QOTM: How Do You Cook a Turkey Outdoors?

It's time for another Question of the Month.  Things got super busy and we were out of town for a trip to Yellowstone (great time of year to go, by they way) and I just plain forgot last month.

But all is ok, and we still have time for the answers to this month's question to help you!  Thanksgiving is almost on us and I've never cooked a turkey outdoors.

So here's the question for this month:

How Do You Cook a Turkey Outdoors?

Turkey on the GrillI know a lot f you do.  And there's a bunch of ways.  I've heard of grilling, smoking, frying, and Dutch ovening.  But I've never tried even one of those way.  So give us all some tips in the comments below.

  • Do grill, fry, smoke or cook your Thanksgiving turkey in a Dutch oven? If not why not?
  • Do you brine?  Rub?  Season in some other way?  What do you put in your brine or rub?
  • What killer tips can you share with us?
  • If you don't do your Thanksgiving turkey outdoors, why not?

Any other comments relative to this question are greatly appreciated and would help everyone!

Let's hear your best ideas in the comments below!

Scott

P.S. Thanks to Neeta Lind for the great photo of the turkey over the coals. You can find her at Flickr.

15 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. I brine our turkey. Salt, dark brown sugar, orange peel, orange juice, water

    • Peggy on November 1, 2014 at 10:15 am
    • Reply

    I’ve never cooked a turkey out doors.

    1. Me either! Why don’t we both change that this year? We’ve had some great comments and suggestions from people.

    • Ghent on November 1, 2014 at 11:04 am
    • Reply

    We cook two turkeys for plenty to send home:

    Brine in 1 cup salt, 1 cup brown sugar, rosemary sprays and apple juice to cover overnight in cooler with ice.

    Inject turks with melted butter, good dash hot sauce, apple juice a little salt and dash cayenne.

    Rub with Cajun seasoning with smoked paprika and brown sugar added. Be sure to rub between skin and meat, as deep as possible and also inside bird.

    Smoke one in BGE at 275 deg F til done. Add onion and halved orange in cavity for moisture and added flavors.

    Fry one at 375 deg 2 mins / Lb.

    Giblet gravy from pan roasted giblets and veggies. Roast until well caramelized and browned.

    Make roux 1/2 cup EVO 1/2 cup flour, cook til well browned. Remove from heat, add chopped giblets, add a little water at a time til well blended.

    Season w/ S & P and thin with water as needed.

    Add chopped eggs to make extra creamy.

    • Joan mergl on November 1, 2014 at 11:56 am
    • Reply

    Just did one for a campin club thanksgiving in October. I have the ultimate turkey cooker Dutch oven and it turned out great. Just oiled the pot and the turkey and with a lot of salt and pepper. We did it until the popper popped but had trouble getting it out I one piece. But it didn’t matter still tasted great.

    • Dave on November 1, 2014 at 12:16 pm
    • Reply

    We moisten the bird with olive oil. Wrap it well with cheesecloth. soak the cheese cloth with olive oil. Notice we didn’t season it at all. The Smoke flavor and the turkey’s own juices are plenty for us. We then smoke it in a disposable aluminum pan with an original Oklahoma joe smoker using wood only, basting often with the juices in the pan. When it’s done we cut the cheesecloth to find a turkey that’s a beautiful mahogany color and full of juices.

    • Tony King on November 1, 2014 at 2:31 pm
    • Reply

    Years ago my buddy taught me how to Grill a Turkey on a a Weber BBQ and I haven’t found a better way yet. It’s easy, super simple and cheap and always have a moist perfectly cooked Turkey.

    Buy a tin foil pan like 8×12 or something similar
    Clean turkey etc and wipe/cover Turkey in Peanut Oil and season
    Start 60 briquettes
    Put pan in bottom of Weber in middle and put 30 briquettes on longside of pan
    Put 1/2″ of any liquid in pan…beer,OJ ….whatever or plain water
    Set grate/grill on with openings by handles over area where briquettes are
    Set Turkey in the middle and put on lid , open all vents top and bottom
    Calculate cook time @ 9 minutes a pound
    Don’t keep peaking, set timer !
    After 1 hour drop 10 briquettes through open holes on grill each side
    When your time is up, remove and let Turkey rest a bit before slicing and serving
    You will never cook Turkey another way again ever, throw pan away and clean-up is done !

