Use your foraged mushrooms and turkey to make mushroom and wild turkey recipes.
Wild Mushroom and Wild Turkey Leg Stew
The leg is an underused part of a turkey, partly because the meat is tougher than the breast. That’s why employing a slow cooker or Dutch oven is a great way to enjoy this part of a bird.
Yield: 6 servings.
- 1 uncooked turkey leg
- 4 cups chicken or turkey broth
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup chopped carrot
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup dryad’s saddle mushrooms
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- About 8 hours before preparing stew, place turkey leg in slow cooker. Add broth. Cover and cook on low until tender enough to slip off the bone – ours often takes about 7-1/2 hours.
- Remove meat from bone and set aside 3 cups of meat. Reserve 3 cups broth from slow cooker.
- Heat large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil and butter.
- Add carrot, celery, onion, mushrooms, and thyme. Cook gently for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add broth and simmer until carrots are almost tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add turkey meat and cook until heated through.
- Add salt and pepper.
- Remove pot from heat and stir in cream.
Slow Cooker Turkey Breast with Mushrooms
Of course, even a prime cut, such as the breast, will benefit from cooking low and slow. This is a superb dish without morel or other mushrooms, but it’s sublime with them.
Yield: 6 servings.
- 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
- 1 cup sliced sweet onion
- 2 large carrots, sliced
- 1/2 cup turkey or chicken broth
- 1 large wild turkey breast
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 cups sliced zucchini
- 1/2 cup morel mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
- 1/2 teaspoon additional salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Place tomatoes, onion, and carrot in bottom of slow cooker. Pour broth over vegetables.
- Place turkey breast on top of vegetables. Sprinkle turkey with minced garlic, then season with 1⁄ 2 teaspoon salt and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
- After 6 hours, remove lid. Add white wine to liquid in slow cooker. Spread zucchini slices and mushrooms over turkey breast. Sprinkle zucchini with additional 1/2 teaspoon salt and Italian seasoning.
- Cover with lid. Cook an additional 1-1/2 to 2 hours until zucchini is tender.
Baked Turkey and Mushroom Burgers
We prefer chicken of the woods mushrooms for this meal because they retain their firmness inside burgers. Oyster mushrooms go well in sauces.
Yield: 6 patties.
- 1 cup chicken of the woods mushrooms (or other mushroom)
- 1 shallot
- 1-1/2 pounds ground wild turkey breast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup oyster mushrooms (or other mushroom)
- 1-1/2 cup chicken or turkey broth
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 to 2 tablespoons cream
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Using food processor or method of your choice, process 1 cup chicken of the woods mushrooms and half the shallot until finely minced.
- In large bowl, combine ground turkey, 1 tablespoon olive oil, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and finely minced shallot-mushroom mixture. Mix and shape into 6 patties. Place on baking sheet.
- Bake at 400 F, for 20 to 22 minutes, until internal temperature reads 165 F.
- While patties are cooking, make sauce.In skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium until butter melts.
- Mince remaining half shallot and add 1 tablespoon to skillet and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add oyster mushrooms and cook 4 to 5 minutes more.
- Pour 3/4 cup chicken broth over shallots and mushrooms. Season with soy sauce and fish sauce.
- In small bowl or cup, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch with half of remaining broth. Mix until no lumps remain.
- Stir some of cornstarch mixture into the pan and cook over low for 2 minutes to thicken. If necessary, add remaining chicken broth to reach the desired sauce consistency.
- Remove pan from heat and stir in cream.
- Spoon sauce over patties to serve.
Bruce and Elaine Ingram co-wrote Living the Locavore Lifestyle about hunting, fishing, and gathering wild fruits and nuts for food, plus recipes. For more info: BruceIngramOutdoors@gmail.com.
Originally published in the May/June 2025 issue of Grit magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
