Grilling the perfect turkey

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So.. I did it, grilled the perfect turkey. Actually, my father did the work under my watchful eye, so that I can hopefully replicate his work of culinary art when I go solo this Thanksgiving. It was juicy, golden brown ALL OVER and had an amazing smokey flavor. I took pictures and careful notes so I would not have any problems Thanksgiving morning, especially since I decided I won’t order a pre-cooked bird on back up, in case I mess up the real thing!!

First… this seems SOOOOOOOOOO easy. So if you think it’s tough, it’s not, says the girl who’s father did most of the work. Actually, I discovered it’s probably much easier than cooking a turkey in the oven. There’s no basting or turning, it takes less time and your oven is free to be used for other things.

Here are the steps… and there are very few. I’ve attached pictures of each. 

Light your grill. You will use the indirect cooking method. That means you will put an equal amount of charcoal on both sides of your kettle grill. Put a drip pan in the middle to catch the drippings.  The heat will rise, reflect off of the lid and cook like a convection oven. 

Season turkey. This could not be any easier. My mom uses salt and pepper, poultry seasoning and garlic powder. Just sprinkle it all over the bird. If you have anything you want to get rid of out of your refrigerator—like celery or fruit or herbs—you can stuff that inside the turkey for extra flavor but it’s really not necessary My Dad likes putting in an apple. Don’t use any butter or oil… it will just burn under the heat.

Use a rack. My Dad likes to put the turkey on a rack, then on the grill. I think it makes it a lot easier to remove but you can also put the turkey directly on the grill rack. If you use a rack, spray it with non stick cooking spray. It makes for easy removal and clean up.

Grill away. My Dad counts on it taking about two hours to cook an average size bird. I got a 13 lb turkey with a pop up timer and that works perfectly. Weber suggests 11-13 minutes per pound to an internal temperature of 180 degrees.

Remove and Rest. Once it’s done, remove it from the grill and let it rest 15 minutes before carving. I found this to be the hardest part because it looked so good I wanted to jump right in. You won’t believe how golden brown it is all over!!!