You Guys, this Famous Sanpete County Barbecue Turkey and Chicken Marinade is basically my family’s lifeblood. I seriously can’t think of one summer get-together or reunion where this delicious barbecued turkey wasn’t served. Check out these 25 Summer Recipes You’ll Love to serve with the barbecued turkey or chicken.
I come from a long line of people who love to eat. So the fact that this is prepared so frequently among us should give you a pretty good indication of how ridiculously AWESOME it is.
More Turkey & Chicken Recipes
- Sheet Pan Fajitas
- Sun-dried Tomato Turkey Meatballs
- Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets
- Pesto Parmesan Chicken
- Simple “How to” Tips for Cooking a Turkey
- Turkey Zucchini Porcupine Meatballs
So, yes, it is famous among our extended family, but it is also famous because it is served to thousands of people every summer during the Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant that is held in Manti, Utah, (Sanpete County) every June.
Manti is a small town. In an effort to fundraise and feed all the people who flood the small city every summer, church groups from the area prepare this delicious marinade to make the turkey breast extra moist and flavorful.
They use turkey meat because Sanpete County is home to a GIANT Turkey Processing Plant, and they can get the meat for a very good price.
how to make famous Sanpete county barbecue turkey and chicken marinade
- Mix all ingredients together.
- Cut large turkey breast in thirds or chicken breasts in half. Place the pieces in a large bowl with a tight-fitting lid or Ziploc bags.
- Add marinade to prepared meat and refrigerate for at least 12 but, preferably, 24 hours.
- Stir or flip once or twice if possible during marinating time.
- Using an outdoor grill, grill meat until cooked through.
- Enjoy!
Luckily, the marinade also tastes great on chicken, and out here where I live, boneless turkey breast can be really expensive. Chicken is a much more affordable option and still delicious.
My parents live close enough to the turkey processing plant that they buy turkey breast by 10 or 20 lb blocks. Just this past month when we were in Utah, they marinated and barbecued about 20 lbs worth of turkey breast. My dad and my brother, Matt, have the grilling down to a perfected science. There were 40 of us home at that time, and let’s just say it didn’t last very long. It is sooooo good.
This marinade is also awesome made gluten-free. In place of the soy sauce, use liquid aminos so it’s gluten-free. We have a few people in our family that cannot have gluten, and this is a great thing to make when feeding them.
My mom, who I consider an expert in marinating turkey, saves and uses empty 5-qt ice cream buckets to marinate the meat in. They have a tight-fitting lid and are much easier to get the meat out of than a Ziploc bag.
If there was one thing I could personally force you to make for your family or guests this summer, this is it–barbecued turkey or chicken breasts marinated in this simple awesome marinade. Grilled. Summer. Perfection.
Tips for making Famous Sanpete County Barbecue Turkey and Chicken Marinade
- My mom likes to marinate the meat in an empty 5-quart ice cream bucket. A large bowl with a tight-fitting lid works well, too, or dividing it up into Ziploc bags works, too. It is just easier to get the meat out of a bowl or bucket when grilling than out of a tipsy bag.
- Chicken tenders also work well for this recipe.
- Marinate the meat for at least 12 but, preferably, 24 hours.
- We usually serve it with baked potatoes, green beans or corn on the cob, rolls, and jello salad.
Perfect side dishes
- 2 cups Sprite
- ⅔ cup soy sauce
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 tbsp horseradish, bottled or finely grated
- 1½ tsp garlic powder
- This is enough marinade for 5-10 lbs of meat.
- Mix all ingredients together.
- Cut large turkey breasts in thirds or chicken breasts in half. Place the pieces in a large bowl with a tight-fitting lid or Ziploc bags.
- Add marinade to prepared meat and refrigerate for at least 12 but, preferably, 24 hours. Stir or flip once or twice if possible during marinating time.
- Using an outdoor grill, grill meat until cooked through.
- We usually serve it with baked potatoes, green beans or corn on the cob, rolls, and jello salad.
