Most of us cherish the food we ate as children. When I was a little girl, I loved eating chicken necks, despite them not having much meat. As an adult, I learned that turkey necks have a similar flavor and more meat!
Some of you might think I am crazy for cooking with turkey necks, but I am certain that this recipe will change your mind. Growing up in Ukraine, I was taught that every part of the animal has its place on the dinner table. When prepared properly, turkey necks are a wonderful, fall-off-the-bone comfort food!
Seared and then roasted in the oven, these turkey necks are perfect to indulge in on a cold winter day. The neck is the best part of the bird, so underrated and underutilized in cooking! Prepare some mashed potatoes or white rice to accompany the necks, or eat them fresh out of the oven all on their own.
How to Make Turkey Necks
You may be feeling a bit intimidated to take on cooking turkey necks. Don’t fret! It’s super easy and very similar to roasting any other type of meat.
First, you will brown the turkey necks on a hot skillet. Then, you will place the browned necks in a cast iron skillet with some fresh carrots and onions and bake them for about one and a half hours. When you pull your turkey necks out of the oven, the meat will fall off the bone and become extremely tender.
Keeping Turkey Necks Tender
The key to keeping turkey necks tender is to add a cup of hot water to your cast iron skillet (or any oven-safe skillet) before you place it in the oven. Creating a slow boil in the oven will ensure that your turkey necks do not become rubbery and burn. The added liquid will also create a yummy gravy!
Other Ways to Cook Turkey Necks
Now that you are in love with turkey necks (right?!), get creative and try cooking them differently! Here are a couple of my favorite ways to prepare turkey necks:
- Smoked Turkey Necks: Often times, you can find pre-smoked turkey necks at the butcher. These have an awesome flavor and are the perfect compliment to stews or chilis.
- Turkey Necks in a Smoked Cooker: Have a smoker at home? Smoke your own turkey necks! Set your smoker to 180F and let the necks cook for 2-4 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone. Think of these smoked necks as an adventurous departure from traditional smoked chicken wings!
- Turkey Neck Soup: My boys love turkey neck soup. Much like chicken noodle soup, it is so comforting and the perfect dish to make when someone is feeling under the weather.
- Turkey Necks Gravy: Turkey neck meat is dark, flavorful, and perfect to build a gravy from. Make a batch and smother it over just about anything!
Note: You can find turkey necks in most, large grocery stores, although not every store carries them.
Other Turkey Recipes
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 lb Turkey Necks
- 3 Carrots
- 1 Onion
- 4 Bay Leaves
- Salt to taste
- Light Olive Oil for frying
Instructions
- Optionally, cut turkey necks into smaller pieces.
- Dice the onion into half rings, then clean carrots and cut them into large pieces.
- In a hot, oiled skillet, cook the turkey necks until browned on all sides. Remove them from the skillet and set aside.
- Cook onion in the same skillet, until it's slightly browned.
- Season meat and vegetables with salt, add one cup of hot water to the dish, cover it with a lid. Place it in an oven at 350F to bake for 1.5 hours or until the meat begins to separate from the bone.
- Serve turkey necks with potatoes, rice or simply on their own, while they are still warm.
Ever since I stopped stuffing a Turkey and turned to making Dressing I use turkey necks to give my stuffing incredible flavor. Just make your dressing as usual then lay 3 to 4 Turkey necks on top and cover with foil. Bake like you would your normal dressing. When done strip the meat off of the necks and put it in your gravy.
Hi Larry, Thank you for sharing, that sounds like it turns out absolutely delicious! Happy Holidays!
Here in South Louisiana, our main way of cooking turkey necks, is to boil them in a heavily seasoned water. It's basically the same water we use to cook our seafood(crabs, crawfish, shrimp).
Our second method, is smothered down over rice. The third method would be stewed/fricasseed. This seems to be a cross between smothered & stewed.
I coated them lightly in seasoned flour before searing, it helps later when using the dripping for a gravy. I also added lots of minced garlic, some Cajun seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and chicken stock. We like our seasoning here.
Lonnie, this sound so so good. I love the idea of a stew. Thank you for sharing your recipe, looking forward to trying it.
My husband is Russian, I am Ukrainian ancestry but don’t have much experience in Ukrainian cooking. The husband requested turkey necks like his mama makes. BOY did this smash it out of the park!! This was mouthwatering. I have to say the biggest surprise of the dish for me was how incredibly delicious the vegetables were after roasting with the necks. Holy cow! Spasiba bolshoy/dyakuyu! This is a new regular for us.
