When you’ve purchased or harvested a delicious bird, don’t waste a single morsel of turkey meat. Cook up turkey neck recipes, including wild turkey frittata, sloppy joes, Alfredo, and more turkey meat recipes.
My wife, Elaine, and I relish living off the land as much as possible, as we feel this lifestyle provides exercise and healthy food from fish, game, and wild edibles. As locavores, we try to maximize the meat from every animal I kill. In my opinion, the most challenging game animal to harvest is the wild turkey. So we especially don’t want to leave any meat unclaimed when I’m butchering these big game birds.
Which leads to this question: What can be eaten from a wild turkey — or any domestic bird, for that matter — besides the breast and legs?
A number of years ago, I posed that question to my turkey-hunting mentor, Larry Proffitt, whose family operates the famed Ridgewood Barbecue in Bluff City, Tennessee. Larry knows a thing or two about food preparation. He told me the neck, wings, and giblets are all worth eating. Here’s Larry’s favorite gravy recipe, along with a host of other recipes, to make the most out of your hard-earned turkey.
Turkey Neck Recipes
Wild Turkey Neck Sloppy Joes Recipe
Many hunters aim for the neck when they’re hunting turkeys, so that part of the bird’s anatomy is likely to have shot pellets in it. Taking that likelihood into account, we like to thoroughly run our fingers through the meat before it’s added to any recipe.
Yield: 2 sandwiches.
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4Â cup sweet onion
- 1/2 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
- 1/2Â tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 precooked turkey neck, meat removed
Directions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook another minute.
- In a separate bowl, combine tomato paste, water, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar. Pour over contents in skillet. Cook 3 to 4 minutes to allow flavors to combine.
- Stir in turkey neck meat. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes. If mixture is too thick, add water as needed.
- Serve on buns or bread.
Wild Turkey Neck Broccoli Quiche Recipe
This is an entrée that’ll work well for any meal. Sometimes, we’ll prepare this dish for dinner and then warm the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
Yield: 4 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 to 1-1/2 cups precooked wild turkey neck meat
- 1 cup fresh broccoli, finely chopped
- 1/3Â cup onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup grated cheese (we used a combination of cheddar and Monterey Jack)
- 5 eggs
- 1-1/4 cups whole milk (if you want more creaminess, use 1/2 cup half-and-half and 3/4 cup milk)
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Place turkey, broccoli, onion, mushrooms, and cheese in the bottom of a greased pie plate.
- Combine eggs, milk, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl. Beat until mixed. Pour over contents in pie plate.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until the center of the quiche is set. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting
and serving.
Wild Turkey Neck Alfredo Recipe
This is a lighter version of traditional Alfredo sauce. Usually, Alfredo sauces depend on cream, but we use milk and broth thickened with flour, which we feel is healthier. Also, feel free to use an additional garlic clove if you prefer more of a “kick” in an entrée. We, however, think too much garlic may overwhelm the flavor Parmesan cheese brings to this dish.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 cup milk (use cream for more richness)
- 1-1/2Â cups grated fresh Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth
- Salt and pepper, to taste (we use 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper)
- 2 to 3 cups precooked wild turkey neck meat, shredded or chopped
- Prepared rice of choice
Directions
- In a heavy pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic. Sauté 3 to 4 minutes.
- Sprinkle flour over buttered garlic. Cook gently until flour is golden-brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- While this is cooking, steam broccoli until slightly tender.
- Slowly whisk milk into flour-butter mixture. It’ll be thick.
- Add Parmesan cheese and stir until well-melted.
- Gently mix in broth until incorporated. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.
- Add turkey and broccoli to the pan. Heat until both are heated through.
- Serve over rice.
Wild Greens Salad with Turkey Neck and Heart Meat Recipe
We thought about calling this entrée several different names, including “Clean-Out-the-Freezer Salad,” but we opted for the “Hearty” title, pun intended. Turkey hearts are indeed hearty in terms of nutrition, as they boast large amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and impressive amounts of vitamins B2, B6, and B12, plus iron and zinc.
As far as the “Clean-Out” title, we were rummaging through our freezer and discovered a package of 2 turkey hearts and a small turkey neck — just the right amount of meat for a salad. The picture for this entrée was taken in late spring, and the ingredient list is based on what was available in our garden and woodlot at that time. So, except for the turkey meat, ingredients such as the dandelion leaves and broadleaf plantain greens constantly change, and most of them can be measured to taste.
Yield: 1 large salad.
Ingredients
- 2 precooked turkey hearts
- 1 precooked turkey neck
- Mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup broccoli florets, chopped
- 2 mild white spring onions, sliced
- 1-1/2 to 2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
- Chives, roughly chopped
- Dandelion leaves, roughly chopped
- Broadleaf plantain leaves, roughly chopped
Directions
- Toss all ingredients together, and add your salad dressing of choice when serving.
Bruce and Elaine Ingram are the authors of Living the Locavore Lifestyle, a book about hunting, fishing, and gathering food (with recipes). Contact them at BruceIngramOutdoors@Gmail.com.
Originally published as part of “Everything But the Gobble” in the September/October 2023 issue of Grit magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
