Grilled Turkey Legs
These spicy turkey legs are sweet and hot--just like the smoked turkey legs you get at the fair or theme park!
These spicy turkey legs are sweet and hot--just like the smoked turkey legs you get at the fair or theme park!
I made 24 legs yesterday to sell for a church festival, everyone LOVED them! As always, I changed up the recipe a bit: Marinate the legs liberally with steak seasoning overnite, rinse before boiling. Glaze the legs with a mixture of honey, molasses, & a little BBQ sauce. I also, slow cooked in the oven all afternoon which worked out fine.
Read MoreOkay folks, lets get serious here. We have all had and loved the turkey legs from fairs, baseball parks, and amusement parks. Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando turkey legs are my favorite, not that they are any better mind you, I just like being at WDW and UO when I eat one! One thing all these legs have in common is that they taste like ham. I've tried this recipe. It is good but not what we are looking for. The only way to get turkey to taste like ham is to cure it and smoke it. All the soda pop and spices in the world will not render the same flavor and texture as what we want and get from "those" places.
Read MoreOkay folks, lets get serious here. We have all had and loved the turkey legs from fairs, baseball parks, and amusement parks. Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando turkey legs are my favorite, not that they are any better mind you, I just like being at WDW and UO when I eat one! One thing all these legs have in common is that they taste like ham. I've tried this recipe. It is good but not what we are looking for. The only way to get turkey to taste like ham is to cure it and smoke it. All the soda pop and spices in the world will not render the same flavor and texture as what we want and get from "those" places.
I made 24 legs yesterday to sell for a church festival, everyone LOVED them! As always, I changed up the recipe a bit: Marinate the legs liberally with steak seasoning overnite, rinse before boiling. Glaze the legs with a mixture of honey, molasses, & a little BBQ sauce. I also, slow cooked in the oven all afternoon which worked out fine.
Really liked this recipe a lot! Unlike a previous reviewer, I really don't like the "carnival" drumsticks, so I was not looking for that flavor. I had purchased turkey drumsticks on a whim, looking for something different for dinner. Once I got them home, I had no idea what to do with them, found this recipe and it is definitly a keeper. It has a nice bite to it, but not overwhelming. The turkey was moist and tender, but the grill was a mess :) Don't change a thing!
I seriously make these on a weekly basis. Turkey legs are so cheap. My husband takes the onions that are cooked in with the legs over mash potatoes. Its good but those onions are super spicy. They taste very similar to the ones you get at the fairs but a whole lot better. The spiciness of the red pepper and the sweetness of the honey..just perfect.
This was fabulous! My husband and I both loved it! No leftovers...Thanks!
These were yummy...for ADULTS! Kids won't touch it because of the red pepper flakes. Simply omit these for a more bland, but kid-friendly dish.
I really liked these but the smell of hot sprite was... interesting but quickly dissipated after turning it off so don't let it deter you from trying it out. I would recommend cutting into your legs a little bit before boiling that way the inside of the legs get the same kind of marinade on the inside.
My family and friends loved this recipe. The only thing I will do different is a little less red pepper. It was a bit spicy for me , but everyone else at our New Years party loved them. Easy four 1/2 stars from my family and friends.
Only the outer grilled meat tasted good. Maybe if it were boiled for less time and grilled more. Also, maybe if it were marinated with some liquid smoke. I'll not be making it again though.
We never have soda around the house so I just use a mixture of water, lemon juice, and some extra sugar to replace it. Turns out perfect every time!
We love this! Even my kids like it. I did it with chicken quarters. I omitted the onions, haven't figured out how to do this without making a total mess of the grill. Will make these often.
