Juicy Grilled Turkey (How to Grill a Turkey) -a simple, step-by-step tutorial that will guide you through the process of cooking a delicious and JUICY Grilled Turkey – perfect for Thanksgiving (or any holiday meal)!
Best Grilled Turkey Recipe
Grilled Turkey is so flavorful and delicious – plus think of all the oven space you will be saving!
I know we are all used to the typical way of roasting a turkey in the oven but imagine a world where you can cook your Thanksgiving turkey in a different way and use all of the room in the oven for ALL of the amazing side dishes…. well that world is here! Have you ever cooked a turkey on the GRILL!?!? If not, you have to try it!! You will still have a moist and flavorful turkey and the oven is free for everything else. This is a game changer!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Flavor: The flavor really is amazing – this might be my favorite way to cook a turkey!
- Versatile: You could do so many different things with this turkey (just like one cooked in the oven). Stuff it with flavorful foods, stuff it with stuffing, brine it…. so many options!
- Free up Your Oven: Think of all that free oven space you will have without a big ole turkey inside of it!
Key Ingredients + Substitutions
Here’s what you will need (Ingredients + Equipment) in order to successfully grill your turkey. Be sure to see the recipe card below for a full listing of ingredients, instructions, and estimated nutritional information.
- Whole Turkey: ensure you turkey is thawed and the cavity is empty.
- Butter: you can also use ghee or even olive oil here, but I prefer butter. My Mom actually uses olive oil – so that works too if you want to try that!
- Kosher Salt + Black Pepper: this is the simple seasoning I recommend. Otherwise, you can try our Turkey Seasoning which is a mixture of salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder and thyme.
- Stuffing: we used an orange, onion, and garlic cloves.
- Grill: feel free to use a pellet or gas grill.
- Meat Thermometer: this is the only way to really know if your turkey is fully cooked – it is a must-have for grilling and smoking meats! The best place to check the internal temperature of a whole turkey is to place the meat thermometer in the thigh – not touching the thigh bone.
- 2 heavy duty aluminum roasting pans: I used two to make sure it was sturdy enough. You can just use a regular roasting pan if you want – as long as it is oven-safe it will work on the grill.
- Twine: this was used to tie the legs together. It’s not required, but it looks prettier!
Getting Turkey Out of the Oven: Other Methods
We also have a Grilled Turkey Breast if you want to try that one as well! AND we have a smoked turkey, smoked turkey breast, smoked spatchcock turkey and deep fried turkey if you are interested in other ways of getting your Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven!
How to Prep Your Turkey for the Grill
Your preparation for grilling a turkey is very similar to your preparation for roasting a turkey in the oven:
- Thaw: Completely thaw your turkey (very important) – do not cook unless it is 100% thawed – and bring to room temperature. Learn more about thawing a turkey HERE!
- Remove Giblets + Hock Lock: Remove giblets, neck, etc. from inside. Additionally, remove any hock lock that is holding the legs in place and then secure the legs together with twine.
- Brine (optional): Complete any sort of brine you desire, if you choose (totally optional) – we have a turkey dry brine and a turkey wet brine on the site for you!
- Preheat: You will want to allow plenty of time for your grill to preheat to 450 before the turkey goes on – then we will drop the temp to 325 after the turkey goes on.
- Aluminum Tray: We highly recommend placing the turkey in 2 heavy duty aluminum pans! Yes, you can use a regular roasting pan if you want – I just prefer to use aluminum because the grill is a little hard on the pans with those direct flames.
- Pat dry: You will want to pat the whole bird dry. This will help it brown up nicely on the grill.
- Butter: Generously rub butter or ghee (softened) all over the turkey. This will help brown the turkey and also add the the juices that will gather in the bottom of the pan, which can then be used to make gravy later!
- Season: Use as much salt and pepper as necessary to lightly coat the turkey – the amount will depend on how big your bird is, but don’t be afraid to apply liberally. We also have a Turkey Seasoning if you want something other than salt and pepper.
- Stuffing: We stuffed this bird with an orange, lemon, onion and garlic, but feel free to use whatever you wish! If you stuff with actual stuffing, you will want to increase the cook time appropriately.
Grilled Turkey Brine Recipe
You can, but you don’t have to brine your turkey. A lot of people do, but it isn’t necessary for a successful Grilled Turkey. I have made plenty of grilled turkeys without brining first and they always come out delicious. Learn more about wet brining a turkey here + learn about dry brining a turkey here + get a great Citrus Turkey Brine recipe here!
How Long to Grill a Turkey
Grill your turkey for approximately 10-13 minutes per pound or until it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F. in the thigh and breast and the juices run clear.
How to Grill a Turkey
Here are a few step-by-step photo to help you along the way:
Step 1: Thaw your turkey and let it get to room temperature. Meanwhile, prepare your roasting pan by adding broth and create your celery “roasting rack.”
