Grilling is a great way to cook turkey in much less time than in the oven, but there’s a little more know-how needed to make sure that the meat gets completely cooked without drying out. The most important factor to control is the temperature. If it’s too hot, the turkey will burn on the outside before the inside cooks through, and if it’s too cold, the skin will be soggy — and it’ll just take forever. The sweet spot to shoot for is 325 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, which will cook a whole 12 to 14-pound bird in around 2 to 3 hours.
Maintaining a constant temperature for cooking turkey on the grill is not as easy as in a conventional oven where you can set it and forget it. For propane grills, a medium setting, which tends to be around 350 to 375 Fahrenheit, is the way to go. Charcoal grillers should open all the vents and let the fire burn for around 30 minutes to get into the right temperature zone. Keep in mind that built-in grill thermometers are notoriously unreliable, especially over time and exposure to the outdoors, so it’s not a bad idea to get a separate oven thermometer to keep an eye on what’s going on under the lid. For less than $10 (like this model), it’s good insurance.
Cooking turkey parts on the grill
Because different parts cook best at different temperatures, tackling a turkey whole is actually the worst way to cook it. Fortunately, grilling is a great way to cook cuts like a whole breast on the bone, legs, thighs, and wings. You still need to watch the temperature if you’re cooking smaller parts, but you can turn the heat up a bit because you don’t have to worry about maintaining a long cooking time to reach a thick center like with a whole bird.
Whole turkey breasts on the bone are best cooked at 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit to get a crispy skin and juicy meat. A 5 to 6-pound breast should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit in 1 to 1 ½ hours. Turkey thighs and wings will both come out great if they’re grilled at a slightly higher temperature — around 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Just make sure to turn the meat more often to prevent burning, and use a two-zone grilling method to sear the outside over hot flames before moving it to indirect heat to fully cook. (This technique is also great for BBQ chicken.)
Regardless of what piece of turkey you’re preparing, always keep a meat thermometer handy, or use an oven thermometer to prevent overcooking because nothing’s worse than dried out turkey — no matter how it’s cooked.
