Smoking Turkey, Ham and Brisket on One Smoker for the Holidays
Smoking Turkey, Ham and Brisket on One Smoker: One Trip, Zero Holiday Panic
Somebody at the table wants turkey. Somebody's grandmother insists on ham. And you want brisket, because it's your smoker and you've earned it. Here's the good news from Big Poppa Smokers: smoking turkey, ham and brisket for one holiday dinner doesn't take three cookers, three grocery runs, or a 4 a.m. meltdown. It takes one smoker, one shopping trip, and a schedule that stacks the cooks so each meat gets the fire it wants. This guide gives you that schedule hour by hour, the temps for each protein, the rub that pairs with each, and the holding trick that puts all three on the table hot at the same time.
The bottom line: Cook the brisket overnight at 250°F and hold it in a cooler. Reheat and glaze a fully cooked ham at 275°F in the morning. Then crank the smoker to 350°F for a spatchcocked turkey that finishes in about two hours. One fire, three meats, run from lowest heat to highest. Shop once, prep the night before, and let the brisket's long rest buy you the time.
Can You Smoke Turkey, Ham and Brisket on One Smoker?
Yes, as long as you stage the cooks instead of stacking them. Brisket needs low heat for 8 to 10 hours, a fully cooked ham only needs gentle reheating, and turkey wants higher heat for about two hours. Run them in that order on one fire and every meat gets exactly what it needs.
Cramming all three onto one grate is the rookie move. A packer brisket, a ham, and a spatchcocked bird in a cast iron pan won't fit on a single drum grate, and the turkey would be begging for 350°F while the brisket grinds through the stall at 250°F.
Why does the order matter so much?
Raising a charcoal smoker's temperature is easy: open the vents and let it breathe. Dropping it is slow and fussy. Smoking turkey, ham and brisket from low heat to high means you only ever move the fire in the easy direction.
Big Poppa Smokers recommends running a multi-meat holiday cook from the lowest temperature to the highest: brisket, then ham, then turkey. A drum smoker like the BPS DIY Drum Smoker Kit ($199.99) is built for exactly this kind of day: steady at 250°F through the night, and quick to climb when you open it up.
The One-Trip Holiday Shopping List
Make one trip and buy everything at once: a whole packer brisket, a fully cooked bone-in ham, a 12–15 lb turkey, butter, an onion, turkey stock, foil, and your rubs. Buying it all together keeps thawing, trimming, and prep on one timeline, and nobody runs back to the store on the holiday.
- A whole packer brisket
- A fully cooked bone-in ham, labeled "fully cooked" or "ready to eat"
- A 12–14 lb turkey, thawed in the fridge (about one day per 4–5 pounds)
- Butter, a sweet white onion, turkey stock, and flour for gravy
- Heavy-duty foil, a large cast iron pan, a cooler, old towels, and more charcoal than you think
How much meat do I need per person?
With three meats out, people take a little of everything. Plan on about a half pound of finished meat per adult across all three, plus extra for leftovers. Brisket loses close to half its raw weight to trimming and cooking; a fully cooked ham loses very little.
For the rubs, grab one per protein: Big Poppa's Competition Brisket & Steak Seasoning for the beef, Big Poppa's Sweet Money Seasoning ($15.99, 14oz) for the ham, and Big Poppa's Desert Gold Seasoning ($15.99, 11.5oz) for the turkey. The Protein Playbooks hub covers pairings for every other cut.
Big Poppa Smokers recommends buying a fully cooked ham for a multi-meat smoke. It turns the ham from a third full cook into a reheat-and-glaze job, which frees up hours of smoker time for the brisket and the turkey.
The Night Before: Prep All Three Meats
Do every bit of knife work the night before. Trim and season the brisket, spatchcock the turkey and get Desert Gold butter under the skin, and leave the ham wrapped in the fridge. Holiday morning is for managing the fire, not cutting boards.
Trim the brisket lightly, keeping enough fat to protect the flat. Big Poppa's hybrid method injects the brisket for moisture, seasons all sides with Competition Brisket & Steak, and lets the rub sweat before it ever sees smoke. The full steps are in The BEST Way to Smoke a Brisket.
For the turkey, cut out the backbone with kitchen shears and press the breast flat. Save the backbone and neck for the gravy. Mix half a stick of softened butter with a tablespoon of Desert Gold, then work it under the skin and over the top.