Don't forget Dessert
What!? You were in Sanpete and didn’t come visit us? 🙁 We’ve lived here 2 years now and still haven’t tried the bbq turkey. I guess we’d better now! 😉
We actually weren’t in Sanpete this year, but if we ever are I will definitely drop in to say hi! Miss you guys.
How does this work on beef steaks?
Hi Joan, I haven’t ever tried it with Beef Steaks.
Really good with beef steaks. We don’t use the spices, just the marinade
Yum!
So do you use this marinade for the large boneless norbest turkey loaf? I don’t know what else to call it but it’s about 12lbs of where and dark boneless turkey meat?
No, I use pieces of turkey breast. If you can’t find turkey breast, you can use chicken.
Soy sauce has gluten.
Yes, if you need it to be gluten free you will need to use amino acids which have a similar flavor, In my experience you need less of the amino acids, about 2/3 of what you would use of soy sauce.
What is amino acids?
It is something that can be used in place of soy sauce that is gluten free.
I have found that Kroger brand Chinese Inspirations does not have Gluten or Wheat.
We tried this the other day and my family loved it! I’ve been to the Manti pageant (a very LONG time ago) but never knew this barbecued turkey was “a thing”. I made it with chicken and it truly was delicious…thanks for sharing!! Hope your summer has been fun 🙂
Yay! I am so glad you liked it! If you ever make it back to the pageant you’ll have to get some of the real deal. 🙂
FYI- Unfortunately, soy sauce does contain wheat and gluten.
Thanks for the recipe. I made it with chicken thighs and legs. It tastes great.
Awesome! I’ll have to try that sometime.
I’ve made it with steak, just used Dr pepper instead of Sprite. It was awesome!!
Yum!
I am going to try it with some rabbits the teachers quorum butchered this week… I’ll let you know how it goes! To be continued…
Yes, let me know. 🙂
I was raised in Sanpete and Sanpete BBQ Turkey and it is awesome. But it is NOT Gluten Free as stated. Soy has Gluten.
Hi Yori, sorry, I should have stated that to make it gluten free you would need to use amino acids, or a gluten free soy sauce in place of regular soy sauce. Thanks for reminding me, I will update that to the post.
Thank you for the recipe~!
I’m from Emery County and lost my recipe a few years ago when I moved to Monroe. I was just in Gunnison and seen some turkey steaks at Gunnison Market, so tomorrow we’re having something we haven’t had forever.
Thanks for posting this recipe – I needed a reprint and I appreciate you!
Jen~
Yum! I wish I lived where I could find Turkey steaks! So happy for you, and ……a little jealous! 🙂
Maria, have you ever tried Maddox online? They are southnof Brigham city, in Perry, Utah, along Hwy 89. When I’m close because I live in Sandy in the Salt Lake Valley I stop in at Maddox and buy two boxes of 6, of their turkey burger steaks.
Ron (“in (Sandy)) a Utah”)
I love there Turkey Burger Steaks. When I lived in Logan I would get them at Sams Club. We haven’t lived in Utah since 2007 so I really miss them.
I bought a frozen 5 pound Norbest turkey breast. So I cut it into individual servings before marinating?
Genius!!!!
Im sure going to try this recipe for x mas sounds so good
Hope you liked it!
can this be baked if one does not have a bar b que??
The flavor is really enhanced when barbequed. I’ve pan fried it but never baked it and it was okay pan fried but not the same as grilled.
#augustgiveaway
If I don’t have horseradish, what would I substitute? TIA
Hi Barbara,
Unfortunately there isn’t a good substitute for horseradish. You could try a little spicy mustard or a little fresh grated ginger, but the flavor will not be quite the same.
Thank you for posting this recipe! We listened to an old talk by John Bytheway about a marinade and he starts off by talking about this very recipe. So we looked it up and found this post. Thank you! We’re excited to try it.
Who would have thought listening to a talk by John Bytheway would connect you to Real Life Dinner? I hope you liked it.