You guys this Famous Sanpete County Barbecue Turkey and Chicken Marinade is basically my family’s life blood.
I seriously can’t think of one summer get together or reunion where this delicious barbecued turkey wasn’t served.
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.
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 and church groups, in an effort to fund-raise and feed all the people who flood the small city every summer, prepare this delicious marinade to make the turkey breast extra moist and flavorful.
The reason they use turkey is because Sanpete County is home to a GIANT Turkey Processing Plant and they can get the meat for a very good price.
Luckily the marinade also taste great on chicken because out here where I live, boneless turkey breast can be really expensive. Chicken is a much more affordable and still delicious option.
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. There were 40 of us home and lets just say it didn’t last very long. It is sooooo good.
This marinade is also awesome because it is gluten free. We have a few people in our family that can not have gluten and this is a great thing to make when feeding them.
My mom, who I consider and expert in marinating turkey, saves and uses 5qt ice cream buckets to marinate the meat in. They have a tight fitting lid and are much easier to get 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 Breast marinated in this simple awesome marinade. Grilled.Summer.Perfection.
My dad and brother Matt have the grilling down to a perfected science.
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 ( my mom likes to do this in a 5 quart ice cream bucket) a large bowl with a tight fitting lid works well too or dividing it up into Ziploc bags works well too, it is just easier to get the meat out of a bowl or bucket when grilling then out of a tipsy bag.
- Cut large turkey breast in thirds or Chicken breasts in half. Chicken tenders also work well
- Add prepared meat to marinade 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 with baked potatoes, green beans or corn on the cob, rolls and jello salad.
Alberta
July 26, 2016 at 6:35 pmWhat!? 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! 😉
Maria
August 1, 2016 at 3:48 pmWe actually weren’t in Sanpete this year, but if we ever are I will definitely drop in to say hi! Miss you guys.
Joan
April 9, 2018 at 11:44 pmHow does this work on beef steaks?
Maria
April 18, 2018 at 7:37 pmHi Joan, I haven’t ever tried it with Beef Steaks.
Bonny Dansie
September 30, 2018 at 2:40 amReally good with beef steaks. We don’t use the spices, just the marinade
Maria
October 17, 2018 at 3:01 pmYum!
Jileen
August 13, 2016 at 7:27 pmWe 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 🙂
Maria
August 19, 2016 at 4:28 pmYay! 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. 🙂
Theresa
April 13, 2017 at 9:22 pmThanks for the recipe. I made it with chicken thighs and legs. It tastes great.
Maria
May 2, 2017 at 6:03 pmAwesome! I’ll have to try that sometime.
SherRee
July 5, 2018 at 9:18 pmI’ve made it with steak, just used Dr pepper instead of Sprite. It was awesome!!
Maria
September 6, 2018 at 8:07 pmYum!
Gringindio
August 29, 2018 at 10:22 amI 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…
Maria
September 6, 2018 at 2:54 pmYes, let me know. 🙂
Yori Ludvigson
September 14, 2018 at 2:18 pmI was raised in Sanpete and Sanpete BBQ Turkey and it is awesome. But it is NOT Gluten Free as stated. Soy has Gluten.
Maria
September 17, 2018 at 2:18 pmHi 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.
Jen
September 15, 2018 at 3:41 pmThank 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~
Maria
September 17, 2018 at 2:17 pmYum! I wish I lived where I could find Turkey steaks! So happy for you, and ……a little jealous! 🙂
Gail LaFrentz
September 17, 2018 at 11:27 pmI bought a frozen 5 pound Norbest turkey breast. So I cut it into individual servings before marinating?
Maria
September 25, 2018 at 1:07 pmGenius!!!!
Danny
December 17, 2018 at 5:13 pmIm sure going to try this recipe for x mas sounds so good
Maria
February 28, 2019 at 10:53 pmHope you liked it!