Grilled Whole Turkey

This delicious Grilled Turkey recipe will not only become a Holiday favorite, but you’ll cook it off-season as well. 

We don’t cook turkey enough, but we’re going to change that right now. Grilled turkey is so easy to make since it is virtually hands-off after you spend 15 minutes preparing it, just like the Smoked Spatchcock Turkey. It quietly grills into perfection while you are off working on your honey-do list. Just make sure your better half is convinced that the grill (and your beer 🍺) needs a lot of monitoring! 

We decided to do an off season grilled turkey as we wanted to make a larger piece of meat that we could turn into several additional meals throughout the next week. We could see that our calendar was backed up, and this was an easy way to have the main meat course grilled ahead of time.

Now, we could either make full recipes or simply add vegetables and salads. I found the turkey on sale right after Thanksgiving and waited until I had some time to put it on the grill.

This bird would be fantastic if you are having out of town guests coming, where you need to feed a crowd or need meat to make sandwiches to take guests out on the trail to hike.

🦃 Ingredients

As I mentioned, you only need a few ingredients, and it will be one of the best birds you could eat!

Olive Oil | It’s going to help allow the herbs to stick to the turkey. You could swap it for any other oil you like, but we prefer the results with olive oil.

Herbs | You can use a combination of any of your favorite herbs. We like to use rosemary, thyme, and sage.

Salt & Pepper | Add as much or as little as you like to enhance the meat’s flavor.

🔥 Grilling Instructions

Step One: Set the grill to 325 degrees on indirect heat and bring it up to full temperature.  I used the plate setter on the Big Green Egg. For a gas grill, turn off the center burners.

Step Two: Combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme into a container and stir. 

Note: I used dried herbs as they seem to do better during long grills.  Fresh herbs tend to turn black. I think they still taste great, but it isn’t as aesthetically pleasing.

Step Three: Clean the turkey and remove the neck and package of the organs. Keep them for the gravy, though.  Spray the roast and rib rack so the turkey doesn’t stick. Yes, it will stick as I tested that before, unintentionally! Rub the turkey with the olive oil mixture and place in the turkey rib rack.

Step Four: Place the rack on a disposable aluminum pan and add the turkey. I tied the legs using butcher’s twine to keep it neat and tidy. Add some wine, water or chicken broth to the drop pan.  Some folks use the drippings for gravy, but I haven’t had a lot of luck with that. At best, it stops the drippings from hitting the charcoal and creating an acrid smoke. The drip pan does a great job protecting the bird.

Step Four: Place the turkey on the grill and grill for 12-15 minutes for each pound. Ours was a 13 pound bird, so we started monitoring the temperature closely after two hours. Rotate the bird if you notice one part of the skin is getting darker than other areas. It is time to take the turkey off the grill when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

💡 Recipe Tips

Definitely freeze the leftovers. I recommend cutting it up and placing the pieces in freezer safe Ziploc bags. I also like to double wrap mine with Press n Seal to give it a little bit more security. It might be overkill for a lot of people, but I spent a lot of money and time on the food so I try to protect it as much as I can. I hate it when my food gets freezer burn!

There are great meal prep options for you:

• Clean out the turkey and pat it dry. Cover it and set in the refrigerator overnight. 
• Prep the olive oil and herbs into a container or jar. Simply shake and spread in the morning before placing it on the grill.
• Prep the rib rack and drip tray to have on hand so you aren’t scrambling to find them in the morning. 

Try to Dry Brine the turkey using the process we showed on the Dry Brined Chicken recipe. It takes a few days of advance planning, but the flavor was worth it!

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