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This herb oven-roasted turkey legs recipe is incredibly easy and delicious and works best for days when a whole turkey is too much food or when you’re cooking for a smaller party. Use a simple brine that is not too salty, which will keep your turkey thighs moist and juicy!
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If you’re like us and want to enjoy a turkey during the holidays, but having a whole turkey isn’t very practical because it’s a lot of food, then this herbed roasted turkey leg recipe is for you!
One of the secrets to this tender, moist, and juicy turkey recipe is that we use dark meat! But just because the meat is dark is not enough to keep it juicy and juicy; The secret is that You need to brine in a brine solution. The salt in the brine will draw moisture into the meat, keeping it very moist!
If you’re looking to use turkey drumsticks instead, I also have a recipe for that Easy Oven Roasted Turkey Leg with Coffee Rub Which you might enjoy!
Why I love this easy recipe for roasted turkey legs
- It’s easy! – Soak the turkey in salt water for 24 hours, then put it in the oven and bake, then garnish with herbs just before it comes out!
- Moist, tender, and juicy – Using the brining method, the salt draws water into the turkey and keeps it extra moist, making it tender! You’ll never get a dry turkey this way! I also use the same brine to roast a whole turkey too!
- My brine is not overly salty -When brining a turkey, you don’t want the brine to make the turkey overly salty, which will compete with the rub or glaze, so I tested my brine to use as little salt as possible, but still have enough salt so I can keep it moist. I use this brine for everything at home that I don’t want to dry out (like pork chops, whole roasted turkeys, and chicken), so it’s very versatile, too.
- Very delicious -I use a simple herb glaze at the end to give the turkey legs lots of flavor!
Ingredients for grilled turkey legs with herbs
- Türkiye legs -I like to use turkey thighs in this recipe, but you can definitely use the thigh or breast as well. You can also substitute chicken for turkey legs as well, but you will need to adjust the cooking time and cook for less time.
Türkiye leg marinade
- Light soy sauce -I use light or low-sodium soy sauce to marinate the turkey leg.
- Dark soy willow Dark soy sauce is sweet in taste and usually less salty than regular or light soy sauce. It is mainly used to give meat some color. If you can’t find it, you can use regular soy sauce instead but it won’t be that dark in color.
- Glaze grass As for the herbs, you can mix any of your favorite green herbs for this recipe but try not to overuse herbs with a strong flavor like dill. I haven’t tried using fresh herbs for this purpose because fresh herbs are expensive in the winter and my herb garden decided it wanted to give me away this year. I will update the recipe when I can get fresh herbs again. I put Lemongrass In this herb mixture for extra flavour, this is optional but I… high I recommend using it if you can get your hands on it.
Türkiye brine ingredients
For this recipe for roasted turkey legs, I kept the brine fairly simple and used salt, water, bay leaves, garlic, and black cardamom.
You can omit the black cardamom for the brine without much difference in flavor but I highly recommend keeping the garlic and bay leaves.
How to Make Your Turkey Tender, Juicy and Delicious
When I cook any type of poultry (or lean meat like pork chops), I like to use a brine.
It’s a little more work but it’s worth the effort because it makes the meat more tender and juicy by using salt to draw water into the meat – Food Science!
You should always soak meat in salted water overnight.
When working with salt and brine, it’s also easy to overdo it which can make the meat too salty.
Through trial and error, I have found that the best solution is to take 3 tablespoons of salt with 8-9 cups of water.
Drink 8 cups of water If you prefer saltier meat, use 9 cups of water for less salty meat.
What to serve with a roasted turkey leg?
I love to serve these with my own Easy Honey Soy Sautéed Brussels Sprouts, Garlic Fried Rice (Senangag) or Roasted potatoes with honey, miso and garlic.
This turkey goes very well with mine Korean fried glass noodles (japchae) also!
More oven roasted recipes you may like
More Turkish recipes you may like
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Recipe card
Herbed roasted turkey legs
Oven-roasted turkey legs are delicious and juicy for days when a whole turkey is a big batch or you’re cooking for a smaller party.
Joyce’s recipe notes
- Dark soy is used to give the turkey a little color and a little sodium. If you don’t have it, you can use regular soy sauce.
- The herb coating can be doubled or tripled without any problems if you want to use it on a whole turkey! 🙂
- I like to use a turkey drumstick for this recipe, but you can definitely use a thigh or breast as well. You can also substitute chicken for turkey legs as well, but you will need to adjust the cooking time and cook for less time.
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directions
Bring Türkiye
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In a large bowl, mix water and salt together and stir until the salt dissolves
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Add the bay leaves, crushed garlic cloves and black cardamom (optional).
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Add the turkey legs and leave in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Making herb glaze
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In a food processor, puree half an onion with two tablespoons of oil until it becomes a paste. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate onions instead)
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Melt the butter and combine the onion paste with a quarter cup of oil, soy sauce and herbs in one bowl and mix them well. Set aside for later to glaze the turkey. (Note: The glaze may thicken, as the butter cools – don’t worry, it will melt back into an oil once you spread it on the hot turkey!)
Türkiye roasting
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C)
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Use a roasting pan and place a rack in it to hang the turkey, so there is airflow between the pan and the bottom of the turkey. If you don’t have a rack, you can take foil and press it together roughly to create a rough, ridged texture and place the turkey legs on top so it doesn’t sit completely flat on the roasting pan.
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Once the oven reaches temperature, place the turkey legs in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes
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Once 30 minutes have passed, we can start coating the turkey with a layer of herbs every 15-20 minutes
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Turkey legs should take between 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes but use a meat thermometer to be sure. My oven doesn’t run very hot, so yours may take less time to fully cook.The internal temperature should be 165 F (74 C). When cutting a turkey, the juices should run clear, not bloody.
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Enjoy! 🙂
feeding
Submission: 1man | Calories: 352Kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | protein: 34g | fat: 35g | Sodium: 380mg | sugar: 1g
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
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