This oven-roasted herb-roasted turkey legs recipe is incredibly easy and flavorful and works best for days when a whole turkey is just too much food or you are cooking for a smaller party. It uses a simple brine that's not overly salty, which will keep your turkey drumsticks moist and juicy!
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If you're like us and want to enjoy turkey during the holidays, but having a whole turkey is not very practical because it's a lot of food, then this herb-roasted turkey leg recipe is for you!
One of the secrets to this tender, moist, and juicy turkey recipe is that we use dark meat! But being dark meat is not enough for it to stay juicy and tender; the secret is that you need to brine it in a salt solution. The salt in the brine will draw in moisture into the meat, which keeps it very moist!
If you're looking to use turkey thighs instead, I also have a recipe for Easy Oven Roasted Turkey Thighs with Coffee Rub that you may enjoy!
Why I Love This Easy Roasted Turkey Legs Recipe
- It's Easy! - Brine the turkey for 24 hours, throw it in the oven and bake it, and glaze it with a simple herb glaze right before it comes out!
- Moist, Tender, and Juicy - Using the brining method, the salt draws water into the turkey and keeps it very moist, and makes it juicy! You'll never have dry turkey this way! I also use the same brine for roasting a whole turkey as well!
- My Brine Isn't Overly Salty - When you're making a turkey, you don't want the brine to make your turkey overly salty, which will compete with your rub or glaze, so I tested my brine to use as little salt as possible, but still have enough salt to be able to keep it moist. I use this brine on everything at home that I don't want to dry out (like porkchops, whole roast turkey, and chicken), so it's very versatile as well.
- Very Flavorful - I use a simple herb glaze at the very end to give these turkey legs a ton of flavor!
Ingredients for Herb Roasted Turkey Legs
- Turkey Legs - I like to use the turkey drumsticks for this recipe, but you can definitely use the thigh or breast as well. You can also substitute chicken in place of the turkey legs as well but you will need to adjust the cooking time and cook it for less time.
Turkey Leg Marinade
- Light soy sauce - I use light or low sodium soy sauce for this turkey leg marinade.
- Dark soy sauce - Dark soy sauce is syrupy and usually less salty than regular or light soy sauce. It is mainly used to give the meat some color. If you can't find it, you can use regular soy sauce instead but it won't have that dark color.
- Herb Glaze - For the herbs, you can basically combo any of your favorite green herbs for this recipe but try not to overdo it on the really strong flavored ones like dill. I have not tried using fresh herbs for this since fresh herbs are expensive in the winter and my herb garden decided it wanted to give up on me this year. I will update the recipe when I can get a hold of fresh herbs again. I put lemongrass in this herb mixture for additional flavor, this is optional but I HIGHLY recommend using it if you can get your hand on it.
Turkey Brine Ingredients
For this roasted turkey legs recipe, I kept the brine somewhat simple and used salt, water, bay leaves, garlic, and black cardamom.
You can omit the black cardamom for the brine without a big difference in flavor but I highly recommend keeping in the garlic and bay leaves.
How to Make Turkey Juicy, Tender, and Flavorful
Whenever I cook any type of poultry (or lean meats like pork chops), I like to use a brine.
It's a little more work but well worth the effort because it makes the meat juicier and tender by using the salt to draw the water into the meat - food science!
You should always brine meat overnight.
When you are working with salt and brining, it is also very easy to overdo it which can make meats very salty.
Through trial and error, I found my sweet spot is 3 tablespoons of salt with 8-9 cups of water.
Go with 8 cups of water if you prefer saltier meat, go with 9 cups of water for less salty meat.
What to Serve with This Roasted Turkey Leg
I love to serve these with my easy pan-fried honey soy brussels sprouts, garlic fried rice (sinangag) or honey miso garlic roasted potatoes.
This turkey also goes very well with my Korean Glass Noodle Stir Fry (Japchae) as well!
More Oven-Roasted Recipes You May Like
- Oven Roasted Five Spice Peking Chicken
- Sweet and Spicy Honey Sriracha Chicken
- Sweet and Spicy Coca Cola Ribs
- Easy Oven Roasted Turkey Thighs with Coffee Rub
- Switch Up Your Sunday Dinner Traditions With These 17 Incredibly Delicious Roasts
More Turkey Recipes You May Like
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Recipe Card
Herb Roasted Turkey Legs
Joyce's Recipe Notes
- The dark soy is used to give the turkey a bit of colour and a bit of sodium. If you do not have it, you can use regular soy sauce.
- The herb glaze can be doubled or tripled with no issues if you would like to use this on a whole turkey! π
- I like to use the turkey drum for this recipe, but you can definitely use the thigh or breast as well. You can also substitute chicken in place of the turkey legs as well but you will need to adjust the cooking time and cook it for less time.
