Grilled Honey Dijon Turkey Breast

So when I discovered this recipe for grilled honey Dijon turkey breast, I was pumped. I love the honey mustard combination. Not only is turkey one of my absolute favorite meats, this recipe doesn't take as long as cooking a whole bird and the brine keeps the turkey juicy throughout the grilling process. The turkey daily value of vitamins and nutrition facts are great, compared to other turkey recipes this one is pretty simple yet delicious, much more so than your average chicken recipes.

You don't have to wait for Thanksgiving to enjoy this turkey either - it's perfect for summer barbeques, picnics, or even making ahead to bring to lunch. This recipe is quite easy to follow and, after doing the brine in advance, is ready to cook up super quickly.

This honey Dijon turkey breast calls for two important steps to add flavor: the brine and the glaze. You might ask yourself, "Why bother brining the bird beforehand?". The brine is important to help enhance the flavor of the turkey and also helps tenderize it. The glaze will be brushed or basted on during cooking to get a nice caramelized outer texture.

By utilizing both of these steps, you'll be ensuring that there's flavor on and throughout the turkey. Another nice thing? You'll most likely have all of the things you'll need for this recipe in your pantry. On the blog we’ve already covered the topic of preparing turkey, but today we’ll focus on something more interesting and fun both for cooking and eating!

For this recipe, you'll need the following ingredients:

Ingredients For the Turkey Brine

note: White table sugar is fine for the brine, but using brown sugar will add a deeper, more caramelized taste to the turkey. Any type of sugar will actually do (i.e. honey, molasses, maple syrup), but I personally like using brown sugar for this recipe as it complements the Dijon mustard in the glaze without overpowering the taste of the honey.

Honey Dijon Glaze Ingredients

* note: The chipotle chile adds a smoky sweet tang to the glaze, but if chipotle isn't your thing, you can subsitute the chipotle chile for 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tbsp tomato paste, and a pinch of salt, or add garlic powder​.

Turkey Brine Recipe

1) Preparing the brine

​Combine the kosher salt, brown sugar, black pepper, ginger, and cinnamon with one cup of cold water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and add in the other 3 cups of water. Take off heat and let cool. Make sure the whole thing is mixed thoroughly so that the salt and sugar is fully dissolved.

2) Rest for a few hours

Place the turkey, minced garlic, and brine in a resealable container or bag and allow the turkey to rest for up to 24 hours in the fridge before grilling. Be sure to allow a resting period of at least 2 hours before cooking.

3) Grill the turkey

Remove turkey from the fridge and discard​ brine. Pat dry the turkey and brush it all over with the glaze, then place turkey on the grill and cook for 25-30 minutes, turning it over only once.

Pro tip: Take the turkey out of the brine 20 minutes before you throw it on the grill; bringing the meat to room temperature right before you cook it allows for more even heat distribution.

4) Glazing the turkey

Baste the turkey with the honey Dijon glaze throughout the cooking process with a brush. Be sure to baste both sides, allowing the basted layer to caramelize a little before adding another layer of glaze.

Pro tip: if using a charcoal grill, keep the turkey off of direct heat or the glaze will burn.

5) Let it rest. When done, remove the turkey from heat and let rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

Note: Internal temperature should be between 165-175 F when done.

Pro tip: letting the turkey rest before slicing helps retain the juices of the meat, making the turkey stay nice and moist

Pro tip: you can make a large batch of this turkey by adding more breasts to the brine and multiplying the glaze ingredients by the number of additional turkey breasts you use.

If you want something easier for your first try with turkey, check out this video tutorial on how to cook Easy Grilled Turkey: