Description
Rotisserie turkey with a straightforward dry brine. This is my go-to turkey recipe every Thanksgiving.
Ingredients
Scale
- 12-to–14-pound turkey
Basic Dry Brine
- 11/2 ounces kosher salt - 1/4 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 3 tablespoons Morton’s kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Dry-brine the turkey: One to 3 days before it is time to cook, mix the salt, sugar, and pepper in a small bowl. Gently work your fingers between the skin and the breast, then rub some of the brine directly onto the breast meat. Sprinkle and rub the rest of the dry brine evenly over the turkey. Make sure to season the neck and back cavity of the turkey, too. Put the turkey on a rack over a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. If you are dry brining for only 24 hours, skip the plastic wrap. Refrigerate. Remove the plastic wrap the night before cooking to allow the skin to dry.
- Truss and spit the turkey: One hour before cooking, remove the turkey from the refrigerator. Fold the wingtips underneath the bird, then truss the turkey. Skewer the turkey on the rotisserie spit, securing it with the spit forks. To keep the breast meat cool, set the bag of ice on the turkey’s breast, arranging it so the ice does not touch the thighs or drumsticks. Let the turkey rest at room temperature until it is time to cook.
- Set up the grill: Set up the grill for indirect medium heat (325° to 350°F), with the drip pan in the middle of the grill and the heat concentrated on the drumstick side of the grill. If you are cooking with charcoal, pour the charcoal in a “U” shape on one side of the grill, and put the drip pan in the center of the “U”. If you are cooking with gas, shift the indirect heat to one side of the grill by lighting more burners on the drumstick side. (If possible - if you have a three burner grill, that may not be possible, so just go with indirect heat. On my 6 burner Weber Summit I turn on burner 6 and the smoker burner to shift the heat to one side.) Add the smoking wood to the fire. If you have an infrared rotisserie burner, use it for the first 30 minutes to an hour to start the turkey browning, then turn it off and let the burners in the body of the grill finish cooking.
- Rotisserie the turkey: Discard the bag of ice. Put the spit on the grill with the drumsticks pointed toward the heat. Start the rotisserie spinning, and make sure the drip pan is centered under the turkey. Close the lid. If you are using a charcoal grill, add 16 unlit briquettes every hour to keep the heat going. Cook until the turkey reaches 160°F in the thickest part of the breast, about 2 1/2 hours.
- Carve and serve: Remove the turkey from the grill, remove the spit from the turkey, and cut the trussing string loose. Let the turkey rest for 15 to 30 minutes before carving. Arrange the carved turkey on a platter and serve.
Notes
(For trussing details, see my video: How to Truss and Spit a Turkey for the Rotisserie.)
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Category: Rotisserie
- Cuisine: American