Expert Tip: Spatchcocking is the reason this schedule works at all. In Big Poppa's Thanksgiving Turkey, a flattened 12 lb bird cooks in about two hours at 350°F, a fraction of the time a whole upright bird can take. Setting it in a cast iron pan on sliced onion, the backbone, and the neck catches every drop for gravy. Our cast iron cooking guide explains why that pan earns its spot on the smoker.
Big Poppa Smokers recommends seasoning a turkey under the skin, not just on top. Butter and seasoning sitting right on the breast meat flavor the meat itself, while the skin above crisps up on its own.
The Hour-by-Hour Smoker Schedule
For a 3:00 p.m. dinner, put the brisket on at midnight at 250°F, move it into a foil boat around 5:30 a.m., and pull it to a cooler by about 9:30. The ham goes on next at 275°F, and the turkey finishes the day at 350°F, from noon until about 2:00.
What order should I smoke turkey, ham and brisket in?
For smoking turkey, ham and brisket, the order is brisket, then ham, then turkey. On the clock:
- Midnight — Fire the smoker to 250°F. Brisket on, fat side up.
- About 5:30 a.m. — Brisket reads about 165°F. Move it into an open foil boat.
- About 8:30–9:30 a.m. — Brisket is probe tender (usually 200–205°F). Into a pre-warmed cooler.
- 9:30 a.m. — Nudge the smoker up to 275°F. Ham on, cut side down in a foil pan.
- About 11:15 a.m. — Brush on the ham glaze.
- About 11:45 a.m. — Ham reads 140°F. Tent it and hold it with the brisket.
- Noon — Top off the charcoal, open the vents to 350°F, turkey on.
- About 2:00 p.m. — Breast reads 158°F. Pull, rest, make gravy.
- 2:30 p.m. — Slice brisket and ham; carve the turkey last.
- 3:00 p.m. — Dinner. Accept the compliments.
| Protein | Smoker Temp | Approx. Time | Pull Temp | BPS Seasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisket (whole packer) | 250°F | 8–10 hrs + 2-hr rest | Probe tender (about 200–205°F) | Competition Brisket & Steak |
| Ham (fully cooked, 8–10 lb) | 275°F | About 2–2.5 hrs | 140°F center | Sweet Money |
| Turkey (spatchcocked, about 15 lb) | 350°F | About 2 hrs | 158°F breast, then rest | Desert Gold |
Big Poppa Smokers recommends cooking to temperature and feel, never to the clock. The schedule tells you when to check; the probe tells you when it's done.
Do I really have to get up in the middle of the night?
Once, around 5:30 a.m., to boat the brisket. Set a wireless probe alarm for 165°F and sleep until it goes off.
Brisket: The Overnight Anchor
When smoking turkey, ham and brisket together, brisket anchors the day: it's the longest cook and the easiest meat to hold. Smoked at 250°F and boated at about 165°F, it finishes overnight, then rests wrapped in a cooler for hours. That turns it from your biggest time problem into your scheduling buffer.
Big Poppa's hybrid method runs the brisket unwrapped for 5–6 hours so the bark sets, then moves it into a foil boat: foil underneath to catch juice, top open so the bark stays crisp. Another 3–4 hours and it's done.
Done means probe tender: the probe slides into the flat like soft butter, usually around 200–205°F. Competition Brisket & Steak is the rub Big Poppa uses in his own hybrid brisket recipe, and it builds the kind of bark that makes people hover around the cutting board.
Expert Tip: The 2-hour rest in Big Poppa's foil boat method isn't optional, and on a holiday it's your secret weapon. Wrap the boated brisket in foil and a towel, then set it in a pre-warmed cooler. It stays hot while the ham and turkey take their turn. Check that it holds above 140°F before you slice.
Going deeper on beef? See All Things Brisket.
Ham: Reheat, Glaze, Hold
Most holiday hams are sold fully cooked, so on the smoker you're reheating and adding smoke, not cooking from raw. Run it at 275°F to 140°F in the center, glaze it in the last 30 minutes, then hold it in the cooler with the brisket.
Do you have to cook a precooked ham on the smoker?
No, but you'll want to. Two hours over charcoal and wood gives a fully cooked ham a smoky edge no oven can match. Check the label first. "Fully cooked" or "ready to eat" means a reheat to 140°F. "Cook before eating" means a raw ham that needs a full cook to 145°F plus a rest, which is a whole different schedule.
