Print Options

Dad's Turkey Stew Recipe

Filed under Seasonal Favorites: Winter, Soup and Stew, Turkey, Wheat-free

Dad's Turkey Stew

One of the most filling, delicious and affordable dishes one can make is turkey stew. You make it with turkey thighs (or legs), which, in addition to being the tastier dark meat, you can usually get for $1.50 per pound or less. Slow cooking them bone-in you get all of the healthy goodness from the bone marrow. Cooking them with skin on will imbue the stew with rich flavor. Root vegetables such as carrots, turnips and rutabaga complement the turkey well.

Print Options

Dad's Turkey Stew Recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
3 lbs turkey thighs (preferred) or legs (skin on, bone in)
1 medium-large yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 quart vegetable stock
2 medium carrots, peeled, 1/4 inch slices
2-3 medium turnips, peeled, 1/2 inch cubes
1 medium rutabaga, peeled, 1/4 inch slices
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon herbes de provence*
Pepper

One Dutch oven with cover.

Method

1 Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat olive oil on medium high heat in a Dutch oven on the stove top. Wash and pat dry turkey pieces. Brown turkey pieces, skin side down, 2-3 minutes on each side. You may need to brown in batches if necessary. In the last 3 minutes of browning of the last batch, add the onions and celery.

2 Add salt and 1/2 of the stock. Bring to a simmer, remove from the stove top and put in the oven, covered, for one hour.

3 After an hour, remove from oven and add the rest of the vegetables - carrots, turnips, rutabaga, and potatoes, the herbs, and the rest of the stock. Return to the oven, covered, and cook until tender, another hour or more.

4 Remove bones and skin, discard. Season to taste.

Serves 6 to 8.

*Herbes de Provence is a delightful French blend of herbs - Winter savory, thyme, basil, tarragon, and lavender flowers.

Never Miss A Recipe!

Enter your email address to subscribe to Simply Recipes: (more details)

Posted by Elise on Oct 21, 2005 and indexed Stew, Turkey

  • Print (no photos)
  • Print (with photos)
  • Share on Facebook

Comments

I am trying to get used to in a crockpot since I am away from home most of the day. Can this recipe be tweeked for that kind of cooking? If so, how do I go about it?

Posted by: Glenn on October 25, 2005 1:36 PM

Do you think that this recipe could be adapted for the Crock Pot? It sounds great, thanks!

Posted by: LB on October 25, 2005 1:38 PM

Hi Glen and LB - I don't see why this recipe couldn't be adapted to a crockpot. Unfortunately, I don't own one and don't cook with one, so I don't have any advice for you on how to do it.

Posted by: elise [TypeKey Profile Page] on October 25, 2005 1:47 PM

I don't see why you couldn't just brown the turkey in a pan beforehand, and then just toss everything into the crock pot and cook it on low. No idea of the exact cooking time, so I guess you'd just leave it in until the vegetables were at the desired tenderness.

Posted by: Jeremy Henderson on October 25, 2005 3:38 PM

To adapt this recipe to a crockpot, brown the turkey, then the onions and celery as directed. Place them in the crock pot set to High, add the other vegetables, herbs and just 1/2 of the stock. Cook on high for 2 hours, then switch to the low setting for another 6 hours. Or, start with the low setting and cook for 8 hours. Because crockpot cooking creates more liquid than stove/oven cooking, you always use about half the liquid than is called for in a conventional recipe. The newer crockpots have timers and can switch cooking settings from high to low and even to a "hold" feature for this type of cooking.
Bon appetit!

Posted by: Northcoast cook on October 26, 2005 6:05 PM

This sounds like a perfect cold-weather dish. I love leaving something cooking for hours, where it warms (and smells!) up the house and just makes everything feel friendly. Thanks for the recipe, Elise.

Posted by: Lady Amalthea on October 26, 2005 7:11 PM

Made this for the family a
few weeks ago. It was very good. Served
it with a salad, homemade apple-cranberry
muffins, and a good Merlot. Great dish for
a chilly evening.

Posted by: RD on November 10, 2005 3:25 PM

I made this stew and was astounded by the succulence. The root veggies come out balanced between sweet/savory and it made the house smell great too. Only negative: some of the turkey thigh meat was so tough and stringy as to be inedible. But I don't care! It's delish. Maybe I'll try the crockpot technique described above. Thanks to Elise's Dad, Elise and Northcoast cook!

Posted by: Jenine on December 2, 2005 9:38 AM

WOWOWOWOW! 5 star recipe. I chopped up a turkey breast tenderloin to keep calories down and threw in a thigh with skin for flavor, but doubt I would need that. Was going to try the crockpot but didn't get up early enough. FANTASTIC recipe. Meat was tender. Flavors were savory and succulent. Just great!!! Will be a staple in winter.

Posted by: Karen on November 22, 2007 3:41 PM

I made this stew tonight with a few modifications (basically just switched up the veggies a little) and it was fabulous! I put my mods on my blog if anyone is interested. :) Thanks for a great recipe. Definitely a keeper.

Posted by: Elizabeth on March 3, 2008 3:01 PM

Post a comment

(Your comment may need to be approved before it will appear on the site. Thanks for waiting. First time commenting? Please review the Comment Policy.)

Link to this recipe

Bookmark this page using the following link: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001527dads_turkey_stew.php

Do you have a website? You can place a link to this page by copying and pasting the code below.

<a href="http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001527dads_turkey_stew.php">Dad's Turkey Stew</a>