How to cook turkey legs/thighs?
Turkey
How do folks eat these parts?
The breasts are nice and easy. I always struggle with this legs and thighs...
It's a little bit of work (primarily removing the tendons and silver lining), but it's always been well worth it for me.
Here is an easy way, tender and tastes great.
Put all is a slow cooker, spice with whatever you want, add a can of cream of chicken soup and half a can of water. Put on low, 8 hours later if all falls off the bone and its nice and tender. Serve over rice or noodles and you have a great meal.
You really can't go wrong with this.
BC
The legs and thighs are my favorite part. If you throw them out, you're wasting 3+ pounds of meat on a mature Tom. Just slow cook them any way you like at about 200-220 degrees. As Bow Crazy mentions, at least 6-8 hours. Then strip the meat away from the bones and tendons. IMO the dark meat has better flavor and is less dry than the breast meat.
"Slow and low that is the tempo..."
Slow cooking is key.
Also heavy up on the spices as wild turkey tends to be bland.
The legs and thighs are terrible. Like chewin' on bungee cord.
Like BC and Sage Buff said...Cook 'em slow and it'll break them down. I either do the crock pot thing or boil 'em down for soup...
Yep, crock pot 'em all day. I cook them in canned chicken broth and seasoning of my choice. Take out the parts when the meat falls off the bone and separate the meat from the bones and tendons. Strain the broth if you want, then cook a pile of noodles in it. Thicken with some corn starch and return the meat to the noodles and sauce.
Same as Midwest - use the crock pot and cook them all day. I mix 1/3 coffee with 1/3 vinegar and 1/3 water to cover the meat. Cook till it falls off the bone. I shred the meat and mix with what grilling sause we have around and make "pulled turkey" sandwiches.
Gaffer and I use the exact same approach. I just made some yesterday....yum.
Mix with coffee? Explain the reason for this please. Sounds interesting and I've never heard of that before.
Simmer them in 10-12 c. of water for 2 or 3 hours,debone and save the broth. Add to broth chicken bullion,celery,carrots,onion,and a 24 oz. bag of Reames frozen noodles and simmer til tender.Add chopped dark meat and two cans of cream o'chicken soup.I also add parsley,dried thyme,pepper and BAM!!
I hope I never get hungry enough to have to eat a turkey leg.
I reckon an old tire would be easier to eat.
preheat the oven 400 degrees then put the wild turkey legs, and a old leather boot, in an aluinum pan that holds the juices, cook it for 60 min. take it out of the oven throw away the turkey legs and eat the boot.
Throw away the turkey legs and eat the boot, now that is funny! Really, try in the crock pot and you won't regret it.
I've cooked in a crock pot on low with just water in it to cover. After the meat is ready, pull off the bone, chop up and in another pot on the stove add your favorite BBQ sauce. Simmer for a while and serve over buns. Tender and tasty!
BC
I use mine to make stock. Not enough fat to have to skin much, much richer flavor than chicken. After you are happy with color and flavor, I pull out legs/thighs, strip meat from bones/tendons and then use to add back for soup. Can freeze many pints of stock from a pair of turkey legs supplemented with a few goose legs for color.
Sounds like some are wasting some good meat.
My favorite....slow roast like you would any turkey.
When done...strip meat away from bones and tendons. (easy when hot)
Let cool...chop meat in food processor...mix in mayo, chopped onions, relish or whatever you like.
It makes a wonderful sandwich spread.
I use a pressure cooker on legs and thighs. Same principal as slow cooking. The meat falls right off the bones and tendons.
I've done the same as hawg with the slow cooked meat as well. Makes great sandwich spread.
Pressure cook all the bony pieces, ie. Legs, thighs,wings and back.remove the bones. Use the meat and broth to make turkey dressing. This has been Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at our house for years. Of course you may need to be from the south to know about cornbread dressing.
I throw them over the hill with the rest of the carcus. In my opinion you might as well eat the beak too. Breast only for me.
Put flour in a brown paper bag and add some salt and pepper. Throw in the leg/thighs and shake up. Heat a pan with a little olive oil and lightly brown the leg/thighs. Take out and put in a slow cooker with chicken stock, wine, seasoning and veggies. Slowly cook until meat is tender. This may take MANY hours! The original veggies will be too soft but smash them up or put into a blended and put back into the stock. Now add new veggies and once they are tender serve meat and veggies over rice. My triplet girls and wife love it. It's great with pheasant leg/thighs too. Here is a picture of one of the birds I got last week!
crock pot 'em with a can of beer, 4-6 hours, remove bones and splints, add a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a dash of A-1 sauce, stir, cook another hour, serve over wild rice...yum!
