Festival and Theme Park Turkey Legs

Submitted by Major K.

"We love the turkey legs they serve at the local Flea Market, the Colorado Rennaissance Festival and at our theme parks, so we sought out the recipe and now use this excellent version to indulge in that tasty finger [hand] food.This is supposedly the authentic recipe used by turkey leg vendors at fairs and festivals. Boiling the turkey legs first may seem like cheating but if you have to make thousands of them to sell you don't want to have them sitting on your grill for 20 to 30 minutes before you sell them. Original recipe from the About.com website. For easy serving, after grilling, wrap the bottom end of the legs in aluminum foil and a napkin or paper towel to make a great "holder"."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 4 turkey legs
• 1 (2 liter) bottle carbonated lemon-lime beverage
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon steak seasoning
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper (optional)

directions

1. Combine soda, sugar, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, black pepper and onion slices in a large pot.
2. Bring to a low boil and add turkey legs.
3. Boil over a medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the turkey legs register an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
4. Meanwhile, preheat grill.
5. Place onion slices on the heated grill and put the turkey legs on top of the onion slices.
6. Brush with honey and sprinkle with steak seasoning and pepper.
7. Grill over a medium heat for about 15 minutes watching carefully to avoid burning.
8. Turn as needed.
9. The skin should be crispy brown when the turkey legs are done.

Reviews

[Roger-OH]

We thought these were so-so. I made them as written with the exception of grilling them over an open fire. I wasn't sure what steak seasoning was and shook on some Canadian Style Steak Seasoning I had on hand. I would haave to agree with Lvs2Cook that smoking the legs would be an improvement.

 

[terip263]

It was not what I expected. I thought that the sweetness from the boil would disappear it's needs salt. I feel that I wasted my turkey legs.

 

[Cookin Katie]

We thought these were just awful! The smell from the boiling pot made us cough and wheeze and then the turkey legs were too spicy on the outside and way too dry on the inside. I followed the recipe just as told so I know it's not me. I'm sorry but I would not make these again

 

[Nancy G.]

We made these for dinner yesterday and while they were good, they weren't what we were expecting. Next time I will smoke them to get more of the flavor I am looking for. Also, don't inhale any of the boiling brine if you can help it~you'll be sneezing and coughing for hours, LOL! I made the recipe as posted. Thank you for posting a good recipe that I will doctor up a little the next time I make it!

 

[FlowrBx]

My son found this exact recipe on about.com today when looking for a way to cook turkey legs. He brought over two "giant" (2 lb) SMOKED turkey legs and he and DH proceeded to follow the identical recipe except that they used diet 7-Up. Because of the size of the legs, it took about 45 minutes of boiling to get these large legs to 165 degrees F. Then they put them directly on the grill (without the onions) and brushed them with the honey and steak seasoning. The results were outstanding! Two 2 lb legs were more than the four adults could eat at one meal. The combination of the sweet and the heat was fantastic. I removed the onions from the broth and served them as well. They were so sweet and delectible they seemed to melt in your mouth. Once cooled, I'm going to freeze this broth - it's way too good to throw away! This recipe does pack a pretty good punch so if you can't stand the heat, you might want to back off the hot sauce or the red pepper flakes a bit. Thanks Major for posting!