The Best-Ever Easy BBQ Turkey Recipe
Ranked #6,275 in Food & Cooking, #115,558 overall
An Easy BBQ Turkey Recipe
You might be surprised to know that barbecuing a turkey is extremely easy and requires almost no special equipment except, of course, the grill, a simple foil drip pan and a meat thermometer. We use a gas grill with two burners so that one side (the side with the turkey on it) can be turned off.
Of course, you should not limit grilling turkeys to the summer. We have also cooked our turkey on the BBQ for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners and been just as thrilled with the result, which is always a delicious and moist roast turkey.
On this page you will find our extremely easy BBQ turkey recipe and technique. Why not put a turkey on YOUR barbecue?
Contents at a Glance
Five Reasons Why You Should Barbecue Your Turkey
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1
BBQing a turkey will NOT heat up your kitchen.
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Barbecuing a turkey is easy.
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Grilling your turkey results in an absolutely amazing, incredibly moist roast turkey.
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Leftovers are on our list of all-time favorite meals.
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5
Barbecuing a turkey results in little kitchen clean up.
The Best-Ever BBQ Turkey Recipe
Instructions for grilling an unstuffed turkey on a gas BBQ, a printable recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 Turkey
Instructions
Remove neck, giblets and any excess fat.
Rinse the turkey.
Place a foil pan under the grills on one side of your gas BBQ to catch the drippings.
Preheat your barbecue. (We preheat our BBQ for ten minutes at full heat and then reduce the heat to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending upon the weather, you may have to monitor the temperature of your grill occasionally.)
Place the turkey on the grill over the drip pan and turn off the heat under it, leaving the heat ON on the other side of your grill.
Put a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh of the turkey.
Cook until your thermometer says that the turkey is done, 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
The following times are approximate and will depend upon various conditions like how well thawed a frozen turkey is and how hot you run your BBQ.
A three to four pound turkey will take about 1.5 hours.
A six to eight pound turkey will take 2.5 to 3 hours to grill.
Have you ever cooked a turkey on the BBQ?
Butterball 6-Inch Thermometer
Butterball 6-Inch Thermometer
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 05/30/2012)
List Price: $15.99
We recently grew tired of our electronic or digital meat thermometer. It was frustrating and unreliable and I cannot believe that we put up with it for so long. In its place, We purchased in a simple old-fashioned meat thermometer, the kind my mother always used, with one difference. Our new one is dishwasher proof. No longer do we hear 'mom' kindly reminding us that we cannot put the thermometer in the dish water...and so far, we love it.
Unfortunately, the thermometer we purchased is not available on Amazon. However, this Butterball 6-inch meat thermometer looks basically the same as the one that we have.
Release Date: 09/01/2009
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
More Barbecue Turkey Recipes and Resources
- Grilling A Turkey on the Barbecue
- Reluctant Gourmet shares their ideas about grilling a turkey on your BBQ.
- John Seery: How to Barbeque a Turkey
- John Seery says, "Let's Talk Turkey. The best way to cook a turkey for your Thanksgiving feast: barbeque. On your outdoor grill. Don't be a turkey by shoving it into your oven."
- Barbecued Whole Turkey Recipe
- What's Cooking America shares their method and ideas about BBQing your turkey.
- How To Barbecue A Turkey--The Super Easy Way For Morons | The Awl
- Choire Sicha says that BBQing a turkey is so easy that you will be sorry you own an oven!
- Canadian Living's Barbecue-Roasted Turkey Recipe
- Canadian Living's recipe is for an unstuffed turkey with a smoky flavour.
- Rotisserie BBQ Smoked Turkey at Cooking Dude
- Cooking Dude shares their method of cooking a barbecue turkey on a rotisserie.
- Turkey: Grilling on About.com
- About.com says that a grilled turkey will put an oven baked one to shame.
- Grilled Turkey Recipe from All Recipes
- Christine says that grilling turkey is not traditional but is simply the best way to cook turkey.
- Turkey on the Grill Recipe from Weber Grills on the Food Network
- Food Network invites you to try this Turkey on the Grill recipe.
- Martha Stewart's Rotisserie Turkey on the Grill Recipe
- Martha Stewart says that grilling your roast turkey introduces an entirely new flavour.
How Big A Turkey Can I BBQ?
Canadian Living magazine states in their recipe that turkeys of 14 pounds and less are more suitable to roasting on the barbecue than larger ones although they do not elaborate as to why.
Unique Novelty Turkey Thermometers
We cannot vouch for these timers, but we can admit to being intrigued with the Pop Up Turkey thermometers. Let us know if you can recommend them.
More Ideas For Grilling Your Turkey
- THE HEALTHY PLATE: Recipe for caramelized onion barbecue burgers
- You also could go for ground turkey, chicken or pork, but read the packages carefully; many ground meats aren't as lean as you might think they are. Since we removed most of the fat from our burger's meat, we needed to add moisture.
- Culinary Calendar for May 30
- On Artwalk Fridays Sweets' hosts a special dinner this month is a gourmet barbecue, including Carolina smoked pulled pork, Mediterranean turkey burgers, bacon and blue burgers, black bean veggie burgers, summer salad, grilled corn, baked beans and ...
- A burger for Dad so good it seems bad
- By Alison Ladman AP Dads love grilling. Dads love burgers. Trouble is, good burgers don't always love Dad back. That's because great burgers often start with fatty ground beef. All that fat keeps the burgers juicy and flavorful as they grill.
Talk Turkey to Me Cookbook
How to Have A Good Time in the Kitchen Talking Turkey and All the Trimmings.
Talk Turkey to Me: A Good Time in the Kitchen Talking Turkey and All the Trimmings
Amazon Price: $9.52 (as of 05/30/2012)
List Price: $19.95
Reviews on Amazon have it that this is a very funny cookbook that shares the amazing variety of questions that Butterball receives but, more importantly, also shares the witty and practical answers to the important turkey questions. It includes the answers to questions about how to thaw a turkey (and how long), whether to stuff or not, how to cook, whether ore not to brine your turkey and whether you should baste it. (We say NO, basting your turkey is too much fuss.)
Talk Turkey to Me also includes recipes for all the turkey dinner trimmings with lots of ideas for make-ahead sides.
Release Date: 07/15/2006
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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"Enjoy your grilled bird! You'll see your guests gobbling up your delectable morsels. You can be proud and spread your plumage, but don't ham it up." ~ John Seery
Have you ever grilled your turkey?
If not, do you think you might try it sometime?
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Papier Dec 2, 2011 @ 2:25 am | delete
- no, but it sounds easy and delicious1
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alteredkat
Nov 2, 2011 @ 11:41 am | delete
- I love the idea of Christmas dinner in July! YUM!!!
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COUNTRYLUTHIER
Oct 27, 2011 @ 9:05 pm | delete
- This is an incredible find here in squidoo country. Always glad to see another way to do up the Thanksgiving bird. Nicely done!
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Blessedmombygrace
Jul 13, 2011 @ 2:29 pm | delete
- No, my grill isn't big enough. Maybe some day...
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Susan52
Jul 5, 2011 @ 8:57 am | delete
- Oh, Brenda, I was just thinking that we could do just a turkey breast. Smaller, and the part we love to slice for sandwiches. Yep, that's going to be my plan!
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by Treasures-By-Brenda
We used this BBQ turkey recipe recently and we cannot wait to do so again!
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Whether You BBQ Your Turkey Or Not, There's A Great Turkey Apron For You
Don't You Wish Your Turkey Was Hot Like Me?
Don't You Wish Your Turkey Was Hot Like Me Apron
Amazon Price: (as of 05/30/2012)
