Sous vide turkey legs

TIME14 hours MAKES4 servings PORTION
0.5x 1x 2x 3x

This year, I decided not to commit to the standard thanksgiving spatchcocked roast turkey with stuffing, for a variety of reasons — one of them being that I was flying to Europe at 5pm that day and needed to be at the airport at 2pm.

The goal of an easy zero turkey lunch ran away from me, however, the moment I walked through my local supermarket the day before and ended up buying two turkey legs for $3 each (what a bargain!).

So this is an ‘easy’ thanksgiving roast turkey dinner that avoids the need to roast a whole turkey, and reducing the complications on the day by sous viding the turkey legs overnight. Alongside the stuffing (which can also be made the night before), roast potatoes and turkey gravy, it gives the standard thanksgiving dinner with a lot less effort.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 turkey leg quarters (drumstick and thigh)
  • 1% salt by weight
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 4 garlic cloves (smashed)
  • 4-6 sprigs thyme
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter (or olive oil)

STEPS

Sous vide

  1. Preheat the sous vide water bath to 65ºC. Vacuum seal each turkey leg with the garlic, herbs, and butter (or olive oil). Aim to place the garlic and herbs on the underside of the leg, so that they do not leave imprints on the skin.

  2. Sous vide overnight for 12 hours (and up to 24). When done, if not using right away, remove the turkey from water bath and transfer to refrigerator to chill in the sealed bag. The turkey legs can be kept refrigerated within the sealed bag for up to 1 week.

Crisp the skin

  1. Remove the turkey legs from the bags, reserving the juices (these can be used for gravy, see turkey gravy). Pat the skin very dry.

  2. Crisp the skin with your chosen method below1:

    • In a cast iron pan: heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a cast iron pan, and sear the turkey leg skin side down until crispy and brown all over (about 6 minutes).

    • In the oven: preheat the oven to 220ºC. Place the turkey legs on a lined baking tray (optionally, you can place them on top of stuffing), and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Turn on the griller for the last few minutes to crisp up the skin.

  3. Serve with roast potatoes, turkey gravy, and cranberry sauce.

NOTES

  1. For turkey legs that have been refrigerated, I recommend heating them up in the oven. ↩︎

Related