Good summer recipe for turkey. My changes: Not a fan of soda pop, I substituted lime seltzer and fresh lime juice for the carbonated beverage. Added three slices of Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce to the boil mixture in place of crushed red peppers for smoky flavor. Used McCormick's Grill Mates BBQ Seasoning instead of the steak seasoning. As for grilling technique, I opted to use a grill pan with holes instead of placing onion directly on grill, which many reviewers said was messy. Of course, it would be! Place cooked onion slices in the grill pan, add the seasoned turkey legs and then drizzle with the honey. Cooked about 20 minutes on grill as directed. Yummy, yummy. Defintely will make this again and have shared the recipe with family and friends.
If you can make outside on grill side burner do it. The boiling red pepper is like mace for 10 mins. That being said, the legs are not to spicy when finished. If I remade I would change cooking times. Maybe 15 min boiling and 30 min indirect heat grilling to get a crispier skin.
The interior meat did not have a lot of flavor. Reccommend basting it with honey while it grill. Made the skin crispy and flavorful.
I loved the crispiness from grilling these and the marinade was great...but for some reason my legs were dry. :( I feel like the time for boiling was too long. I know a lot of people love this so I will definitely try it again. Thanks!
I followed the recipe and it turned out great. THe turkey was very moist and tasty. very easy to make. Yum. It is a little on the spicy side so not great for small kids. ..**extra tip If you like spicy food, like I do, there is no reason to toss the sauce you cooked the chicken in. It smelled so good. I just threw a package of noodles and a can of cream of chicken soup in the remaining sauce. Boiled the noodles covered until tender. Add a cup or so of buttermilk. THrow in some veggies, and you have a easy meal. Wow! It was good! But SPICY! Beware. Next time I will add a little more milk and maybe only use half the sauce to cook for the noodles.
YUMMY! Thanks for the great recipe! I followed the recipe with the exception of decreasing the pepper flakes by half (was afraid it would be too spicy for the kids). I also gave the onions a rinse in water before throwing them on the grill (hoping to cut back on spice?)... next time I make this I plan on doubling the onions because they were delish! I'm anxious to try this technique with chicken thighs as well. This was such a unique and interesting recipe, and the results were amazing!
I enjoyed them, they were sweet but I feel like it needed more salt. I probably would make it again but as the person above mentioned, add in bbq and molasses.
Outstanding turkey legs! The flavor of the soda really soaks into them and the onions and makes it a delight to eat!
Not the best recipe around. Too sweet. A little tough for turkey legs.
These were just okay. I had been searching for a good leg recipe so I tried smoking smoke some the other day. They were really really good! Soaking the legs in a seasoned brine and smoking is the way to go if you want a really tasty turkey leg. Better then the ones you get at Disney.
Made this for the first time last night. Came out great! I'll make this one of my "go to" recipes when I don't smoke my turkey legs!
I have used this recipe twice, first on legs then on Thanksgiving for a whole turkey after adjusting the ingredient amounts. The Thanksgiving turkey turned out to be the best bird EVER
this works perfectly if you follow the recipe. very easy to prep and make. Great flavor. I will make this again!
Was ok. I guess I'm just not all that into red pepper as that ended up being the dominating flavor.
Great hit for Father's Day. The turkey legs were very tender. I rubbed them generously with Grill Master steak rub and placed them in a bag for 2 days. I also rinsed them off before boiling. When I placed the turkey legs on the grill I also brushed them with molasses, honey and barbeque sauce mixture, that really added to the taste and look.
This were very good....hot n spicy....perfect. I loved the flavor...i used canned chipolte peppers in the bbq sauce...my nose was running from the heat but delicious non the less.
A great basic, what to do with these things. There are all kinds of personal adjustments that can be made. The idea is what is special...try this with smoked drumsticks, or smoked wings, cut the tips off the wings and you get a smaller white meat drumstick. Adust the 'boil time' for flavor only. It is fun and low cost. I will try it with a 'salsa' type flavor.
i did these up using apple cider instead and marinated them in it first-yummy
these were great! i got some turkey legs on sale and wasn't sure what to do with them. i will DEFINITELY be making these again! thanks!!!!
