Grilled Turkey (Gas Grilled Turkey Recipe)
Grilled Turkey - a simple, step-by-step tutorial that will guide you through the process of cooking a (delicious) Grilled Turkey.
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
Calories: 63kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 0.4g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 171mg | Potassium: 47mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1568IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 0.1mg
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