Turkey legs are brined, brushed with a wonderful sauce made of sage, thyme, and pomegranate molasses, and then baked. This recipe will add a touch of Thanksgiving to your dinner table.
| Prep Time: | 2 hrs |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- ½ cup salt
- ½ cup white sugar
- 4 turkey drumsticks
- 2 cups white wine
- ½ cup pomegranate molasses
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 4 tablespoons dried sage leaves, divided
- 4 tablespoons dried thyme leaves, divided
Instructions
- Place salt and sugar into a large resealable bag. Pour in enough water to cover the turkey legs, and squeeze the bag to dissolve salt and sugar. Immerse turkey legs in brine, and seal the bag. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to brine.
- In a saucepan, stir together white wine, pomegranate molasses, brown sugar, regular molasses, vinegar, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half. Season with 1 tablespoon of sage and 1 tablespoon of thyme. Taste and adjust sugar, salt, and pepper if desired.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Remove turkey legs from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Discard brine. Heat a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Cast iron will work well. Fry turkey, frequently turning until browned on all sides. Place the pan with turkey into the oven.
- Roast uncovered for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove and turn legs over. Season with some of remaining thyme and sage, and spoon some of sauce onto legs to coat. Return to the oven for an additional 30 minutes.
- Repeat seasoning and baste with sauce again, and return to the oven. Roast for 15 more minutes, then test for doneness. The internal temperature should be 180 degrees F (82 degrees C) when taken with a meat thermometer. Serve turkey with remaining sauce on the side.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes information for the full amount of the brining solution. The sodium content recorded here is therefore artificially high. The actual amount of salt consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 996 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 126 g |
| Cholesterol | 304 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 72 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 12363 mg |
| Sugars | 114 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I didn’t have pomegranate molasses but I used everything else. It turned out amazing!
12-21-13: Excellent!
I made this according to the directions. The glaze is basically a BBQ sauce. The instructions made a lot. It was very wasteful. It smelled nice while cooking down, but my son, the only reason I was making turkey legs, said that it was too sweet. If you are making four turkey legs, you could probably cut this recipe (the glaze portion) to a quarter or an eighth of what it calls for.
I was looking for a good turkey drumstick recipe but unfortunately this was not it. I followed the instructions and it was too sweet, and the sage and thyme seemed like they belonged to another recipe, they did not work well with this one. I had printed the recipe but tossed it along with the leftover sauce, which I could not imagine eating again.
Surprised at how good this was, although time consuming.
delicious!!!
Thank You for this recipe. Finally a good one for close to the taste of the turkey legs from fairs and festival, if not better!
This was quite a process to make, but worth the effort. Turns out I didn’t have any molasses in the house, but honey, corn syrup and brown sugar were fitting substitutes. I am sure it is even better with both types of molasses.
This is a great recipe!!!! the legs came out juicy and with great flavor. I make it for christmas and everybody loved it. Thanks for sharing!!!
I want to brine the turkey for longer next time (did the minimum 2 hours) but these turned out DELICIOUS.
Excellent flavor. A real dish to impress guests, as it looks as good as it tastes!
This is a great recipe. Everyone loves this – from my toddler to Great-Grandma. I even made it without the pomegranate molasses, and it still tasted yummy. Try it!
I just took some worcestershire sauce some red onions ,salt,pepper,garlic powder,un seasoned meat tenderizer,honey.covered in pan with foil 300 degress 1 1/2 hours came out so good meat falling off the bone
This was a very tasty way to prepare turkey legs. I made the sauce, but didn’t have the pomengranate molases, so I used half regular molasses and half honey to make up the difference. I used fresh sage. I basted the legs 3 times during the roasting. Hubby said they were great too! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving. My boyfriend didn’t want to try it out, he’s a whimp. So I just made mine with the sauce. He ended up wanting to eat mine! Go figure. just the way I like it, with the ends crunchy and flavored with sauce. It seemed to put a glaze with crunchy juiciness. I also ended up using the sauce on a pork roast, not as good as the turkey legs but still very moist.
We loved this, served it up to the inlaws on a bed of couscous. It took a while to make, but it was really delicious. The only problem was that we didn’t make enough for left overs!
This was a fantastic everyday turkey recipe! Everyone loved it!