Recipe for soul food style Smothered Turkey Wings, Legs, and Thighs
I uploaded a recipe for smothered turkey wings almost two years ago. Since then, I’ve been getting a ton of request for a updated version. Since everyone seemed to really love my smothered turkey wings recipe, and had many questions about it, I just decided to upload the recipe again. However, this time around I’m making a homemade gravy- AND you can make smothered turkey wings, legs or thighs with this recipe!
This smothered turkey wings, legs, and thigh recipe is a very soulful one. In fact, if you grew up in a household that ate soul food on the regular, you know that this is the real deal! This time around, I’m not using any canned cream of mushroom, or taking any shortcuts. I’m making everything homemade, gravy and all.
Believe it or not, making your own gravy is a lot easier than it sounds. Also, homemade gravy tastes a lot better than any canned, jared, or powdered gravy. The gravy that we are making for our smothered turkey legs, wings, and thighs is absolutely amazing. Not only is it great to smother the turkey, it taste great on top of mashed potatoes and rice as well!
In the video clip below I will be using turkey legs. Keep in mind that you CAN use this same recipe for smothered turkey wings, thighs, and even turkey necks!
Watch the video tutorial
Smothered Turkey Wings, Legs, or Thighs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs turkey wings legs or thighs
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp ground sage
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken or turkey broth
- 1/2 cup half & half
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 small bell pepper chopped
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- salt & pepper for taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F.
- Rinse the turkey under cool water, then pat dry.
- Combine all of the seasonings: Salt, pepper, thyme,sage,onion powder, and garlic powder.
- Season the turkey with the seasonings, and rub all over.
- Sprinkle the all purpose flour into a large freezer bag, then place the turkey into the bag.
- Close the bag, and shake until all of the turkey is nicely coated with the flour( don't toss out the excess flour).
- Place a large pan on the stovetop and add in 3 tbsp of vegetable oil, and 2 tbsp of butter.
- Melt the butter, and heat up the oil over medium heat.
- Once the oil & butter is nice and hot, add in the turkey.
- Brown all surfaces of the turkey, then remove from the pan, and put the turkey into a large bake dish.
- Head back to the stovetop and toss in all of the chopped vegetables.
- Season the vegetables with salt and pepper to your preference, and cook the veggies, over medium heat, until they are translucent.
- Once done turn off the heat, and add the veggies into the bake dish with the turkey, but reserve the oil/butter mixture.
- Cover the bake dish with foil, and bake the turkey for 2 hours ( on 325 F).
How to Make Homemade Gravy
- Heat up the butter/oil mixture over medium heat.
- Once the butter/oil is nice and hot sprinkle in the flour ( leftover from earlier).
- Stir continuously, and brown.
- Pour in the chicken broth, and stir to prevent and lumps.
- Next add in the half & half, and stir until everything is well combined.
- Let the gravy cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken up.
- Remove the turkey from the oven, and uncover.
- Pour the gravy all over the turkey, making sure that it is nicely smothered, then cover.
- bake for an additional 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Remove the turkey form the oven, and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Try these recipes as well!
Rosie you know you can cook your butt off girl……..yes
Thank you!
You have some Delicious recipes on here Rosie, thank you very much. You can really cook. Good to be able to eat some Delicious REAL food and meals. Thank you for ALL of your Recipes!
Awesome recipe! Best out! You go sis!
Hi Rosie. My name is Rosie “too”! For 1st time this AM, I viewed your smothered turkey leg recipe. Making preparations for dinner of this recipe for my husband & I this evening. Nice presentation; will let you know outcome. I Luv to cook too! Rosie.
I fixed this last night……damn delicious!! thanks
I love it as well!
I just cooked this for my Sunday dinner. Oh my goodness, the turkey wings are fantastic! I have made turkey wings using a different recipe before; however, they have never tasted as great as this recipe! My husband loves it. Thanks Rosie!
Thank you for trying my recipe darlin’!
