Grilled Butterflied Turkey Legs

5 from 1 vote

Grilled butterflied turkey legs with lemon butter sauce – crispy, buttery, handheld meat on a stick. Who doesn't love that?

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Total Time50

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Butterfly Legs: Place the leg flat on the cutting board with the knuckle facing up. Run a boning knife along each side of the bone and press the meat down. Don't cut all the way through.
Remove Tendons: Feel around the meat looking for the hard tendons. Pull them out with your fingers and the knife. There will be several in each leg. Discard the tendons.
Season: Sprinkle the salt, lemon pepper and smoked paprika on both sides of the legs. Let them rest at room temperature while you heat the grill.
Heat the Grill: Whether you're using a gas, pellet or charcoal grill, heat it to 400F degrees with a direct heat zone.
Grill: Spray the turkey legs with cooking spray and place them on the grill skin side down. Flip them every 5 minutes for 35 minutes.
Make Sauce: While the legs are cooking, place a saucepot on the grill. Add the butter, juice and zest from half a lemon and the garlic. Let that melt together.
Baste: After the legs have been cooking for 20 minutes, baste them with the lemon butter and continue cooking for 15 minutes, basting every 5 minutes as you flip them.
Rest: Once the turkey legs reach an internal temperature of 170-175F degrees, remove them from the grill and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Removing the tendons is an important step to ensure the meat bites right through.

Feel free to mix up the seasonings. You can use 3 teaspoons of any type of rub.

Instead of lemon butter, you can also baste the turkey legs with barbecue sauce or a Korean Sticky BBQ glaze.