Ingredients
- 4 turkey legs
Turkey Brine
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 8 cups water
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 4-5 garlic cloves (roughly crushed)
- 2 black cardamom (optional)
Herb Glaze
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (light or low sodium)
- Β½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- Β½ onion
- 2 tablespoons oil (to make the onion paste)
- ΒΌ cup unsalted butter
- ΒΌ cup oil (any oil except olive oil)
- 1 teaspoon lemongrass
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon tarragon
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- Β½ teaspoon oregano
- Β½ teaspoon dill
- Β½ teaspoon basil
Instructions
Brining the Turkey
- In a large bowl, combine the water and salt together and stir until the salt has dissolved
- Add in the the bay leaves, crushed garlic cloves and black cardamoms (optional)
- Add in the turkey legs and brine it for 24 hours in the fridge.
Making the Herb Glaze
- In a food processor, blitz half an onion with 2 tablespoons of oil until it becomes a paste. (If you don't have a food processor, you can grate the onion instead)
- Melt the butter and combine the onion paste, ΒΌ cup of oil, soy sauces, and herbs into 1 bowl and mix well. Set aside for later to glaze the turkey. (Note: the glaze may thicken, as the butter cools - not to worry, it will melt back into a oil once you brush it on the hot turkey!)
Roasting the Turkey
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F (177C)
- Use a roasting pan and put a rack in it to suspend the turkey, so there is air flow between the pan and the bottom of the turkey. If you don't have a rack, you can take tin foil and roughly press it together to create a rough and bumpy texture and place the turkey legs on top so it is not sitting completely flat against the roasting pan.
- Once the oven is up to temperature, place the turkey legs in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes
- Once 30 minutes is up, we can start to glaze the turkey with the herb glaze every 15-20 minutes
- The turkey legs should take between 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes but use a meat thermometer to be sure. My oven doesn't run very hot, so yours may take less time to fully cook.The internal temperature should be 165F (74C). When you cut into the turkey, the juices should be clear and not bloody.
- Enjoy! π
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
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Alanna says
Great! Brine - added lemon , peppercorns, onion, garlic, fresh herbs, bay leaves. Put all other ingredients in blender plus lots of garlic. slathered under skin and basted every 20 minutes. Thermometer is essential. Had one giant leg for 3 people.
Joyce Lee says
Hi Alanna!
I'm so happy you liked it! I love to use this brine on everything too, even chicken and porkchops! π
Cypress K says
could i use regular cardamom seeds? whatβs the flavor difference? canβt wait to try!
Mark says
Hello I want to use this recipe for a whole Turkey. How much time to roast it ?
Joyce Lee says
Hi Mark,
Unfortunately, I have not tried making this for a whole turkey so I am not 100% sure how much time it would take to roast it.
...but if I was to do it, I would definitely use an internal thermometer (I like to stick it in the breast since it dries out the easiest) and cook it until the breast is about 165f.
The rest of the bird might not be 100% cooked since the dark meat takes longer to cook so once the breast hits 165f, I would take it out of the oven and foil it for an hour to let the dark meat cook some more with the residual heat.
Cooking time is roughly 13 minutes per pound at 350f, unstuffed.
Hope this helps a bit
Kim says
Hi there,
I'm in Melbourne Australia, I can only get turkey drumsticks that are around 500gm or 18oz. How long should I cook these for??
Joyce Lee says
Hi Kim,
These are for turkey drums, they seem to call them turkey legs from where I get them. So the recipe should be approximately the same cooking time. Hope this helps!
Christina says
This recipe is AMAZING! I have made these turkey legs several times and I always use fresh herbs. I do not use the black cardamom for the brine and I do not use the lemongrass or tarragon for the glaze. Me and my daughter always enjoy this meal when its done. The herbs also smell fantastic as they cook.
Joyce Lee says
Hi Christina!
I'm so happy to hear that you and your daughter enjoyed this! and thank you so much for sharing this with me!! π
Vero Lu says
I appreciate how well explained your recipe is. I like the tips and advice you give without excessive wording and yet with a nice and friendly tone. I like you focus on the recipe and not in telling your life and feelings as other recipe bloggers do. I like you donβt omit any steps or tips, another recipe blog said 55 minutes to roast the turkey legs, for instance.
Thank you and I can wait to explore more of your recipes. Best luck to your enterprise.
Joyce Lee says
Hi Vero!
Thank you so much for your kind words. You really made my day. I try my best to include all the details so that the recipes can be successful for anyone who tries to make my recipes. To be honest, sometimes I wonder if I am explaining things too much or being too talkative in explaining my process, so it really helps to hear that you are finding this useful. π
Thanks again for coming back to write to me, this really means a lot and I truly am thankful for your support.
Josie says
I am going to use your recipe to make roasted turkey legs ( which the leg size are bigger than chicken legs, more meaty).. Your ingredientis are quite unique.π, that's why I must try. Thanks.
Joyce Lee says
Hi Josie,
I hope you all enjoy this! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Judith Franck says
Hi there,
Thank you for this recipe. I've now made this several times and it's always a success - people ask me where I buy my turkey for it to be so moist so I tell them about brining. I will try and remembet to post a photo next time I make it (and there will always be a next time!).
Joyce Lee says
Hi Judith,
I'm so happy you like this! I'm very happy I can share this with you! Brining works wonders for all kinds of meat! I love brining meats! At home, I will sometimes brine pork chops and chicken breasts as well since they tend to be easy to overcook which makes them dry!