I have to try the slow method -- I hate wasting them (though I always kept jake legs). But here's spomething I did last year that was great -- cut out the silver skin and grind em with a tough of bacon -- saweeeeeet turkey burger right there
Pressure cooker comes right off and makes great turkey salad and gumbo
I agree with High Country
I agree with others about the flavor of thighs/legs, they are excellent. When you breast out a bird your throwing away ALOT of meat, not something I'll EVER do. I slow roast as other do, let it cool, then pull off the tendons and small bones. seems like they strip off better when cooled down. Then I cut the pieces up into 1/2" cubes and mix with Cream of Chicken soup, eat over potatoes/rice or in a bun as a sandwich. My kids absolutely love it, as my wife and I do.
Low and slow, add some cream gravy and veggies...turkey pot pie. Yum!
I grind them into Burger or make sausage.
cook with a rock. when finished cooking, thow away and eat the rock. garnish the rock with an old tire.
I got the coffee idea from this sight a couple of years ago. I added vinegar as I feel it helps make the mix into a marinade. Add what ever other spices you want. Tender stuff.
Crock pot. Meat will be falling off the bone and tender!
Bump.
Any new ideas? I have a freezer full of legs and things. I need to work them off before this spring...
I use a large can of Cream of Mushroom soup, add just a little water, then season to taste, and then what every one else stated about Crock Pot and slow cooking.
Best meat on the turkey.
my best, Paul
Actually , I just took out of the freezer, two turkey legs/thighs plus two pheasants, and will cook down to make soup.
I may have posted using coffee a couple years ago. I gave a roommate a cook book of recipes written by the MN DNR 20 years ago. There was a recipe to use coffee as marinade for goose and I posted it here as a broth for turkey as well, especially the darker leg meat. Coffee is acidic, which is what you want to break down the proteins in the meat. I like using dark roasts, since that's what I drink and it gives the meat a more smoky robust taste, but it doesn't make the meat taste like coffee.
I braise these just like a do deer shanks and shoulders. Only with a lighter braising liquid. It's the best part of a turkey. IMO
I've braised them before using the Field and Stream Recipe but want to try the carnitas recipe next.....at my link.
Put them in crook pot with some seasoning of choice till the meat falls off the bone. Clean it up n cut it up in pieces. Mix with some pot pie filling n vegetables. Then make a home made crust or biscuits to cover the top. A little work but well worth the time!
All day on the warm setting on my crock pot, meat falls off the tendons and bone, then make into Turkey salad sandwiches or with crackers
Stuff the whole bird in a oven bag after you have cleaned it and covered with a layer (inside and out) of mince garlic, onion and mayonnaise
(Step One) BRINE the turkey. I slow cooked them in tin foil, a crock pot on LOW 8 hours with a couple pads of butter & seasoning of choice. Fall off the bone tender. Disclosure: Jake.
I have never tried the slow cooker method but Im sure it is delicious. I cook in water for 3-4 hours and it falls off the bone and tendons and is tender and delicious usually making barley soup. It really is a shame to waste that much meat when it is really easy to make excellent table fare.
My wife puts them in her pressure cooker debones uses the meat in turkey salad and gumbo rich flavor and very moist if you haven't tried it it's your loss Lewis
Enjoyed the turkey leg/thigh turkey/pheasant breast soup tonight.
I crock potted the turkey/pheasant meat but added a large can of Cream of Mushroom soup to cook it in. After cooked, I drained out the mushroom soup, cut up the meat and added it into a big soup pot with, wild rice, cut carrots, cellar y, onion, chicken soup stock, seasoning.
I am ready for another bowl.
my best, Paul
Paul - try mixing some Cream of Celery with your Cream of Mushroom sometime. The flavors go well together.
We have a pheasant recipe that's been in Kathy's family for about 70 years, and people rave about the "cream sauce."
It's 2 cans C of C and one of C of M, plus 1 1/2 soup cans of milk. A lot of people use the recipe for chicken and domestic turkey after tryng the pheasant.
Glad to hear so many are using the legs and thighs. I simmer mine down and use the meat, and base, for gumbo.
Be careful about telling to many your throwing game awa. in some states that could get you in trouble. Since its no more work to make turkey legs and thighs, tasty and edible, it really is a crime to throw them away. Don't shoot it, if your not going to eat it.
I hope the jokes about old boots and tires are just jokes. Otherwise the joke is on them. They're throwing away good meat.
I even save the legs and thighs from pheasants and cook in the crockpot. They are a bit more of a pain to get all the tendons out. But if 3 or 4 of us shoot 15 or so over a weekend and I'm the only one who wants the legs, that's more than a few meals.
