Smoked Turkey Legs – Girl Carnivore

Meaty, smoky, juicy, and tender, Smoked Turkey Legs aren’t only a deal with at gala’s and occasions – you may get the identical huge smoky taste of this meat-on-a-bone out of your very personal smoker. Simple and delish, channel your inside caveman and feast on these big turkey Legs at this time!

Who doesn’t love gnawing on meat on a bone? Turkey legs are a particular deal with as a result of they’re so meaty and flavorful, however they’re a seasonal deal with normally solely accessible at gala’s, renaissance festivals, carnivals, amusement parks, and so forth. However not! Now you may get the identical wonderful smoky taste on this meat-on-a-bone proper from your personal yard. 

I really like smoking turkey legs as a result of they’re a lot quicker than smoking a complete chicken. And, turkey drumsticks are so enjoyable to eat – and with a built-in deal with, you’ll be able to simply seize an finish of the bone and begin gnawing. The darkish meat is so flavorful, and with an excellent smoky taste, everybody else loves them, too.

And, with a fast, in a single day brine, you’ll be able to infuse taste and juiciness into each chunk. Hungry for flavorful smoked meat? Seize your turkey legs, and let’s get cooking!

Elements

There are two steps to this sugar-free Smoked Turkey Legs recipe: the brine and the dry rub. 

For the easy brine

• Water
• Kosher Salt
• Erythritol – Or brown sugar (or darkish brown sugar).
• Black peppercorns
• Bay leaves

For the rub:

• Girl Carnivore Chick Fest
• Maple bourbon rub or your favourite bbq rooster rub. Alternatively, smoked paprika, brown sugar, and a contact of chipotle chili powder make an excellent and straightforward mix with easy substances.

The remaining:

• Turkey legs
• Oil – any impartial cooking oil will work
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Mop – the liquid you spritz the meat with when smoking to maintain it moist. We love our vinegar-based bbq sauce for this.
• Resealable plastic luggage – To carry the turkey legs whereas brining. 
• Smoker – We’re utilizing a Traeger pellet smoker for these smoked turkey legs, however any pellet, charcoal, or electrical smoker will work.

How To Smoke Turkey Legs

Brine the turkey by boiling half of the water and including salt, erythritol, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Combine properly with the remaining chilly water and permit to chill for an hour.

Add the turkey legs to the resealable luggage and add the cooled brine answer. Refrigerate for 8-10 hours.

Take away the turkey legs from the brine and discard the brine. Pat the legs dry with a paper towel, organize them on a wire rack, and allow them to dry for an hour.

Fold the pores and skin again from the turkey drums.

Combine the oil and Worcestershire sauce and rub them everywhere in the turkey legs.

Season the legs with a mix of the Girl Carnivore Chick Fest and maple bourbon rub. Fold the pores and skin again up and season the pores and skin as properly.

Put together the smoker temperature to 225-250F.

Smoke the turkey legs over oblique warmth on the smoker till they attain an inside temperature of 175-F with an instant-read thermometer, about 2 ½ to three hours. Spritz the turkey legs each 30 to 45 minutes with my vinegar-based bbq sauce or an apple juice and water mix to maintain moisture in.

Let the turkey legs relaxation for 10 minutes earlier than serving.

We love brushing these with our home made keto bbq sauce for serving.

Recipe Ideas

• What number of turkey legs per particular person? Ensure you have sufficient for 1 leg per particular person – no person desires to share a leg, belief me!
• You should use your personal rub on these turkey legs, however I really like the candy, spicy, smoky, and savory mixture from Girl Carnivore Chick Fest and maple bourbon rubs.
• Brine the turkey legs in a single day the night time earlier than cooking so that they have loads of time.
• Need them saucy? Prime the legs along with your favourite barbecue sauce about quarter-hour earlier than taking them off the smoker. We like our keto bbq sauce on these!
• If utilizing a fuel grill, add taste by filling a smoker field with wooden chips. We love maple, pecan or apple wooden for this recipe.
• If utilizing a pellet smoker, add a smoker tube stuffed with further pellets, positioned proper on the grill grates for added smoky taste.
• If utilizing a charcoal grill, add 1 to 2 wooden chunks for a foil packet stuffed with wooden chips on to the charcoal.

How Lengthy Does It Take To Smoke Turkey Legs?

There are plenty of components in figuring out how lengthy it takes to smoke turkey legs, together with the climate, how huge your smoker is, how scorching and regular the temperature is, and the way chilly the legs are once you put them onto the smoker.

Smoked Turkey Legs ought to take about 2 ½-3 hours to get to an inside temperature of 165 levels F when smoking at 225-250F. The place 165F is a superbly protected inside temperature of the meat, we like taking turkey legs to 170F to 180F for extra tender meat.

Are available parallel to the bone to get an correct temperature of the meat. If the probe touches the bone, the studying might be inaccurate.

Are Smoked Turkey Legs Totally Cooked?

Sure, they certain are! Use an instant-read meat thermometer to verify the meat subsequent to the bone (within the thickest a part of the leg) is 165-F. If the meat seems pink, however the temperature is a minimum of 165-F, then it’s from the smoke and is fit for human consumption.

Now, if you happen to’re asking concerning the smoked turkey legs you should purchase on the market and never this home made recipe, I’d suggest reheating these to a minimum of 145F inside to get pleasure from; they’d have been already cooked as properly.

