Deep Fried Turkey Without Oil

Do you know the difference between youth and maturity? It’s how you feel about Thanksgiving. As a child, Thanksgiving was the worst. It was that bastardized holiday between Halloween and Christmas. You had to get dressed up, but not in fun costumes. Instead, itchy sweaters, shirts with collars and uncomfortable shoes. And nobody gave you any candy or presents. No, it was just a big meal with dry turkey. Sure, there’s lots of desserts, but for the most part they consist of pumpkin or pecan pies. The first is a funny orange color and how can a nut be made into a pie?

As an adult, I LOVE it! I don’t have to shell out a bunch of money on costumes, candy, or presents. I don’t mind getting dressed up. In fact, I sort of like it. There’s not just two football games anymore, now there are three! Did I mention that the food and wine are outstanding? So is the funny colored orange pie. And the turkey is no longer dry particularly if I’m making it.  We haven’t done a turkey in the oven in close to two decades. We always make one outside on Thanksgiving. We’ve grilled the turkey, deep fried the turkey and now we do a little bit of both. We use this ingenious little device from Char-Broil to do deep fried turkey without all the pesky oil, potential deck fires and third degree burns. Also, not only is this low fat compared to a deep fried turkey, it’s also naturally low carb. Just do your best to avoid the mashed potatoes, yams, and wine!

Here’s my spatchcocked turkey done on a pellet grill (which can easily be done on a charcoal or gas grill). 

Here is one of many possible infrared, oilless turkey fryers:

Expert Tip ~ There is one rule though. No sugar. No sugar in a brine or marinade and no sugar in a rub. See, this thing cooks so hot, which simulates deep frying it, that it will blacken any sugar used in preparing the turkey. 

Deep Fried Turkey Without Oil Ingredients:

• 13 lb turkey
• Coarse salt
• Favorite sugar free rub
• A little vegetable oil (OK, it’s not entirely oil free!?!)

Properly thaw the turkey according to the directions on the packaging. Coat the back with coarse salt and then hit it with the rub:

Then place the turkey in the Big Easy basket, breasts facing up:

The reason I don’t do both sides before putting it in the basket is that the rub will stick to the cutting board when I roll it over to coat the other side. The basket keeps the turkey elevated from the cutting board.

Now lay the basket on its side:

And coat the front of the bird with salt and the rub. And now the turkey is ready for the Big Easy:

Fire up the Char-Broil Big Easy to high and place the turkey in the unit:

To help crisp up the skin, put the mesh lid on top to help deflect the heat back down:

Man cannot live by turkey alone, so while the bird is doing its thing, time to check out what’s happening in the kitchen. Looks like we’ll be having some pies tonight:

After about 30 minutes in the Big Easy, I drizzled some vegetable oil over the bird which will further help to crisp up the skin. You can see a little of the oil near the neck:

The reason I waited to coat it with the oil is that I wanted the rub to adhere to the skin before I poured oil on the turkey. If I poured the oil on right away, it would’ve washed the rub off.

How long to you cook the soon to be Thanksgiving turkey? Easy, 10 minutes per pound. Here we have the turkey at about 90 minutes:

Back inside, the pies are done. I can’t flippin’ wait!

A little over 2 hours, the turkey is at 160 degrees internal temperature and ready to come out of the Big Easy at which point I let it rest for about 30 minutes to let the juices redistribute throughout the bird and the internal temp to come up to the 165 needed to be safe to eat:

But how did it come out? Let’s check that breast:

If you have any questions about this deep fried turkey without oil, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

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Print Recipe

4.34 from 6 votes

Deep Fried Turkey Without Oil

Step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to deep fry a turkey without oil in the Char-Broil Big Easy, infrared grill.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course: Thanksgiving Turkey

Cuisine: BBQ

Servings: 10 -12

Ingredients

• 13 lb turkey
• coarse salt
• sugar free rub
• A little vegetable oil

Instructions

• Thaw the turkey safely according to the packaging
• Coat the back with coarse salt and the rub
• Place the turkey in the basket, breast side up
• Lay the basket on its side and coat the breasts with salt and the rub
• Start the Big Easy, set to high and place the turkey in the basket in the unit, covering with the mesh lid
• After 30 minutes, drizzle vegetable oil over the breasts
• Grill for 10 minutes per pound
• Remove from the Big Easy and allow to rest for 30 minutes to let the juices redistribute
• Slice and serve

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

See Full Bio

BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: November 10, 2013