I've tried them several different ways, including cooking them slow in the crock. Too much bone. They aren't worth messing with
I simmer them for a couple of hours in a stock pot--with salt, pepper, sliced celery and sliced carrots. Strain and save the broth. Strip the meat off the bone and add back into the saved broth, along with noodles, new carrots, new celery, and I also usually add some chicken broth, too. Turkey noodle soup with veggies!
Crock pot, seperate meat from bones, tendons and such then make turkey chili with the meat
I tried the Hank Shaw recipe for carnitas yesterday. But I used a crock pot instead of a braising pan.
I cooked the legs and thighs for 8 hours on high. The meat was extremely tender and just fell off the bones. It was very easy to separate the meat from the tendons and bones.
I liked the recipe. My wife actually liked it and she has really disliked all my previous attempts.
But... the meat was still a bit too dry. It had nice flavor and was tender. But it was dry since wild turkey don't have any fat to start with and certainly don't have much after 8 hours in the crock pot.
Maybe I'll try the cream of mushroom recipes with my next set.
As others, I crock pot them. Then my favorite is to make wild turkey chili.
Turkey terrine. Look it up. Will change the way you think about wild turkey.
Absolutely amazing and relatively easy!
Tried 4 pheasant legs last night. Seared on both sides then into casserole dish with vegetable broth, rosemary, orange zest, and S/P. 350 for for 1hr15min. It passed the test, kids finished plates and asked for more.
I've never tried it, but a friend bones em out and pulls out the tendons with needle nose pliers. He then rolls em and ties like a rolled roast...cooks on his charcoal Weber. He swears by em.
That sounds really good, Jethro. Man.
Do you like interesting recipes? Then I can advise you this recipe.
https://club.cooking/articles/how-long-to-cook-a-turkey/ You'll like it.
Ingredients 15 lb whole turkey, thawed 1 lb grapes for stuffing 1 bread loaf for stuffing 2 medium carrots 1 large onion ....
I read one on here years ago where they used a crock pot and used the same recipe that you would make pulled pork with.
The above recipes also work for 3 day old roadkill raccoon or opossum
You can't even cut the gravy with a knife:)
thighs, legs, heart & gizzard. Crock pot with water, salt & pepper and a little garlic. Cook until ,eat easily separates from tendons & bones. Sneak heart & gizzard before anyone else does. Put diced meat in food processor & mince. Add sweet relish & mayo to taste Excellent turkey salad on crackers.
I did legs and thighs in an instantpot this spring. That came out great.
Crock pot till tender and u can flake off the meat we use them to make turkey and dumplings. Real good. No left overs.
I like to cook. And I think that it will be useful for you to learn how to cook chicken thighs.
It is very tasty and simple.
Ingredients 6 medium sized chicken thighs, bone in, skin on 2 table spoons olive oil 1 teaspoon dried garlic powder salt and pepper to taste your favorite seasoning to taste (optional)
Do you like to cook? I love very much. Therefore, I recommend you this page. There you can find a wonderful recipe for chicken soup.
https://club.cooking/recipe/chicken-rice-soup/ Try to cook.
Ingredients 1 onion chopped 3 large carrots peeled and chopped 1 stalk celery diced 1 tablespoon oil 1 clove garlic diced ....
If you have no ideas for dinner, you can use my favorite recipe. Ingredients 15 lb whole turkey, thawed 1 lb grapes for stuffing 1 bread loaf for stuffing 2 medium carrots ... It is not very complicated.
Hank Shaw’s recipe for turkey carnitas is unbelievable
Just did my last 4 sets of legs in the slow cooker and then shredded for bbq pulled turkey leg sandwiches yum !
Does it matter what you slow cook them in? I tried cooking legs in a whiskey barbeque sauce that I've used with chicken and let it cook for 8 hours and when I pulled them out, the meat was completely dry and was like leather.
I did my in the water/coffee mix with a bunch of spices and onion added for 8 hours. Took out the legs and pulled them apart. Saved the liquid as stock for soup put the pulled meat back in with bbq spices for about 2 hours and yum !
I just made Pasole out of legs and thighs this past weekend. It was tremendous! I followed Steve Rinella's recipe in his latest cookbook.
Slow cooker in some broth and seasoning. Strip it down. Mix with favorite BBQ sauce for sandwiches. Wasted many legs before I found out how great they were this way. Very easy too.
https://honest-food.net/turkey-leg-stew-recipe/ I like Hank Shaw's recipe for southwestern turkey leg stew. Unless you are feeding a lot of people you only need one leg and thigh. You can substitute frozen corn for dried. The first time I made it it was too hot so I reduced the chipotles the next time and it was more to my taste. Still very spicy.
If you have a smart-pot/insta-pot, put the thighs in with some liquid and seasoning for 90 minutes and they will fall right apart.
I do that same thing^^^ in a crock pot, it just takes longer. Then I make a soup out of it. Lasts a few days (for two).
