Wild turkey legs and thighs are often overlooked prizes from successful hunts Many hunters simply toss them out or use them for stew meat However, with the right prep and cooking methods, legs and thighs can provide incredibly moist, tender and flavorful meat. Follow this guide to get the most out of your wild turkey legs and thighs.
Anatomy of Turkey Legs and Thighs
Wild turkey legs and thighs do the majority of work for the bird. Constant walking and scratching builds thick, dense muscles. This gives the meat deep flavor, but also lots of connective tissue.
The leg is composed of the drumstick below the knee joint and the thigh above it. The thigh contains the largest muscles.
Tendons around the knee joint and bones throughout the leg require special handling. With careful prep and slow cooking, the collagen melts to tender perfection.
Benefits of Cooking Legs and Thighs
Cooking wild turkey legs provides many advantages:
- Adds variety beyond breast meat
- Yields delicious, succulent meat when done properly
- Provides hearty portions for multiple meals
- Allows creative recipes like confit, roasting, braising, etc.
- Infuses sauce and broth with rich flavor when stewed
- Utilizes whole bird and prevents waste
With the right techniques legs and thighs can be just as tender and tasty as the breast.
Prep Steps Before Cooking
Proper prep is crucial for delicious wild turkey legs. Here are some tips:
- Remove legs at the hip joint. Cut through the skin and slice around the ball of the femur.
- Remove knee caps and loosen tendons with a knife.
- Peel away loose bits of skin or use for stock.
- Rinse and pat dry thoroughly.
- Season generously with salt, pepper and herbs.
- Marinate for added flavor.
- Pat flour on the skin for crisping.
Best Cooking Methods
Wild turkey legs do well with slow, moist cooking to break down connective tissues. Ideal techniques include:
Braising: Brown legs then cook in broth, wine or sauce at 300°F for 2-3 hours. The liquid tenderizes the meat.
Stewing: Simmer legs in water or broth until fall-off-the-bone tender, 2-4 hours. Shred meat for stews, tacos, etc.
Roasting: Roast seasoned legs at 350°F for 2-3 hours until deeply browned and tender.
Grilling: Sear legs over direct high heat to caramelize the skin. Move to indirect heat at 300-325°F to finish cooking for 1-2 hours.
Smoking: Smoke legs for rich flavor. Cook to 165°F over indirect heat, allowing 1-2 hours.
Slow Cooker: Add legs to a slow cooker with veggies, broth and seasonings. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Delicious Recipe Ideas
Wild turkey legs pair wonderfully with many flavors. Try:
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Apple Cider Brined Turkey Legs – Brine overnight for juicy meat.
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Herb-Roasted Turkey Legs – Coat with olive oil, rosemary, thyme and garlic.
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Korean BBQ Turkey Thighs – Marinate in Korean pear, soy sauce, sesame and ginger.
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Beer Braised Turkey Legs – Slow cook in stout beer for finger-licking meat.
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Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Turkey Legs – Inject cream cheese and jalapenos for a spicy twist.
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Thanksgiving Style Roasted Turkey Legs – Rub with sage and orange zest for festive flavor.
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Smoky BBQ Turkey Leg Quarters – Smoke for hours then glaze with barbecue sauce.
Don’t forget delicious soups and broths from simmered turkey carcasses.
Serving Suggestions
Wild turkey legs deserve their moment in the spotlight. Serve them:
- As the main course for turkey dinner with all the fixings
- On cheesy turkey nachos piled high
- In lettuce wraps or sandwiches with slaw and pickles
- Chopped in burritos or tamales for a meaty addition
- Over rice with stir-fried veggies for a one-skillet meal
- On top of a fresh, hearty salad for lunch or dinner
- Sliced on a hearty sandwich layered with sauce and cheese
Get the Most From Your Turkey Legs
With their deep flavor and hearty meat, wild turkey legs and thighs are worth spending time cooking properly. Don’t toss them out before exploring their potential. With a few simple prep steps and the right cooking techniques, you can enjoy delicious wild turkey legs easily at home.
Are you leaving some of the best parts of your wild turkey in the woods? If you leave behind your turkey’s legs, you’re missing the best part of the bird. Try this slow-cooker recipe for tender BBQ.
My friends and I learned to turkey hunt before the age of the internet. Back before outdoor television programs and before turkey hunting DVDs and VHS tapes. I was in middle school when the first turkeys were released near our farm through a joint venture between the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Before that, any exposure to wild turkeys came in short trips down South where we might see a small flock strutting in a field as my family drove through Alabama or Georgia. Or on a trip to the western end of the state where a small population existed at the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, a sprawling chunk of timber situated between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley.
Just a few years after those first releases, the turkey population was deemed strong enough in our area for the first open season. None of us had spent much time chasing turkeys, so we eagerly flipped through outdoor magazines and listened to cassette tapes by Ben Rogers Lee and Dick Kirby in our trucks on the way to and from school. Advertisement
Amid increasing protests from teachers and other students, we’d practice our calls in the school hallways, partly because we enjoyed the way the acoustics made them sound and partly because we enjoyed the reaction they got.
