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The Best-Ever Easy BBQ Turkey Recipe

Updated on October 3, 2015

An Easy BBQ Turkey Recipe

Recently, we had Christmas dinner in July and, of course, that dinner had to include a turkey. A roast turkey in our part of the world is best suited to being cooked on a BBQ where it will NOT heat up your home and that is how we cooked our turkey.

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?

Five Reasons Why You Should Barbecue Your Turkey

BBQ Turkey
BBQ Turkey

  1. BBQing a turkey will NOT heat up your kitchen.

  2. Barbecuing a turkey is easy.

  3. Grilling your turkey results in an absolutely amazing, incredibly moist roast turkey.

  4. Leftovers are on our list of all-time favorite meals.

  5. Barbecuing a turkey results in little kitchen clean up.

Grilled Turkey
Grilled Turkey

Ingredients

  • 1 Turkey

Instructions

  1. Remove neck, giblets and any excess fat.
  2. Rinse the turkey.
  3. Place a foil pan under the grills on one side of your gas BBQ to catch the drippings.
  4. 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.)
  5. 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.
  6. Put a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh of the turkey.
  7. Cook until your thermometer says that the turkey is done, 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
  8. 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.
  9. A three to four pound turkey will take about 1.5 hours.
  10. A six to eight pound turkey will take 2.5 to 3 hours to grill.
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Have you ever cooked a turkey on the BBQ?

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Butterball 6-Inch Thermometer

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 dishwater...and so far, we love it.

How Big A Turkey Can I BBQ?

I have seen it written that you should not grill an overly large turkey (say 15 pounds or more) because it takes too long for the mass of the turkey to warm up, putting it in danger of developing harmful bacteria.

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.

"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

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