Step 2: Remove the hock lock. Pat the turkey dry, apply generous amounts of butter or ghee (softened) and season with salt and pepper. For the stuffing we used an orange, onion, and garlic. Tie the turkey legs together with twine. Tuck the wings to help prevent burning or you can wrap them in a little aluminum foil.
Step 3: Turn grill burners on to 325 degrees F. Place the turkey in the center of your grill and close the lid quickly to try and retain as much heat as possible.
Step 4: Baste once or twice either using the juices in the bottom of the pan or with additional melted butter/ghee. Cover with foil, as needed, if parts of the turkey start getting brown.
Step 5: Remove from grill, baste and let rest 30 minutes before carving (cover with aluminum foil).
What to do after you Grill a Turkey
- Baste: Immediately give the turkey another baste with butter.
- Rest: Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Drippings = Gravy: When you take the turkey out of the roasting pan you will be left with some drippings. These can be used to make homemade turkey gravy from drippings, if you want.
- Carve – here is a great video on how to properly carve your turkey!
Erin’s Testing Tips
- Grill Temp Will Vary: depending upon your variables (wind, outdoor temp, etc) so don’t just adjust your temp and then walk away for 30 minutes before checking again. It will take a couple adjustments to get that grill temp right!
- Sometimes it Cooks Fast: I have made this recipe SO many times and *sometimes* that grill is just next level and that turkey cooks fast – that’s okay! It can always rest a bit longer on the counter covered loosely with foil if your other dishes aren’t done yet.
- Foil As-Needed: Sometimes only small spots get dark brown fast – feel free to rip off small pieces of foil to cover those parts of the turkey, leaving the other areas uncovered, until needed.
- Check Several Spots: don’t just check one spot for the internal temp – make sure you check a couple to ensure the whole turkey is full cooked.
- Don’t Over Cook: once you pull that turkey from the grill it will continue to cook (this is called carryover cooking). To avoid a dried out turkey, pull it when it is closer to 160 degrees F. and then the carryover cooking will keep cooking the turkey, raising that internal temp an additional 5 degrees.
Grilled Turkey Recipe FAQ
Strain any liquid left in the roasting pan. Remove fat that rises to the top and then use the remaining liquid to make homemade turkey gravy from drippings!
If you want to use a charcoal grill instead of a gas grill – try this recipe!
No! With this recipe you are essentially using the grill as if it were an oven – so really the same technique and temps as an oven roasted turkey. Same juicy results, but even better flavor from the grill! Don’t overcook your turkey and you won’t dry it out at all.
Yes, I would recommend covering with foil AS NEEDED. Keep an eye on the turkey and as it gets brown cover it loosely with foil – and you don’t have to cover the whole turkey – you can just cover whatever spots are getting really dark. The rest can remain uncovered.
Grill your turkey for approximately 10-13 minutes per pound in a 325 degree F. grill or until it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F. in the thigh and breast and the juices run clear. Make sure it is fully thawed and at room temp before placing it on the grill. If it isn’t you will need to adjust your cooking time.
Make sure your grill grates are cleaned off and check to see if there are any upper grates on the inside that you might need to move to make room for the turkey before heating up your grill.
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Ingredients
- 1 fresh whole turkey, we used a 15 pound turkey
- 2-3 cups chicken broth, sub turkey broth/stock
- 3-4 sprigs of fresh herbs, thyme, rosemary
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- stuffing, optional: 1 small orange (quartered), 1 small onion (quartered), 1-2 heads of garlic (cut off top), 2-3 fresh thyme sprig
- 1/2 cup butter or ghee, softened
- kosher salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat Grill: Preheat your grill to 450 degrees F.
- Thaw: Ensure turkey is completely thawed and at room temperature. Remove any giblets from the cavity.
- Aluminum Tray: Add broth, fresh herbs, onion, celery and carrots to bottom of aluminum tray – use the celery to create a "roasting rack." Place turkey on top of the celery and other veggies. (Pro tip: I actually used two aluminum pans for extra support).
- Stuff (optional): Stuff with whatever you desire, here we used chopped onion, chopped oranges, garlic and thyme.
- Prep Turkey: Pat down with a clean paper towel and get the turkey as dry as possible. Take softened butter and rub all over, getting into every nook and cranny. Season all over with kosher salt and pepper.
- Grill: Place pan on top of grill grates, centered as much as possible and close the lid. Drop the temperature to 325 degrees F.
- Cook Turkey + Foil: Let cook for a total of 10-13 minutes per pound or until the turkey reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F. at the thickest part of the bird and juices run clear (use an internal meat thermometer). If you notice the turkey getting quite brown cover loosely with foil.
- Basting: Only openly grill once or twice to baste during cooking time. You can baste using additional melted butter or by taking the juices that have gathered in the bottom of your pan.
