If you’ve been following my insta stories, you might already know, we bought our first BBQ this year. With all the COVID & stay at home business, I really wanted to create our own patio hangout for the summer. Canada Day always feels like the official start of BBQ season, and we can’t wait to host a few friends* to celebrate the big day this year. If you are planning to BBQ for Canada Day, you have got to try grilling a whole turkey. I did it, and guess what? It wasn’t that hard, and it was delicious!
If you’ve been following my insta stories, you might already know, we bought our first BBQ this year. With all the COVID & stay at home business, I really wanted to create our own patio hangout for the summer. Canada Day always feels like the official start of BBQ season, and we can’t wait to host a few friends* to celebrate the big day this year. If you are planning to BBQ for Canada Day, you have got to try grilling a whole turkey. I did it, and guess what? It wasn’t that hard, and it was delicious!
*Quick reminder. If you are getting together with friends for Canada Day make sure you are following your provincial guidelines for gathering. (And eating lots of yummy food of course!)
For my BBQ turkey, all I used for seasoning was salt & pepper, butter, and a little masala BBQ sauce that I whipped up. This was actually the easiest turkey preparation I’ve done, and the best part is, by cooking an entire turkey I got enough meat for three meals. On the first day we ate the turkey meat fresh off the barbeque with simple store bought sides – potato salad, bread, and some fresh veggies. I divided the leftover meat into two portions. White meat pieces were saved for a quick turkey curry later in the week. Dark meat was diced up and frozen for a Manchurian fried rice. I’ll be sharing both of these recipes with you in the coming weeks, so if you decide to make this BBQ masala turkey for Canada Day weekend, make sure you save the leftovers! Bonus tip – save the bones too, and make a quick stock in your slow cooker and freeze it so you can make my turkey manchow soup later this summer.
I’m going to share my detailed recipe and grilling tips below, but I do want to take a minute to tell you guys how much I’m loving cooking with turkey in general lately. Back when I did my first post with Canadian Turkey, I really didn’t feel comfortable with the meat. We didn’t grow up eating it, I wasn’t sure how you are supposed to cook it. Also, not many Indian recipes were calling for turkey. The amazing thing about turkey though is that it’s a lean protein, it pairs well with so many different flavours, and it’s naturally low in sodium. We should definitely be including it in our desi recipes.
If you are new to using turkey, I have several different recipes on the site that show you how to use everything from ground turkey, leg meat, turkey breast, and even a whole turkey. Dollar for dollar, there is no better value in proteins than a whole turkey. For this post, I bought a 13 pound turkey for just under $40, and we carved it for a BBQ with friends (6 servings), and I was able to make two additional meals for my family from the same turkey. That’s 22 servings, at approximately $1.80 per serving. A total steal! Trust me, if you haven’t already, you need to try your hand at cooking a whole turkey, and with BBQ season in full swing, and Canada Day coming up this weekend, it’s the perfect time to try grilling one. There are lots of tips for BBQing a whole turkey on the Canadian Turkey site, and I’m sharing mine below.
BBQ a Whole Turkey – Tips and Tricks
- As with any whole turkey recipe, remember to thaw your turkey 2-3 days before depending on the weight of the turkey.
- I’m a huge believer that you need to brine a turkey before cooking it. Recently I’ve started using a dry brine with salt the day before I’m cooking the turkey. For me, this is what makes sure you don’t end up with a dry turkey. Learn more about brining on the Canadian Turkey website.
- Don’t forget to add some water, stock, or wine to the bottom of your roasting pan to create steam for cooking your turkey. That little bit of moisture makes all the difference!
- Store your leftovers safely. I like to pull some of the leftover meat and pop it in the freezer to use in quick curries.
- Pop all of the leftover bones with bits of meat from the turkey in your slow cooker with one chicken bouillon cube and ¼ cup of water. You don’t want to put too much water in the slow cooker because the turkey will release moisture also. Simmer on low heat for 6 hours. Strain the bones out, keep the meat and stock!
Masala BBQ Turkey
Description
A delicious and easy to make turkey that you cook on the BBQ. Perfect for grilling season.
Ingredients
1 cup of your favourite store bought BBQ sauce
¼ cup of powdered jaggery (shakkar) or brown sugar
1 tbs of garam masala powder
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
1 turkey 11-14 pounds
½ cup of melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Water (or white wine) as needed for steaming
Instructions
- Preheat your gas grill to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
- Place the turkey in a roasting pan breast side up. Slather the turkey with melted butter and season liberally with salt and pepper. (Make sure you season inside the cavity too)
- Add ½ a cup of water or wine to the bottom of the pan.
- Place the roasting pan on the BBQ grills and close the lid. After 30 minutes tent the turkey to prevent burning the skin.
- After the turkey has cooked for 45 minutes, begin basting with the masala BBQ sauce. Baste every 20-25 minutes while cooking.
- Cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thigh reaches a temperature of 170 degrees. (The Canadian Turkey site has a great cook time chart to help with timing)
- Let the turkey rest for 15 minutes. Carve and serve while still warm.
- Enjoy!