monitor the temperature of the meat while it cooks.
- When it hits 165°F (74°C) 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.
Do you cook the stuffing before putting it on the turkey(if using boxed) or do you put it on right out of the box?
The stuffing is uncooked when it goes onto the turkey.
Going to try this one. How long on the smoker would you recommend? Thanks
Rich, you are looking at about 3 hours with your smoker running at 225°F (107°C).
This sounds amazing. My question to you is how do I know if I have the meat thermometer in the meat itself or in the stuffing since it is rolled up? Thanks.
It should not matter whether you are in the stuffing or the meat, take several readings in a couple of different areas and when it reaches its safe temperature, it’s ready to eat.
what recipe for stuffing would you recommend?
Gonna give this one a try on Thanksgiving 2020! Looking forward to it.
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.