Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Turkey legs and thighs.

Who saves and eats the legs and thighs? Lot’s of my friends toss them. I feel you should keep and eat the “reasonable parts. I’m not eating the gizzards or lips. Just asking. If you do eat them what is your favorite recipe using the dark meat?

I save them every year. Usually I kill 2 birds and a few friends will donate theirs. I make a big pot of wild turkey and wild rice soup with them. I simmer them on medium low heat for a several hours until theybget somewhat tender. Then pull the meat off the bones, separate any tendons and cartilage, cut the meat into 1/4”-1/2” cubes, and simmer diced celery, carrots, and onions with a few cloves of garlic until tender. Then add in the turkey cubes, and the wild rice that was cooked in a separate pot. Add spices to flavor, i.e. chicken bouillon, black pepper, bay leaves, parsley, oregano, etc. I skipped making it for our camp meeting one year and about got banned from the joint!

Crockpot with broth for 6-8hrs
Separate meat from bones and tendons
Shred the meat and season with salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne
Cover in bbq sauce and mix
Sammiches

I do as well. Similar process as Borden. It’s actually very good that way. Just don’t try to smoke them. Tougher than a Michelin tire. Lol

Bingo! It's a total waste to throw them away, lots of good eating and not that much more work.

I use turkey legs/thighs the same as I do pheasants, slow cooked until they'll pull/shred easily. Then can go into noodles/dumplings/pot pie/enchiladas, etc.

Not using them is a total waste.

Throw them away?! He77 no, best part of the bird.
Simmer til meat falls away from tendons and bone. Fry the spiced meat as carnitas and make tacos, or use the meat in soups, mole' enchiladas, or etc etc.

I do this same thing for the legs.

For the thighs, I layer the bottom of a crockpot with carrots cut in 1/2 long ways. Put a layer of celery perpendicular to that. Lay 4-6 thighs on top. One can Cream of Mushroom, one can Cream of Chicken, splash of white wine, 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms and whatever spices you like. In 4-6 hours, when meat is tender, spoon over rice, noodles or mashed potatoes.

I use them for Gumbo's or Stews. Hank Shaw had a good recipe for wings. It is a great addition for sausage and Rytek Kutas In "Sausage Making" had a good heart healthy turkey sausage recipe. They make good tacos too, anything that calls for shredded chicken will be better with the slow cooked turkey.

I have made jerky but decided it isn't worth it unless you like the ground type which I don't. Also have made turkey tettrazini when I had left over ham and turkey.

My thoughts exactly!!

I slow cooked 4 legs & thighs and now I’m using them in different recipes. Tacos tonight burritos tomorrow. I froze some for later. I can’t believe how many people do not use the legs and thighs. I’ve asked my friends to give me ALL of their unwanted turkey meat.

Consomme made of everything and anything other than the breast meat. Boneless turkey thigh meat in coconut milk and curry.

Spent enough time in Japan and the Indian sub-continent to appreciate the more flavoursome parts of game animals.

We make soup out of them as others note. That recipe that Borden811 mentions sounds really good.

I fry the thighs and the legs are soup. Tried smoking legs, like eatting a rock.

I'd rather eat the gizzard, heart and nuts than wild turkey legs. Actually the nuts are the best part!

Put them in an InstaPot for 64 minutes and then pull the meat off the bones. Makes great soup and turkey pot pie

I save the thighs but not the drum sticks.

Go ahead and pop the heart, gizzard and liver out. Those 3 beat the hell out of any turkey drummie.

Have used the crockpot for such in the past, but the instapot has relegated that to the dustbin.

For a long, long time I've made turkey soup with the legs and thighs of domestic or wild birds, celery, onion, carrots, broth, and Uncle Bens Long Grain and Wild Rice mix. Works well with chicken too. Good stuff, and very filling.

I save the breasts and thighs. Grind them up together and freeze in 1 lb packages. Used for tacos, chili, enchiladas.....

I have tried them in crock pot and smoking them. I have never been able to get them tender.
Buddy has a instapot and I’ve been giving them to him. He says they are good cooking it in

Like eating a bowl of rubber bands as far as I'm concerned! Lol!