Amazing Grilled Turkey Legs

Ginny let me out of the house asked me to go with her to the grocery store.  Of course, I darted straight back to the meat department to find the goodies!  Maybe it was the preparation for Thanksgiving, but there were a lot of turkey legs for sale.  I have wanted to try a nice brine followed by a good grilling, and decided to try my hand and Grilled Turkey Legs.

🍲 Preparation

Step One: Make a liquid brine with cool water, sea salt and sugar.  I added the legs, put them in the fridge and waited. And waited. And waited.

Step Two: Let them sit in the brine for six hours. In hindsight, I could have let them remain in the mix overnight.  

Step Three: After six hours, remove the legs from the brine.  Run each leg under cold water and make sure to lift the flaps of skin to give it a thorough rinse. You really don’t want any of the salt sticking to the meat at this point.

🍽️ Four Different Rubs

I had four legs and I couldn’t decide on the seasoning to use, so I decided to try four different ones.

Simple Sage Rub.  I used a good handful (three or four tablespoons) and rubbed the whole leg to evenly coat it in a generous amount of sage.

Northwoods Rub. I used Penzey’s Spices Northwoods mix.  That spice mix is awesome. I even add it to my hard boiled eggs in the morning, so I thought it would be fun to try it on the turkey leg.

DizzyDust Rub. The third leg was coated in Dizzy Pig DizzyDust.  This is one of my favorite all-purpose spice mixtures.  You just can’t go wrong with it. It helps that I live fairly close to the Dizzy Pig store in Manassas, VA, so it is always easy to replace it if need be.  It can be ordered online too if that is more convenient.

Homemade BBQ Rub. The fourth leg was coated in my own homemade BBQ mix that I use on my beer can chicken.  This is another family favorite that I know is a home run in our house that I also love to put on my Smoked Spatchcock Turkey.

🔥 Grilling Instructions

Step One: As it nears the end of the brining period, start the grill.  I used my Fogo charcoal and set up the grill for indirect heat by adding the plate setter. If you are using a gas grill, turn off the burners immediately under the turkey legs.

Step Two: Now, the fun begins!  Make sure the grill is close to 350 degrees, and set the legs on the grate.

Step Three: Set the timer for 20 minutes and check the legs.  I found that the grill had cooled a little, so I opened the top and bottom vents a bit more to bring the temperature back up.  

Step Four: Start checking the internal temperature of the turkey legs after about 45 minutes.  You want the internal temperature to reach 165 degrees fahrenheit in the thickest parts.

You can tell when it is getting close as the meat around the bone will start to contract a bit. That is a good indicator that you should be checking the temperature more frequently.

📌 Items to Note

These recipes were definitely easy, but they did require some planning.  The curing process is not difficult and it makes a big difference. The legs were so darned juicy even after being on the grill for so long.

Other than the length of time curing, this is one of the easiest recipes I have grilled. Rub on a seasoning and let it slowly grill on indirect heat and you have a delish dish!

I tried four different rubs on the legs.  My favorite was Dizzy Pig DizzyDust rub, but the sage was a close second.  The other two were good, and I sure didn’t leave any leftovers, but the first two were my favorites.

💡 Recipe Tips

I read that some folks brushed a honey mixture over the legs and cooked the last 5 – 10 minutes on direct heat to create a glaze over the turkey legs.  I considered that, but I thought the honey might overpower the herbs and spices. Maybe next time. If you have tried it, please leave a note on how it turned out.

For looks, that nice glaze on a turkey leg will make for a nice presentation, but I probably won’t use a strongly flavored dry rub.

For the Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust, a nice mellow BBQ sauce always works great over the top of those spices. If you like a little bit more kick, try a spicy sauce.

🍴 Substitutions 

These are seriously incredible for friends coming to watch a game, preparing them for a tailgate or your favorite bowl game is on tap.

• How about the Honey and Orange Sriracha Sauce to add once they are almost finished? Just a bit of kick with the sweet and citrus mix! Sign me up!
• Cherry Turkey Legs – Can you almost taste them now? Use the Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce in our Cherry Chicken recipe. Grill the turkey legs as you normally would and apply the sauce the last few minutes, turning every minute or two. Apply multiple times to really get a thick, gooey glaze on there!
• Maybe you don’t love the Orange in the Honey and Orange Sriracha chicken so leave it out and make Honey Sriracha Turkey Thighs.
• If you need/want to go really easy here, try a jar of bbq sauce (we won’t tell!) and slather it on the last few minutes of the cooking. Again, I love to apply the sauce a couple times and keep turning to achieve that gooey and sticky skin we all love!

Related Recipes

Grilled Patty Pan Squash – If you can believe it, this is only a 10 minute grilling recipe! Check your grocery store or farmers market for this awesome squash. This is the best squash I have ever found for grilling.

Grilled Turkey – I was concerned that a bird this large would turn out dry, but was I wrong! This worked just perfectly!

Grilled Acorn Squash – You can find this squash year round and it is great for grilling. Baste with honey and this becomes a sweet veggie side dish for your next BBQ.

Let us know how you cooked them and how did everyone like them? We love the feedback and can’t wait to see how you served them up!