- Final Temp + Rest: Use a meat thermometer to test the internal temperature. Once turkey reaches an internal temp of 160-162 degrees F. at the thickest part of the thigh and juices run clear, remove from grill. Baste first with the juices in the bottom of the pan and then let rest 15-30 minutes while covered with foil – during this time the internal temperature will continue to rise and reach 165 degrees F. with carryover cooking.
- Carve: Carve and serve immediately (here is our How to Carve a Turkey tutorial!).
- Serve + Gravy: Serve with someone homemade turkey gravy using the drippings in the pan and all your other classic holiday side dishes!
Notes
- Size of Turkey: Wondering how big of a turkey to cook? Just remember that you should budget for approximately 1.25 lbs per person
- Thawing a Turkey: Questions on thawing – here is a great post answering all your thawing questions!
- Brining: You can definitely brine your turkey beforehand! Here is a great Brining Turkey 101 post and here is a Citrus Turkey Brine recipe!
- Preheating Grill: We are preheating the grill extra high (higher than we are grilling it at) to account for the fact that there will be a significant drop in temp as a result of opening the grill to put the turkey inside. Once the turkey is inside the temp needs to be at 325 – it should be close to that temp anyway after opening the grill.
- Aluminum Tray: We used two heavy duty aluminum trays to hold the turkey in for grilling – highly recommend doubling for support! This will also catch your drippings so you can make homemade turkey gravy!
- Dry: Make sure you turkey is as dry as possible before the butter. This helps it brown up nicely on the grill!
- Seasoning: Use as much salt and pepper as necessary to lightly coat the turkey -the amount will depend on how big your bird is, but don’t be afraid to apply liberally.
- Stuffing: We stuffed the bird with with orange, onion and garlic, but feel free to use whatever you wish! If you stuff with actual stuffing, you will want to increase the cook time appropriately.
- Opening Grill/Basting: Treat the grill like an oven – don’t open often or your temp will drop and it will effect the cooking time. I would recommend opening it only 1-2 times to baste, especially towards the end to of the cooking time (you will need to check internal temp towards the end anyway). Baste with additional melted butter or just with the juices in the bottom of the pan.
- Internal Meat Thermometer: Make sure you have a reliable internal meat thermometer to check the internal temp – I like this one. Your turkey should reach 165 degrees at the thickest part of the bird and the juices should run clear.
- Got leftovers – try our Leftover Turkey Salad or Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup!
Nutrition
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Originally published November 20, 2019.
Erin says
Made this for Friendsgiving this year / so flipping good! And the gravy was also a hit – everyone was raving about it! Thanks!
Mike says
Needed space in the oven this year and your recipe made it so easy for our thanksgiving!
Jackie says
We bbq our turkey every year and this was the best one we’ve done. Loved that the drippings can be saved in the pan so I could make gravy. Used your gravy recipe also and everyone was raving about it.
Erin says
Makes my day to hear that, Jackie!!
Mike says
Needed extra space in the kitchen this year and we are never going back as this was the best turkey we have had in years. Thank you!
Peggy T. says
This recipe for grilled Turkey was awesome! My family said it is the best Turkey I have ever made. I used the Turkey seasoning recipe on this site as well and it was delicious. I highly recommend this method as it freed up my ovens and was so easy.
Erin says
Thanks so much, Peggy!! So glad you enjoyed it!
Mike says
We had no space in our kitchen/oven for a turkey this year and your method was a lifesaver! Love this recipe and method. Thank you so much!
Erin says
Awesome to hear, Mike! And thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review – I really appreciate it!
Linda says
Perfectly done and so moist!
Erin says
Awesome to hear! And thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review – I really appreciate it!
Erin says
My favorite way to cook a turkey – so good!
Lou says
My grill has no temp setting. What would you suggest to keep it close to 325? I’d assume lowest flame.
Erin says
Hi Lou – on mine (which is a 3 burner) I turned up pretty high before putting the turkey in (since you lose a ton of heat by opening it) then once the turkey was on I turned off the middle burner and dropped the outside two down about as low as they would go. I had to make some adjustments to keep it at 325, but it stayed pretty consistent actually. Watch that internal temp closely and you will be good!
Lou says
Thanks for the quick response. Will try it and add some smoking chips like the other person did! Happy holidays
Erin says
Happy Holidays to you as well!
Steve says
Hi Erin!
I have used this method many times with 100% success. The last few times I did I put foil packets with smoking chips inside close to the burners/coals of my grill(s) to add an even more amazing layer of smoked flavor to the turkey. So, yup, you CAN smoke meat on a gas grill!
Erin says
Ah I love that, Steve!! So glad you have enjoyed the recipe and thanks so much for the feedback – much appreciated!
daniel whyble says
grilled my first turkey 2 years ago and there is nothing like it . always had a hard time cutting it up but with this video i cant wait to do it the right way this year. thank you so much for the video.