If you love everything that comes with a traditional Thanksgiving meal, this smoked fatty is for you. It’s got mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce wrapped in seasoned ground turkey, then rolled up in a bacon weave and finished with a cranberry BBQ glaze. It’s smoky, sweet, savory, and way more fun than it has any right to be.
Fatties are also one of my favorite “get creative” BBQ cooks. Once you learn the basic roll-up process, you can swap the fillings, seasonings, and sauces a hundred different ways. This Thanksgiving version started as a weekend experiment with a buddy—brainstorming different fatty combos—and this one was easily the most creative of the bunch.
Why I Love This Recipe
This is one of those cooks that feels impressive, but it’s really just a few simple steps stacked together. The fillings bring all the comfort-food Thanksgiving flavor, the turkey keeps it lighter than a pork sausage fatty, and the bacon weave does what bacon always does: makes everything better.
The cranberry BBQ sauce is the closer. It ties the whole thing together and keeps every slice tasting like “Thanksgiving… but smoked.”
Cooking Basics
Prep the Fillings First
Before you build the fatty, you’ll want to have your mashed potatoes and stuffing ready to go. This can be as homemade or “shortcut” as you want—either works. The key is keeping the fillings fairly thick so they’re easy to roll without leaking everywhere.
Tip: Let the fillings cool a bit before assembling. Warm, steamy stuffing and potatoes make the turkey layer harder to work with.
Build the Bacon Weave
You’ll need about 13 strips of bacon. The easiest method is to build the weave on top of a sheet of tin foil. That foil becomes your “handle” when it’s time to roll everything up.
Lay 7 strips of bacon side-by-side in one direction. Fold back every other strip halfway, lay one strip across, then fold those strips back down. Repeat the pattern, alternating which strips fold back each time, until you have a tight weave.
Flatten the Turkey (The Freezer Bag Trick)
This is the easiest way I’ve found to get the turkey into a clean rectangle without it sticking to everything: use a zip-top freezer bag.
Put the ground turkey in the bag, squeeze out the air, and seal it. Then use a rolling pin (or your hands) to press it flat until it fills the bag evenly.
To open it up cleanly, slice down the middle of the top side of the bag, then cut across the bottom edge so it opens like a “hinge.” Now you’ve got a perfect turkey rectangle with plastic to help you roll later.
Fill, Roll, and Wrap
Now it’s time to build the “Thanksgiving layer cake.” The exact amounts don’t need to be perfect—use enough to make a great filling, but leave yourself room to roll.
Keep the filling slightly closer to the end you plan to start rolling from, and leave a little space around the edges so it doesn’t overflow as you roll.
Mashed potatoes first
Stuffing next
Cranberry sauce on top
Use the plastic from the bag to help roll the turkey into a tight log. Once it’s rolled, pinch/press the ends closed to help prevent leaks.
Transfer the turkey log onto the bacon weave near the edge you want to start rolling from. Then use the tin foil underneath to roll the bacon up and over the turkey until it’s fully wrapped.
Turn the fatty seam-side down (so the bacon ends are underneath), then sprinkle the outside with poultry seasoning.
Smoke, Glaze, and Finish
Preheat your smoker to 225°F. Maple is a great match for turkey and bacon, but hickory or apple work really well too.
Smoke the fatty until the internal temp hits 145–150°F. This can take around 1–2 hours depending on thickness and your smoker.
While it’s cooking, make the cranberry BBQ sauce (recipe below). Once you hit 145–150°F, brush on a generous coat of sauce, then keep cooking until the internal temp reaches 165°F.
Rest, Slice, and Serve
Pull the fatty off the smoker and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Then slice into thick rounds and serve while it’s hot.
If you want to lean fully into the Thanksgiving theme, this is insanely good with a little extra cranberry sauce on the side… and I won’t judge you if you add gravy.
Final Thoughts
This is a perfect “pit master in training” recipe because it teaches a few great skills: rolling a tight log, building a bacon weave, controlling temperature, and finishing with a glaze at the right time.
Next time, I’d love to try a little warm gravy drizzled over the slices to complete the full Thanksgiving vibe.
If you love everything that comes with a traditional Thanksgiving meal, this smoked fatty is for you. It’s got mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce wrapped in seasoned ground turkey, then rolled up in a bacon weave and finished with a cranberry BBQ glaze. It’s smoky, sweet, savory, and way more fun than it has any right to be.Fatties are also one of my favorite “get creative” BBQ cooks. Once you learn the basic roll-up process, you can swap the fillings, seasonings, and sauces a hundred different ways. This Thanksgiving version started as a weekend experiment with a buddy—brainstorming different fatty combos—and this one was easily the most creative of the bunch.