Rosie thank you ! You saved my thanksgiving !!!
XOXO! Happy holidays!
Thank you for your recipes AND videos. Thanks to you my family thinks I can cook now.
I could HUG your neck!
Lita
XOXO
Rosie, for the life of me I can’t seem to find the recipe ingredients for your No Bake Easy Cheese Cake. I wild appreciate it if you left me the Ingredient measurement in the reply or email it to me, Thanks
Which one? I have a couple of them.
Can you use this recipe with chicken?
I have a smothered chicken recipe available.
Trying this today.
I just made your smothered turkey legs for dinner today it turn out so freaking good lol everyone in my family enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Hi Nicole! I’m glad that you all loved the recipe! XOXO
Hi Rosie,
I ran across your wonderful site yesterday and figured I would try this recipe first. All is can say is AWESOMENESS AT IT’S BEST!! This is by far the best recipe I have made thus far. I can’t wait to try the others. Many blessings to you, your family and your culinary talent!
Thank you Erika! I’m glad that you found my blog! XOXO
Tried this recipe yesterday and enjoyed it ….wonder if you think making this with chicken thighs would work.
Thank you
Dee
Hi there! I actually have a pretty amazing smothered chicken recipe uploaded. 🙂
i made this last week, did the recipe just like u said. It came out PERFECT.. the best fn turkey wings ever.. i had to Pin it! Thanks
Thanks for trying my recipe Greg!
Listen here. I don’t know you personally but I feel that my spirit was led to your site and now we’re e-BFF’s lol. This came out soooooo good! I’ve never been successful at making gravy and your recipe has me feeling something like a Master Chef! Seriously, I will definitely be perusing your site for more recipes. This one was awesome! Keep up the good work 🙂
Well hello there my BFF!!! LOL. I’m so glad that you found my blog. XOXO
We had this tonight for dinner it was amazing!!!!
So glad that you liked the recipe!
I made this recipe using both turkey wings and legs 2 nights ago and it was a hit! Literally was gone so fast I don’t even have a chance to eat seconds. My family enjoyed this. I followed your recipe exactly, increasing measurements being that I used 6 pieces of meat. I’ll be doing this again before the year is over! Just like my mother used to make! Thank you!!
Hi Kay! I’m happy to hear that you tried & liked my recipe! XOXO
Hey Rosie.. i have a ques.. If im making 2 five pound pans of turkey wings, how long do i bake in oven b4 i put on the gravy????? Thank You & Happy Thanksgiving.. -Greg
Hey Greg. Try adding the gravy during the last 30 minutes of cooking. Happy holidays.
Just made this and Yasss all the Way.. Only thing I did diffrent is Used my Pressure cooker instead of oven… Delicious!!! I love your blog.. Big Fan.. Just had to show love this time
Thanks for trying my recipe Kadija!
If I don’t cook it with bell pepper and celery will it damage the dish? My boyfriend doesn’t Care for either
You can leave both out. It will taste different, but if he doesn’t like either I’d leave them out 🙂
Delicious. I actually tweeted the recipe to make it more heart healthy and because my husband has problems digesting gravy which I think is related to the amount of oil.
I seasoned turkey thighs the night before , lightly brushed with olive oil then baked uncovered 350 until nicely browned. I used the 1/ 2 cup of flour in the butter/ olive oil. Instead of half and half I used 2 % milk with 1 tbsp. flour wished in
I drained the oil before adding cooked veggies and gravy
Can I use chicken drumsticks? And slow cook it the same way
Hi Nicole. Try my southern smothered chicken recipe.
So good, l cook turkey legs Sunday so good.Thanks!!
Thanks for trying! 🙂
OMG this was so good! Now, it took forever to prepare but my family absolutely loved it. Thank you so much for sharing this I really mean that. I will definitely make this again after I forget how long it took to prepare lol. Thank you and may you be richly blessed you have a gift girl.
Thanks LaKeesha! Glad that you liked the recipe!