Luckily for us, those earliest seasons were easy as far as turkey hunting goes. Those first birds had never known hunting pressure. The population was still scattered enough that the mere suggestion of a hen yelp would cause a gobbler to come investigate from great distances. We still had a lot to learn about turkey hunting—about sitting still, being patient, not shooting at a bird that looked so big at 60 yards that we knew he must be in range—but we slowly started to kill a few turkeys.
We all deer hunted back then, and the thought of killing a deer and leaving most of the meat in the woods, taking only the choicest parts, would have been completely unthinkable to us. For some reason, though, we didn’t bat an eye at conventional wisdom of the time that said the only part of a wild turkey worth eating was the breast meat. Advertisement
Unfortunately, that same attitude exists still today. Every spring, I spend time in camps or talk to other hunters who are under the impression that the breast meat is the only thing edible on a turkey. They are wrong. There’s a lot of good food on the rest of the bird.
The largest part of the bird that too often gets left behind is the leg/thigh combo. A lot of you are reading this and asking what’s so unusual about eating legs and thighs? After all, they do make up about half the meat on a wild turkey and might be even more delicious than the breast meat. But every year I see and hear about hunters leaving them behind with the carcass.
To save these tasty parts, simply pluck or skin them, whatever you did for the breast meat. To remove the legs and thighs from the carcass, lay the turkey on its back and press down on the legs, popping the joint. Then just use your knife to cut them off at the joint where the thigh meets the backbone. I prefer to keep the legs and thighs attached and freeze them in pairs, with both leg/thigh sides from a turkey in one package.
While the meat is rich and delicious, the leg and thigh do contain a lot of connective tissue and cartilage. Cook them low and slow—either at a light simmer, a braise, or in a slow cooker — until the meat falls from the bone. Pick out everything that isn’t meat. Use the meat in turkey barbecue, turkey soup, tacos, you name it. Legs and thighs will make the best pot of turkey and dumplings you have ever eaten.
Just like a chicken or a farm-raised turkey, the giblets, mainly the heart, liver, and gizzard, of a wild turkey not only are edible but also are delicious. The heart and liver don’t need any extra preparation to make them ready to cook, simply pull them from the bird as you skin. The gizzard takes a bit of extra prep work once you get home. A zip-style bag in your turkey vest makes transporting all three a clean and easy task.
Since wild turkeys are generally quite a bit older than their farm-raised cousins, the liver can be stronger in flavor. You can tame it a bit with an overnight soak in milk. Turkey liver can be added to sausage, stews, or gravies, but my favorite style of cooking is breaded and fried, then served with white gravy made from the pan drippings.
Turkeys don’t have teeth, so they need a way to break down the seeds and other foods they eat. That’s where the gizzard comes in. The muscular sack is located near the stomach. Gizzards are filled with small stones that grind and pulverize seeds and nuts as they pass through the turkey’s digestive system.
Before gizzards can be eaten, they must be cleaned. Start by removing any fat and loose tissue from the outer surface. Look at the gizzard and locate the shallow indentations that run down the center. Use a sharp knife to make a shallow cut along that line. Do not cut too deeply. Pull the gizzard open, exposing the stones and material in the center. Use your fingers or a spoon to knock away the loose material.
Rinse the gizzard under running water. You will notice a thick membrane in the center. Use your fingers and a knife to peel away the membrane, leaving only the clean muscle. As with livers, the preferred cooking method for gizzards is breaded and fried.
Turkey hearts need just a bit of trimming. Like deer hearts, they are perfect for grilling. Slice the hearts in half, marinate, grill, and serve on toast for an outstanding appetizer.
Walter’s Wild Turkey Leg & Thigh BBQ Recipe
A hunting buddy who goes by the nickname “Walter” saves the legs and thighs from all of his wild turkeys to make a big batch of this BBQ for our deer camp each winter. It’s one of our favorite recipes for wild turkey legs and thighs. We start with the legs and thighs on the smoker for a couple of hours to build an extra layer of flavor and then move them to a slow cooker to simmer until the meat falls from the bones.
Ingredients:
- 2 wild turkey leg/thigh quarters
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon of your favorite sweet and spicy BBQ rub
- 1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken or turkey stock
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
Directions:
- Unless your slow cooker is large enough to hold them as one piece, separate the legs from the thighs by cutting through the joint.
- Heavily coat all sides of the legs and thighs with 1/4 cup of the BBQ rub.
- Place the meat on the smoker at 225–250 degrees for 2 hours.
- Move the turkey meat to a slow cooker and add the remaining ingredients, including the reserved tablespoon of the BBQ rub.
- Cook on high 3–4 hours or on low 6–8 hours until the turkey meat begins to fall from the bones.
- Gently remove the turkey legs and thighs from the pot and allow them to cool. Shred the meat from the bones, removing any bones, tendons, and connective tissue.
- Return the meat to the slow cooker and stir into the liquid left from the cook.
- Serve shredded wild turkey on buns for killer BBQ sandwiches.
How to Cook Wild Turkey Legs!
FAQ
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