Charcoal Roasted Turkey

Celebrate the season with this Charcoal Roasted Turkey, a centerpiece fit for any fall or holiday feast. Roasted to golden perfection on the PRO605, it’s tender, flavorful, and pairs beautifully with all your favorite sides—or a touch of smoky sweetness from apple, maple, or cherry wood.

January 31, 2024

Recipe by: Andrea Aldenvia via Napoleon

With the holiday season upon us, it’s time to think about fantastic family dinners. This Charcoal Roasted Turkey on the PRO605 Charcoal Professional BBQ is ideal for anything from a small Sunday dinner to Thanksgiving and even Christmas dinner. Serve this meal with your favourite fixings like mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and cranberry sauce. If you’re feeling adventurous, add some wood chunks to the charcoal and smoke the turkey. Try sweet woods like apple, maple, or cherry, or you can get bold with brandy oak, mesquite, or whiskey barrel.

Instructions

Step 1

Light a ½ load of charcoal and fill two of the charcoal trays in the PRO605 Professional Charcoal Grill with charcoal. Add a bit of the lit charcoal from the chimney to each. While you’re still in the grill, add a drip pan to the center charcoal basket, filled with stock and the turkey neck, giblets, two cloves of garlic and an onion, quartered. This grill will get nice and hot – around 450°FF to 500°F. If using a gas grill, preheat the rear rotisserie burner, or the two outside bottom burners and allow the grill to heat.

Step 2

While the grill is warming, zest the orange and then slice it into quarters. Combine the orange zest, salt, pepper, and thyme. Stuff the turkey with the quartered orange and crushed garlic. Thoroughly season the outside on all sides with the salt mixture.

Step 3

Place the well-seasoned turkey onto the hot charcoal barbecue over the drip pan and allow to cook at high heat until nice and golden on all sides. This can take up to 45 minutes.

Step 4

Now comes the challenging part – the waiting. Close the vents nearly all the way and rake the coals to help lower the temperature to around 325°F to 350°F. Insert the probes of a meat thermometer into the turkey thigh area being careful not to touch bone. Try Napoleon’s Digital Wireless Bluetooth BBQ Thermometer. Cook the turkey for about 10 to 15 minutes per pound, around 2 hours, until an instant-read barbecue thermometer reads 165°F in the thigh area.

Step 5

While the turkey is roasting, baste it every 15 minutes, starting at the one-hour mark, with the ¼ cup of melted butter.

Step 6

When the turkey has reached the ideal temperature, remove it from the grill and rest under foil and some towels for at least 30 minutes or until ready to carve.

Step 7

To make the best gravy ever, while your turkey is resting, separate the turkey fat from the drippings and any remaining butter from basting. Add them to a saucepan over low heat, whisk in an equal amount of flour. Allow the flour to cook off for a minute or two, it will darken in color a little. Slowly whisk in turkey stock, turkey drippings, and/or any water from cooking vegetables into the flour mixture until you have the perfect thick texture. If the gravy is too thin, simmer until thickened, too thick, add more stock.

Pro Tip:

If you totally mess up and the gravy is too thin, take about 1 tbsp. of the gravy liquid and add 1 tbsp. of corn starch. Whisk that together until smooth and slowly add that back into the main gravy while whisking. Allow it to simmer a few minutes and it should thicken nicely.