Serving Options

I really like smoking an enormous batch of big turkey legs and taking them to potlucks and gatherings, however if you happen to’re making them at dwelling and wish scrumptious sides to go along with them, take a look at tasty picks like mac and cheese, roasted veggies, or some fully-loaded fries.

You may also serve these with smoked brussels sprouts, simple cole slaw, and deep-fried macaroni and cheese.

The right way to retailer leftovers

Add any leftover Smoked Turkey Legs to a big hermetic container or pop them into clear resealable plastic luggage and refrigerate them for 3-4 days. Questioning the right way to reheat smoked turkey legs? Cowl them with foil and heat them in a low oven or microwave them till heated by. You may also minimize off the meat and use it in recipes like sandwiches, chili, pastas, and extra. 

Extra Smoked Turkey Recipes

📖 Full Recipe

Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Smoked Turkey Legs 

Smoked turkey legs are enjoyable meals, with a in-built deal with and tons of taste. With this recipe, you’ll be able to skip the theme park and make these at dwelling in your personal smoker or grill!

Course: Principal Course

Delicacies: American, barbeque

Prep Time9 hrs

Cook dinner Time2 hrs 30 minutes

Resting Time5 minutes

Whole Time11 hrs 35 minutes

Servings: 10

Energy: 281kcal

Directions

Brine the turkey

• Deliver half the water to a boil

  8 cups Water

• Take away from warmth

• Whisk within the brine substances and remaining chilly water.

  ½ cup Salt, ¼ cup gold monkfruit sweetener with erythritol, 2 tablespoon Black peppercorns, 2 Bay leaves

• Enable the liquid to chill 1 hour.

• When cool, pour the brine over the legs in resealable luggage

  5-6 lbs Turkey Legs

• Chill within the fridge in a single day, 8 to 10 hours.

Prep the turkey legs

• Take away the turkey legs from the brine. Discard the brine.

• Pat the turkey dry, organize on a wire rack and let dry for 1 hours.

• Fastidiously fold the pores and skin again from the turkey legs.

• Combine the oil and Worcestershire and brush the tureky legs throughout with the combination.

  1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tablespoon oil

• Season the legs with half of the Woman Carnivore Chick Fest Poultry rub and Maple Bourbon rub.

  2 tablespoon Woman Carnivore Chick Fest, 2 tablespoon Maple bourbon rub

• Fastidiously fold the pores and skin again up and season the skin of the pores and skin as properly.

Smoke the turkey legs

• Preheat your smoker or grill for a fair temp of 225 – 250 levels F.

• Place the turkey legs on the smoker and shut the lid.

• After 30 to 45 minutes, start spritzing the turkey with the mop each half-hour.

  1 cup vinegar primarily based bbq sauce mop

• Cook dinner till the turkey legs attain 165F with an instantaneous meat thermometer, about 2 ½ to three hours

Notes

Plan for one turkey leg per particular person. 
We suggest maple, pecan, or apple smoking wooden chips or wooden chunks for this recipe.
What’s a mop? A mop is the liquid you utilize to brush or sprizt meat with whereas smoking. It helps maintain moisture within the meat because it cooks. We love our vinegar primarily based bbq sauce as a normal mop for many barbecue however a 50 / 50 mixture of apple cider vinegar and water work too.
Through the vacation season, I’ll do a ratio of apple cider, apple cider vinegar and water to spice issues up.
Turkey meat is absolutely cooked at 165F, however we wish to prepare dinner it to 170 to 180 to assist the meat get a bit of extra tender.
In contrast to sliced turkey meat, turkey drums have a lot of tendons that may really feel like skinny bones when consuming. Simply eat round them.
You don’t should brine the turkey, and we examined these with a dry brine as properly. However, we discovered {that a} moist brine helps the darkish meat to remain tender and juicy.

Diet

Diet Details

Smoked Turkey Legs 

Quantity Per Serving (1 g)

Energy 281
Energy from Fats 117

% Every day Worth*

Fats 13g20%

Saturated Fats 4g25%

Polyunsaturated Fats 3g

Monounsaturated Fats 4g

Ldl cholesterol 134mg45%

Sodium 5809mg253%

Potassium 559mg16%

Carbohydrates 2g1%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 0.1g0%

Protein 37g74%

Vitamin A 18IU0%

Vitamin C 0.01mg0%

Calcium 52mg5%

Iron 4mg22%

* % Every day Values are primarily based on a 2000 calorie weight-reduction plan. Diet info supplied is an estimate. For particular well being considerations, please put the recipe into your Dr beneficial vitamin calculator.

Smoked Turkey Legs 

For the brine

8 cups Water

½ cup Salt 

¼ gold erythritol 

2 tablespoon Black peppercorns

2 Bay leaves 

For the turkey legs 

Girl Carnivore Chick Fest 

Maple bourbon rub 

Turkey Legs

Brine the turkey

Deliver the water to a boil

Take away from warmth

Whisk within the brine substances. 

Enable the liquid to chill 1 hour

When cool, pour the brine over the legs in resealable luggage 

Chill within the fridge in a single day, 8 to 10 hours. 

Take away the turkey legs from the brine. Discard the brine. 

Pat the turkey dry, organize on a wire rack and let dry for 1 hours. 

Season the legs with the GC CF and Maple Bourbon rub. 

Smoked the turkey legs

Prep the grill for 225 – 250

Place the turkey legs on the smoker and prepare dinner till they attain 165F with an instantaneous meat thermometer, about 2 ½ to three hours 

Take away from the smoker and relaxation for 10 minutes earlier than serving.