Grilled Turkey Breast – a simple, easy grilled turkey breast recipe that is juicy, packed with flavor and perfect for your small gathering!
Easy Grilled Turkey Breast
Fire up that grill because you definitely want to make this!
A turkey breast is a great option for a smaller thanksgiving/holiday gathering or another option for a Sunday night dinner (we also love this smoked turkey breast). Why does turkey only have to be for a holiday anyway!? Occasionally we like to make a turkey breast to enjoy for dinner and then use the leftovers to make another delicious turkey-based meal (like this Leftover Turkey + Wild Rice Soup or Leftover Turkey Salad)! Especially when it is as easy and delicious as this recipe is! We used a gas grill for this recipe, but a charcoal grill will work just as well.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Easy – you basically put the turkey breast on the grill and just leave it to cook! You don’t want to let a lot of heat out so you only have to baste it 1-2 times while it’s on the grill.
- Holiday – if you are making dinner for a small group of people at the holidays this is a perfect option!
- Versatile – you can stuff the turkey breast with anything that sounds good to you including stuffing (just make sure you adjust cooking times accordingly).
What You Will Need
- 1 whole turkey breast: we used a bone-in turkey breast.
- butter or ghee: rub this all over before cooking!
- kosher salt and ground black pepper: I love keeping my seasoning simple, but feel free to add in some sage or rosemary. Of course we also have a turkey seasoning that works great as well.
- stuffing (optional): cut up white onion, orange, garlic and fresh rosemary.
- marinade (optional): we do have a great turkey marinade recipe if you want to try it!
RECIPE FAQS & TIPS
- Thawing – here is a great post answering all your thawing questions!
- Should I brine the turkey? You can brine your turkey breast beforehand but you do not need to. Here is a great Brining Turkey 101 post.
- Do I need an aluminum tray? Yes! It helps to catch all of those delicious drippings for basting and making gravy – here is a great gravy recipe! We actually recommend using 2 aluminum trays for the extra support.
- Meat thermometer: I highly recommend getting a internal meat thermometer to help ensure the bird had reached 165 degree internal temp.
- Leftovers: Stlil have leftovers? We love this Leftover Turkey + Wild Rice Soup!
- Turkey Cook Times: I always find this cook-time breakdown from the FDA helpful!
Grilled Turkey Breast Brine
You can brine your turkey breast beforehand, but it isn’t required. To learn more about brining a turkey, check out this detailed post!
How Long to Grill Turkey Breast
Grill your turkey breast 14-15 minutes per pound or until it reaches as internal temperature of 165 degrees F and the juices run clear.
Other Turkey Recipes
How to Grill Turkey Breast
Remove turkey from its packaging, pat dry, rub generously with butter (or ghee), and season with salt & pepper.
Stuff your turkey breast. We used an orange, onion, and garlic but feel free to use what you want or nothing at all. Then place the aluminum tray with the turkey breast in the center of your grill.
Close grill lid and let cook for a total of approximately 14-15 minutes per pound or until the turkey reaches an internal temp of 165 at the thickest part of the bird and juices run clear.
Only open the grill once or twice to baste during cooking time. You can baste using the other 1/4 cup of melted butter or by taking the juices that have gathered in the bottom of your pan (or both).
Baste one more time once it is done cooking and off the grill.
Carve and serve immediately.
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Grilled Turkey Breast
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Thanksgiving
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
Description
Grilled Turkey Breast – a simple, delicious turkey breast recipe that is perfect for a small gathering!
Ingredients
- 1 turkey breast (we used a 8 pound turkey breast)
- 1/2 cup butter, softened + divided (sub ghee)
- kosher salt and ground black pepper (or feel free to sub a turkey seasoning)
- stuffing (optional): cut up white onion, fresh orange, garlic and fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat Grill: Preheat your grill to 400 degrees F.
- Thaw: Ensure turkey breast is completely thawed and at room temperature.
- Aluminum Tray: Place turkey breast in an aluminum tray.
- Dry: Pat down with a clean paper towel and get the turkey as dry as possible.
- Butter: Take 1/4 cup butter and rub all over, getting into every nook and cranny, including the cavity.
- Season: Sprinkle all over with kosher salt and ground black pepper.
- Stuffing: you can stuff the cavity of the turkey breast if you want (optional) with onion, orange, garlic and fresh rosemary.
- Grill: Place on top of grill grates, centered as much as possible. As soon as you close the lid, drop the grill temp to 325 degrees F. (Note: grill temp will naturally drop substantially after opening the grill to put the bird inside). Let cook for a total of approximately 14-15 minutes per pound or until the turkey reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F. at the thickest part of the breast and juices run clear. Only open the grill once or twice to baste during cooking time. You can baste using the other 1/4 cup of melted butter and/or by taking the juices that have gathered in the bottom of your pan (or both).
- Final Temp + Rest: Use a meat thermometer to test the internal temperature. Once turkey reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees at the thickest part and juices run clear, remove from grill. Baste first with the juices in the bottom of the pan and then let rest 20-30 minutes while covered with foil.
- Carve: Carve and serve immediately and use leftover pan drippings to make homemade turkey gravy.
Notes
- 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.
- Preheating Grill: We are preheating the grill a little 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 degrees F. – it should be close to that temp anyway after opening the grill.
- Cooking Temp: 14-15 minutes per pound is approximate, so use that as a base. Check the time with a meat thermometer when you baste to keep an eye on it. Especially with grilling, using the internal temp as your guide is the best!
- Aluminum Tray: We used two heavy duty aluminum trays to hold the turkey breast in for grilling – highly recommend doubling for support! This will also catch your drippings so you can make gravy!
- Dry: Make sure you turkey is as dry as possible before the butter. This helps it brown up nicely on the grill!
- Butter: You can use butter or ghee (softened) – apply generously as 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!
- 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 breast 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 breast and the juices should run clear.
TK says
Close grill – remove when meat is 165 and juices run clear….THEN you write to lower it to 325. Which is it??
Erin says
Hey TK – sorry if that was confusing to you! So in Step 9 I just wanted to tell you overall how long to expect to cook the turkey breast (which would be until the turkey breast reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F.), but the grill temp starts out hot and then we drop it down once we close the lid (that is where I refer to dropping the grill to 325). So the 165 refers to the internal temp of the turkey at the end of cooking and the 325 refers to the grill temp – hope that clears it up for you!
Jon says
If you’re cooking a turkey breast, you’ll be waiting a looong time for the thigh to reach 165 degrees (step 12)! 🙂
Erin says
Ah thanks for catching that, Jon! Fixed!
EH says
Made this for a small gathering and we LOVED it!
catherine gholson says
Found some good recipes and I found here some good so it will be tried at home