Awesome recipe luckily stumbled onto thanks for sharing
I tried this exact recipe and the gravy was to die for I was excited about how I can use this smothered recipe on anything trying it on pork chops tonight and making extra gravy for my homemade mashed potatoes…thank you so much for this website plus I can incorporate these into my diet as well
I made this making a few changes. Who doesn’t substitute. I didn’t have garlic powder in the house so I used lots of crushed garlic bulbs and I hate celery so I left that out. It was still great! I strongly recommend.
Sooo delicious! Slap my momma good! Just kiddin ma!
Xoxo
THANK YOU ROSIE!
I have looked at a couple of sites and have decided to try this tomorrow for my boyfriend’s birthday. He loves gravy so I know he will enjoy this!
Enjoy! 🙂
This recipe is so good!! I made if for my partner’s family last night and they all said it was great and we didn’t end up with any leftovers. So flavourful and tender, I’ll definitely make it again 🙂
I’m glad that you all liked the recipe!
I will try this receipe this afternoon. I have heavy cream in my fridge. Can I use that instead of half and half?
No, do not just use heavy cream. Use half milk, and half cream
This turned out pretty good. My husband and his kids are not big fans of veggies so next time I have an idea of removing the celery and onions before adding the gravy. Flavor was awesome and Turkey very tender. My first time being successful at making homemade gravy as well. Thank you!
This turned out pretty good. My husband and his kids are not big fans of veggies so next time I have an idea of removing the celery and onions before adding the gravy. Flavor was awesome and Turkey very tender. My first time being successful at making homemade gravy as well. Thank you!
This was sooooooooooo good, my husband went back for more. Will most certainly do this again. The flavor was awesome.
My very picky daughter absolutely loved this recipe, so much so that she has somehow talked me into making it on a weeknight! The wings were flavorful and amazingly tender. While the cook time is definitely long (and worth the wait), the hands-on time does not make too bad, even for a weeknight.
Omg!!! These were absolutely delicious!! But my question is if you were going to make more at one time as in (4)pounds of turkey, would the recipe just double in measurements?
Yes 🙂
I made these wings for Thanksgiving and they were wonderful, tasty and tender. This is one is a true keeper.
My husband asked me to make smothered turkey wings last night. I never made that dish. before so I googled it. Rosie’s recipe was the first to appear and I was immediately intrigued. I got all the ingredients and made it last night, it was so delicious! The turkey wings (and legs) literally fell off the bone. My husband and I really enjoyed this meal and I’m adding it into our dinner rotation. Thank you, Rosie!
Thanks for trying my recipe hun!
Hi Rosie. Do you have Recipe for turkey necks?
I do, but it’s not posted 🙂
Turkey wing recipe, my family loves
Insert 6th star here! My sister, i started to mail you an engagement ring for this right here! Real diamond, no cubic zirconia…lol! This was sooo good! My sister had just had a baby and I made these for her. She absolutely smashed them and now it’s a requested fave. Thanks for the recipe!
LOL!!! So glad that you liked the recipe!
Just made the smothered turkey with your recipe loved it!!!thank you so much
Rosie!!
I made your famous Turkey legs, just like you directed in the instructions. Girl, I am 63 years old and that was the best I have ever had.
Thank you so much!
P.S. you need your own cooking show!
I plan on cooking this for Thanksgiving!! Can I add some potatoes in the pan along with the gravey
You sure can 😉
Hi Rosie.
I will be trying this recipe with turkey wings portions for Christmas dinner. Thanks a lot
I’m cooking this now for my mom and wife. They keep saying how good it smells. It looks so good, can’t wait to taste it.
This is the first recipe that I tried of yours and I’ve been coming back ever since! Thank you Rosie for blessing us with your recipes and stories of your childhood. For some, it takes us back to our grandma’s kitchen when we were growing up❤
I made you recipe tonight and MY GOD it was too good!
Thank you Rosie!!! THANK YOU!
Thanks for trying my recipe! XOXO