This had a great, spicy flavor to it, but I did have a little trouble once I moved it to the grill, and admittedly, it was mostly my fault. I left the onion out of the recipe (allergic), so when I transferred it to the grill, there was no barrier. My turkey legs were blackened in under 10 minutes, the honey just went up. I'm thinking that the next time I make these, I may add a couple drops of liquid smoke and do the final run under the broiler. If I do on the grill again, I'll either put on foil, or cook over indirect heat.
made 3 changes: reduced soda to 2x12 oz bottles of organic soda sweetened with stevia AND used chicken legs. I doubted the skin would crisp up on the grill, so I de-skinned the legs before braising. Otherwise, this was easy and pretty tasty; I liked it. If I could find stevia-sweetened root beer or Dr. P., I would love it. I think the spicier taste would stand up to adding a chipotle, which is my favorite hot stuff. In conclusion, A nice recipe; thanks for sharing.
Our local grocery store only had smoked turkey legs available. This had the advantage of giving the inner meat nice flavor, but the disadvantage of being more dry after boiling and grilling. I look forward to comparing the smoked legs with the recipe the way it was intended. The outer part of the legs had a nice flavor with the red pepper and honey contrasting each other and the crispy grilled outside. This recipe is in our folder for regular use!
The flavor on these is amazing. UNFORTUNATELY, turkey legs are such a pain to eat. We loved the taste, but ended up greasy and annoyed by the time we were done. I may try again with turkey breasts on the bone.
Such a great way of cooking any poultry! will be repeated- great flavor!!
Hubby and I both love these legs.Only change i made was to use SPLENDA(R) instead of sugar.Thanks Tony.
A couple recipes had the brine base with lemon lime soda, so I tried it. The meat turned out tender, but had a soured taste to it. I will definitely grill turkey legs again, but will create a new brine. A soy Sauce sugar brine like used with pigs feet would be better. I would definitely slow roast them with out boiling. A smoky flavor would be much better.
it was great but i used syrup instead of honey and added salt and extra crush red pepper for glaze.AMAZING!!
Was looking for a better tasty way to cook turkey legs for Thanksgiving and ran into this recipe. Was scared but always ready for a challenge, decided to try it. OMG probably will never fix my turkey legs another way again.
These were OK, but they did have a strange flavor I didn't particularly care for. Not terrible, but I probably won't make them again.
Our grill ended up catching on fire (time to clean it!!) so ours were a bit crispy, but the inside was still surprisingly moist and tasty. While I don't agree that they taste anything like the turkey legs you might get an amusement park or fair, I enjoyed them. The cooked onions might be tasty over mashed potatoes as a handy side dish.
I love turkey and this was great! I dont like lemon-lime so, I used a chicken bouillon cube in the water to boil for 30 minutes. Then I marinated legs in steak seasoning for about 2 hours. Then I added the other seasonings. Before I went to bed I placed legs in the oven @ 175 degrees and let them cook all night. In the morning I took them from the oven,let them cool and placed in the refrigerator. At dinnertime I heated them through in oven 400 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes. DELICIOUS!!
It wasn't fantastic but I cooked them in a bag and not on the grill. I will probably look for a different recipe next time I cook turkey legs. I cook them at least 2x a month.
I do not know. When I put them on the grill. I ran out of gas. Do not preheat the grill an al advance time is preferable.
This surprisingly easy main course was delicious And easy to do. I only made 2 legs, so next time I’d split the recipe. We had corn on the cob and sweet potatoes with it. Yummy.
This is a family favorite. My picky eaters love amusement park turkey legs and say these taste the same. Total winner in my home!
2 out of 3 teenagers enjoyed these. Next time I'll lower the coals so the heat isn't so close to them. All that sugar in the parboil and then the added honey made them burn a bit. I had a great little grate that I bought on a whim at the dollar store. I oiled that and put everything on it which made grill clean-up a cinch.
Are you sure? Removing from Saved Items will permanently delete it from all collections. View My Collections