    1. Sounds pretty easy!

    • Kim on November 1, 2014 at 4:39 pm
    • Reply

    I’ve has turkey done on the weber grill, smoked and fried. I like them all.
    Frying is the fastest at 4 minutes per pound and the outside us crunchy. Can
    Inject flavored marinade.
    Smoked is the slowest and has that great smoke flavor.
    Grilling on the weber is good and can add wood chips for smoked flavor always juicy.

    • Rick Curran on November 1, 2014 at 11:02 pm
    • Reply

    I don’t, but I know a lot of people who deep fry a turkey. You get a large pot filled with peanut oil and place the turkey into the pot. They heat the oil with a propane burner under neath. It makes the moistest turkey you ever ate but the turkey gets congealed on day two or three from sitting in the fridg. The skin is very crispy.

    If you are going to do this, I would invite the fire department to the feast. Tell them to bring the truck along. It can be dangerous. Getting the turkey out of the hot oil may burn your hands, arms or legs. Some times the pot tips over. It can be a great mess. Most people who do this, tell neighbors and they use the same oil for a number of birds otherwise it is a great waste of oil.

    Good luck.

    1. Yeah, I’ve heard that the fried turkeys turn out great. But all that hot oil makes me a bit nervous so it’s never been high on my list to try. Good comment about the fire department 🙂

    • Linda on November 2, 2014 at 9:55 am
    • Reply

    I smoke the turkey. I chop an onion & an apple & put it the cavity of the turkey & add a can of coke then smoke it for the amount of time needed for it’s weight.

    • T. Stotz on November 2, 2014 at 10:21 am
    • Reply

    Scott yes the family cooks the Bird out doors! In snow,rain,even in nice weather.I lerned from a old timer the proper way of doing it .First you buy a new galvnised garbage can and burn the coating out of it !! then have a 20 lbs. of charcoal on the side. Buy a 20 lbs. turkey fresh or frozen no matter.We always brine ours,in salt,sugar( brown) ,herbs ,water. Get a 5gal. pail put two plastic bags in it. Wash the turkey in cold water,put turkey in the bags add brine.Get as much air out of the bags.Place the bucket with the turkey in fridge to keep cold or a cooler for 24 hrs. Next day find a new wooden stake about 3 1/2 Ft.long.Take two sheets of heavy duty tin foil set them on the ground somewhere you won’t kill the grass MoM dosen’t want a burned circle of dead grass. Start the 20 lbs. of charcoal on fire, all of them.Pound your stake in between the sheets of foil..The stake should below the top of the garbage can when the can is turned over.The objective is to have the turkey between the top of the garbage can and the ground.You are going to come up with some type of spacer.Large ball of foil or something .Now rinse your turkey off with water,and dry.At this point you can rub butter,oil ,spices on the outside of the bird. Slide the turkey on the stake.Invert the garbage can on top of Bird.Place coals on top and aroud can.Leave alone,2hr.-2 1/2 latter its done.Remove coals (HOT) enjoy!!!!!!!!

    1. Wow, that’s a new one on me–turkey cooked in an upside garbage can! That sounds awesome. Will definitely have to try that sometime.

    • Taylor on February 23, 2015 at 8:34 pm
    • Reply

    Several years ago I cooked a 10# turkey in my 14″ DO. The breast bone was against the lid (which I did not know at the time) and was charcoaled good. But It was easy enough to cut off not spoil any other portion of the turkey. What we really enjoyed about it was the white meat was juicy and easy to cut with a fork. I highly recommend this for Thanksgiving or other special meals. I had to use two settings of coals and it was below freezing and harder to cook completely otherwise.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.