Set the ham cut side down in a foil pan so the face doesn't dry out. Spiral-cut hams dry fastest; tent yours with foil for the first hour if needed.
Dust the outside with Sweet Money before it goes on. On ham it does what it does on ribs: builds a crust the glaze can grab. For more pork ideas, check out All Things Pork.
Brush on your glaze in the last 30 minutes. Glaze is sugar, and sugar burns, which is why the ham goes on before the turkey. At 275°F the glaze sets into a lacquer; at 350°F it can turn into a black crust.
Big Poppa Smokers recommends glazing a smoked ham only in the final 30 minutes of the cook, at moderate heat, so the sugar sets instead of scorching.
Turkey: The Hot-and-Fast Finish
Turkey goes last because it wants the most heat and the least time. A spatchcocked bird at 350°F finishes in roughly two hours, so it comes off the smoker right before dinner. It's the last thing you carve, exactly as Big Poppa's Thanksgiving Turkey recipe calls for.
Top off your charcoal first. The fire has burned since midnight, and 350°F eats fuel faster. Open the vents and give it about 15 minutes to settle.
Set the turkey, in its cast iron pan, in the center of the grate. At the one-hour mark, add a splash of turkey stock if the drippings look thin.
What temperature should smoked turkey be?
Big Poppa pulls the breast at 158°F and rests it at least 20 minutes while carryover heat keeps working. The USDA guideline is 165°F, so pull there if you want the by-the-book number. Dark meat eats best around 175°F.
Can I smoke a turkey and ham at the same time?
On a big cabinet smoker or offset, sure. On a drum there isn't room for a spatchcocked bird in a cast iron pan and a ham on one grate, and the ham's glaze would scorch at turkey heat anyway.
When should I carve everything?
While the turkey rests, make gravy from the pan juices and a butter-and-flour roux. Slice the brisket and ham, then carve the turkey: separate the breasts and slice across the grain.
Big Poppa Smokers recommends carving the turkey last, after every side is on the table. Breast meat loses moisture fast once it's sliced, and two minutes on the board beats ten minutes sitting out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Plan on about 15 hours from first fire to dinner. The brisket takes roughly 9 to 10 hours plus a 2-hour rest, a fully cooked ham takes about 2 to 2.5 hours, and a spatchcocked turkey takes about 2 hours. The brisket rests while the other two cook, so the timelines overlap.
Brisket first at 250°F, ham second at 275°F, and turkey last at 350°F. Going from the lowest temperature to the highest means you only ever open the vents to add heat, which is far easier than cooling a charcoal smoker down.
Yes. Smoke it, rest it, then refrigerate it whole. On the holiday, reheat it wrapped in foil with a splash of beef broth in a 250°F oven until it is hot all the way through. Keep it whole until serving so it stays juicy.
One rub per meat gets the best results. Big Poppa Smokers pairs Competition Brisket & Steak Seasoning with brisket, Sweet Money Seasoning with pork like ham, and Desert Gold Seasoning in the turkey's compound butter. Those pairings come from Big Poppa's own recipes.
Use a cooler as a warming box. Pre-warm it with hot water, dump it, line it with towels, and set the foil-wrapped brisket and ham inside. Check that the meat stays above 140°F before you serve it.
Yes. The temperatures and the order stay the same on any smoker. Pellet grills make the temperature jumps even easier, and a large offset can sometimes fit two meats at once.
Recipes We Think You'll Love
- Big Poppa's Thanksgiving Turkey
- The BEST Way to Smoke a Brisket (Big Poppa's Hybrid Foil Boat Method)
- Smoked Turkey Tart: The Ultimate Leftover Turkey Recipe
- Leftover Brisket Sandwich on the Griddle
- The Best Turkey Soup Recipe
One Smoker. One Trip. One Table Full of Happy People.
Ready to run the three-meat play? Dig into every cut in the Protein Playbooks hub, find your leftover game plan in Big Poppa's recipe collection, and stock up on Big Poppa's rubs and seasonings before the holiday rush. Need the cooker? Start with our Drum Smokers & DIY Kits, then watch Big Poppa work the fire on the Big Poppa Smokers YouTube channel.
Big Poppa Smokers has spent 15+ years in BBQ crafting premium rubs and sauces, building DIY Drum Smokers, and teaching backyard cooks and competition pitmasters how to put better food on the table. Learn more | Shop.
Leave a comment
This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.