If you’re hosting a smaller Thanksgiving dinner, a Grilled Boneless Turkey Breast is a delicious option. It’s just the right size for dinner and leftovers.

Every year I roast at least a 20 pound turkey. We usually have around 14 people for dinner, so I want enough to feed everyone and, of course, I want to have enough for leftovers. This year, I got to thinking that not everyone has 14 people for dinner. Maybe you only have a few people for dinner or if you’re not hosting Thanksgiving, you may just want your own turkey leftovers.

Enter the grilled boneless turkey breast. Of course, you could roast a turkey breast in the oven, but slow cooking it on the grill gives it an amazing smoky flavor plus it turns out super juicy. We grilled our turkey on charcoal over indirect heat and it was absolutely out of this world.

To prep the turkey for the grill, we first rubbed it with olive oil and then rubbed in a spice mixture. We used traditional Thanksgiving spices including thyme, sage and rosemary, but you could mix it up and use whatever spices you like. Then the turkey spent about two hours on the grill cooking with indirect heat.

As I said, we used charcoal, so to keep the temperature steady, we had to add more charcoal periodically. If you’re grilling with gas, you’ll want to keep the temperature between 300-350 degrees and you’ll want to keep the burners under the turkey off.

Yield: 8-10

Grilled Boneless Turkey Breast

Name: Grilled Boneless Turkey Breast
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 50 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Continental
Ingredients: 1 (4 lb) boneless turkey breast; olive oil; dried sage; dried thyme; dried rosemary; garlic powder; salt; pepper

If you're hosting a smaller Thanksgiving dinner, a Grilled Boneless Turkey Breast is a delicious option. It's just the right size for dinner and leftovers.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

1 (4 lb) boneless turkey breast
olive oil
dried sage
dried thyme
dried rosemary
garlic powder
salt
pepper

Instructions

Coat turkey with about 1 tbsp olive oil.

Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp of each of the herbs and seasonings, rubbing in until the turkey is evenly coated.

Place a drip pan (preferable a disposable aluminum pan) in the bottom of your grill.

If using a gas grill, light the burners on one half of the grill and heat to 300-350 degrees.

If using a charcoal grill, place charcoal around the drip pan, light and heat until coals are glowing and about 300-350 degrees.

Once your grill is ready, place the prepared turkey over the drip pan, cover and grill, turning about every thirty minutes, until turkey reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees. It should take about 2 hours.

Cover turkey with foil and let rest for 20 minutes. It's temperature will continue to rise as it rests.

If you're grilling with charcoal, you'll need to add additional charcoal several times to keep the temperature constant.

Notes

The prep time includes time to heat the grill.

The additional time is the time that the turkey needs to rest before slicing.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 34Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 84mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 3g

ENJOY!

Alan

Wednesday 25th of November 2020

I am going to use this recipe, but I am brining the turkey first. I might also add just a little brown sugar. Since the turkey is brining overnight, I plan to rinse it, and may be hesitant to use much salt on the outside. I am going to grill over charcoal briquettes and some hickory wood blocks, with some soaked apple chips, for an accent. Anyone have thoughts or suggestions?

Joe

Tuesday 24th of November 2020

This sounds great, and we will be doing this for Thanksgiving this year. However, what cooking time adjustment should I make considering that we have a 2.5 lb. organic turkey breast? Your help would be much appreciated!

Lisa

Hi Joe,

I'm assuming your turkey breast is boneless? If it is, it will probably take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours to get to 160 degrees. I highly recommend using a meat thermometer to monitor the temperature. I hope this helps!

Suzanne Bennett

Saturday 13th of June 2020

I tried this recipe last November with a boneless turkey roast (it came already in the netting) and I cooked it on a three burner weber gas grill with the center burner turned off. It was wonderful! The only variation I made was spraying the turkey with Trader Joe's Olive Oil spray and I also ground the herbs and seasonings together since I grow my own and my dried herbs are in larger pieces. Yesterday I used the same process on a 6 lb bone-in turkey breast that was on special at my market. I put a meat rack over the drip pan directly on my grill grate. It cooked in about 90 minutes and was perfect. Thank you for a great recipe. We will have turkey more often now.

frb

Thursday 2nd of May 2019

IM going to try this in a gas grill.....you say the drip tray should go under the turkey...so I assume you do not put the turkey in the drip tray....so it just sits directly on the grill then right? With the tray underneath it? The tray does not block the heat?

Wayne

Wednesday 29th of November 2017

Where do you get the twine bag? I tied it with string, and it was not easy. But the turkey tasted truly great! But it would have been easier to handle with a twine bag.

Thursday 22nd of November 2018

Replying to myself ;-) i bought TSM meat netting bags on Amazon. Size 20 is t00 small, though. Need size 24 or 28.l

I'm so happy to hear the turkey tasted great! I got my turkey breast from the butcher and it came in the twine bag. I'm not sure where you would find a twine bag, I would recommend asking the butcher.