There are plenty of ways to do Turkey, but one of my favorite ways to do Turkey is “Beer Can” style on the Big Green Egg. It cooks lickety-split and yields moist, super juicy results. No more dried out Turkey again!
These are the ingredients that are going on or inside the turkey!
I love my Flame Boss!
Coating the turkey with the citrus herb compound butter.
Stuffing the cavity with orange slices to give it a citrusy taste!
When cooking poultry internal temperature is VERY important – I recommend using a Thermapen to check internal temperatures.
Big Green Egg Beer Can Turkey
Description
This was so quick and easy it took me less than two and a half hours for a 12 pound bird!
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized turkey
- 2 sticks of butter
- A large bunch of herbs including rosemary thyme and sage
- 2 tablespoons of sea salt
- 2 tablespoons of fresh ground pepper
- 2 oranges for stuffing the cavity and for zest in the compound butter
- 1 can of beer
Equipment you’ll need
- a smoker controller or a meat thermometer
- a foil pan to place the turkey on to catch drippings
- a plate setter
- an immersion blender
Instructions
COMPOUND BUTTER
Put the sticks of butter into a bowl and add grated orange zest and herbs. Use an immersion blender to combine ingredients to make a compound butter.
Take your compound butter and rub it underneath the skin and really get into every nook and cranny that you can. This will infuse the bird with all that herbiness and citrus flavor from this butter and it’s really just gonna keep everything moist so it doesn’t dry out.
Get the butter everywhere and then we’re gonna throw it on our on our sittin’ turkey.
BEER
You can’t have beer can turkey without beer! I’m using a seasonal pumpkin spice beer which is great if you’re if you’re doing this recipe around Thanksgiving. You can use whatever you like because you’ll have the rest of it to drink while you’re cooking the turkey!
Then you’re gonna pour this into your sittin’ turkey. The beer is what’s going to keep your turkey really moist. Really, what we’re doing is steaming this turkey with beer.
TEMPERATURE
I’m using this really cool tool called the Flame Boss. It’s going to control the temperature of my smoker so I can go and do other stuff while my turkey’s on. It’s also gonna let me know when my turkey’s reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. Essentially, it’s like putting my smoker on cruise control so I can go do my side dishes and other stuff while this bird’s a-cooking.
Notes
A good rule of thumb is two hours per 5 pounds
**Affiliate links have been used in this post
Did you enjoy this video about making Beer Can Turkey on the Big Green Egg?
Check out this post about How to Grill the Perfect Steak using the Reverse Sear method!!
We did this method for our Thanksgiving turkey last year and believe you me, we will be doing it this year and many years to come!!! As new Green Egg owners, my husband and I were “green”, no pun intended. We followed the recipe to the letter, and it turned out to be AMAZING!! Everyone loved it!! We ordered and used the Sittin Turkey vessel, it was perfect!! We used a Sam Adams darker style beer ( can’t remember which one). Our family arrived after 4 hours on the egg, we took it off, let react for a little bit, and then my DAD…the traditional carver could not believe how wonderfully juicy and tender the turkey was to slice!!! We are probably going to smoke a turkey breast for leftover sandwiches, etc. Great recipe, girl!! And I love the fact we don’t have to brine the bird ahead of time…..we loved it, thank you so much for sharing this with us!!
Robyn, I’m torn between a “beer can” bird and spatchcocked. I just might do both!
But I will be using a simple herb butter rub like yours. Thanks for the inspiration.
Brian, I hope you are feeling better- happy to hear you are feeling well enough to grill again!! 🙂
Did you cook the beer can Turkey at 350 for the 2 in a half hours
Yes, make sure to monitor the internal temp of the meat- that is how you know when it will be done.
I can’t believe that the bird was moist without a brine or injecting. I am definitely going to definitely try this. It would make cooking much simpler, I could even enjoy the leftover beer.
Incredibly moist without brining! Amazing!