Make This Overlooked Grilled Meat 10x Better With This Saucy BBQ Treatment

The warmer months are prime time for grilling, and while hamburgers and hot dogs are classic grill staples, they aren't the only meats that taste delicious charred. You may be more accustomed to seeing turkey on your Thanksgiving table, but it's actually the perfect lean meat for the grill. It can be tough to cook right, as turkey requires a consistent grilling temperature for a juicy result — and a little barbecue sauce.

Turkey's mix of dark and light meat makes it difficult to cook evenly. Dryness may be a worry, as lean breast meat cooks faster than juicy dark meat from the thighs and legs. But that's where the barbecue sauce comes in — the sauce not only gives the turkey a delicious flavor, but it also helps add a glazed barrier, keeping the inside juicy. Some foods just taste better on the grill, and barbecue turkey could certainly join the list.

While it's probably how you usually cook your Thanksgiving bird in the oven, cooking a turkey whole is actually one of the worst ways to do it. Especially on the grill, it's best to either cook it in parts so you can move (and remove) pieces as they get done or spatchcock your bird. Spatchcocking a turkey involves removing the backbone so you can spread it out flat to allow for more even cooking and better heat control. If you really want to cook the turkey whole, cooking it over indirect heat will give you a better result because it acts more like an oven, though this will take longer. 

However you prep it, be sure to brine your turkey as usual first and brush the barbecue sauce on an hour in. It's important to baste the turkey with the sauce throughout the cooking process to keep it moist, and your turkey should be done in around three hours, or whenever the internal temperature reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You can smear some more barbecue sauce on at the end to moisten the meat even more. The final result will be a juicy turkey with the perfect smoked BBQ flavor. If you've ever been hesitant to grill your turkey, a great barbecue sauce is the way to start.