Soot formation in combustors is a complex process comprising highly intermittent interactions between physical and chemical processes across a wide range of time-scales and the influence of turbulence on the soot inception process remains substantially conjectural. The current study quantifies the impact of flame temperature, equivalence ratio, and strain rate on PAH concentrations in premixed turbulent ethylene flames crossing the soot inception limit using a back–to–burnt opposed jet configuration that provides accurate control of flow parameters. The upper nozzle features fractal grid generated turbulence and provides premixed ethylene/air mixtures with equivalence ratios 1.7 ≤ ϕ ≤ 2.2 with flames stabilised against well-defined lower nozzle hot combustion products (HCP) from N2 diluted H2 flames. The flame structures are initially analysed using PAH/CH2O/PLIF and elastic light scattering with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) subsequently used to quantify PAH samples from inside the turbulent flame brush. A combination of hot nitrogen dilution and a heated sampling line is used to minimise PAH and particle losses during sample extraction. The work quantifies the growth in PAH concentrations across the soot inception limit and shows that the rate of strain exerts a dominant influence. It is further shown, through centrifuging of samples, that soot particles contain large amounts of PAHs (e.g. benzo[a]pyrene) with EDX used to quantify the growth in carbon deposition.