Sous Vide Turkey Legs
Posted On 23 November 2022
I don’t like turkey. Well, specifically, I don’t like whole turkey. Some of the parts are okay. So we decided to make just turkey legs.
Sous Vide Turkey Legs
Tender and flavorful
Servings: 4
Equipment
- 1 Sous Vide Immersion Cooker
- 2 1-gallon zipper-lock bags
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced lemongrass
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1-2 Jalapeño or Fresno pepper, seeds removed, minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 turkey legs, thawed
- 4 sprigs rosemary (5-6" each)
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix the ginger, lemongrass, garlic, thyme, and Jalapeño or Fresno pepper. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, and honey. Taste and adjust with kosher salt and black pepper. (See notes.)
- Put each turkey leg into a 1 gallon resealable bag. (Unlikely that these would fit into a 1-quart bag well.)
- Spoon the cooking mixture over each leg equally. Squish the legs around in the bag to coat evenly.
- Add the rosemary. Add weights if you'd like. Remove the air from the bags by your preferred method.
- Fill your immersion cooker vessel to cover the legs and get well above the minimum line of your immersion cooker. (My container has a lid — if yours doesn't, cover with plastic wrap and/or foil and check the water level often as evaporation will be happening.)
- Set your immersion cooker for 150°F / 65°C and 24-30 hours. (For example, I started mine at 2pm on the day before Thanksgiving so that we could eat pretty much any time Thanksgiving afternoon.)
- At the end of the immersion cooking, remove the legs from the bags and discard the marinade/cooking liquid.
- Heat a pan on medium-high heat. When hot, add 1 tablespoon of oil and immediately add the legs facing opposite directions so that they'll both fit. If you don't have a large enough pan you may need to sear them separately. Sear for 1-2 minutes per side, turning as needed.
Notes
- Adjust the seasonings as needed. A lower-sodium soy sauce may need more salt in the cooking liquid
- This can be made up to a week in advance — leave sealed in the bags after cooking and then let come to room temperature before searing.