Anya, this made me smile, I am so glad you loved the results and that you found a staple recipe! Thank you for taking the time to comment!
I am allergic to Beef, lamb, chicken and pork so I eat turkey necks everyday. I cook mIne in duck fat for 4 hours at 210 degrees on top of my induction burner in covered in my Eurocast Berghoff wok. I buy the big tub of duck fat which does not go bad and use it for a couple months then discard and start over. The meat comes right off the bone. I buy the big necks with no more than 4 in a package and two when I can find them. I eat one package a day. I use no seasoning. They are great for health and weight loss.
That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing the tips, Janet.
Turkey necks one of my favorite comfort food over a bed of white rice in gravy... then add some franks hot sauce
Tonya, I love the idea of adding some spice. SO good!
I'm happy to find someone who enjoys turkey necks as much as I do. This is how I cook my turkey necks and sometimes I BBQ them with a spicy sauce or curry them.
Ohh, the idea of adding them to curry sounds delicious. What do you make your curry with?
You dont mention in the recipe if you must cover the dish in the oven or not..jam planning on using this recipe to make dinner tonight
Hey Debra, it is better to cover it with a lid. Enjoy
After searing can I just finish cooking in a large pan in oven?
Hey Aria, yes, just make sure it has a lid. Enjoy
I just found your website I spent the last hour going through and looking at all your recipes making notes of the ones I want to try! I have a very long list LOL! And I thought I was the only one who like turkey necks! For Christmas I I cook the turkey neck and then I woke up the next morning and found that I forgot to put it in the refrigerator! I wanted to cry! I have never cooked just a batch of turkey necks so guess what’s at the top of my list!
Hey Vicky, I am so glad you found the site. 🙂 Turkey necks are a total treat, we love them so much. Sorry about your bad luck with them.
Heh Natalya-
Do you consider the turkey tail a delicasy, as I do? That "knob" area of the bird is that lower flesy backside that's pointed & holds tail feathers. It is a secret food part too. They say, people who eat the knobs are no slobs. 🤣 I love them.
From,
Coty
Coty, I don't care for it but in my family, we have two members that fight over it. They always try to get it first 🙂
Is there enough stock left after baking to make gravy?
I grew up eating nose-to-tail food recipes, and this is no exception, brilliant, thanks for sharing, Mark.
Mark, I was telling my son how we use to grow chickens in Ukraine and everyone would fight over the neck. He will never understand 🙂 glad he still loves turkey necks!
Usually, I have a good amount and you can add a bit of water to it because the flavor is very rich. Enjoy
Do you cook it for 1.5 hour or at the top of recipes it says 3 h cook time?
Hey Debbie, at least 1.5 hours. It would depend on how large the pieces are.
Great recipe-I too as a child enjoyed chicken necks and backs also.
I'm glad I'm not the only one 🙂
I am trying them today
Love this recipe.
Do I cover the necks in the oven?
Yes, do cover them in the oven. I will make a note in the recipe. Enjoy!
Whats the amount per serving
It's about 3/4 lb of turkey necks. There are 6 serving in the entire recipe.
I'm going to try this recipe.
I hope you love it as much as we do!
great recipe!!! thank you! have made 4-5 times and always yummy..I use chicken broth and add celery and it's a yummy and healthy meal!
SO GOOD AND TASTY WITH CELERY AND LOTS OF ONIONS
Yes, so good. Glad you enjoyed it.
Hey Neil, I am so happy to hear this. Thank you for sharing.
also usually add fresh rosemary/ thyme and lot of garlic to the broth.. broth always very yummy
Oh I love the tips with extra herbs. I bet it adds so much more flavor. I have to try it your way!
We haven't been able to find turkey necks til recently so have always had a bit of fun fighting over who gets the neck from the roast turkey. So tender and delicious. Your recipe is quick and makes a wonderful meal. I used jerk seasoning and served it with rice and beans.
Hey Lynn, lol, the fight over part it funny. It reminded me of living in Ukraine and we pretty much-lived farm to table so there was only one turkey neck. It was fun figuring out who gets it. 🙂 So happy you loved the recipe and rice and beans sound delicious with this.
They were so yummy!!! I will definitely cook this again. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Jani, thank you so much for letting me know. I am so happy you loved this recipe! 🙂
Do you brown the necks and veggies in a separate skillet then bake in a cast iron... I’m a little confused by the photos
First, brown / cook the Turkey necks, and remove them (set aside). Second, cook the veggies in the same skillet which you just removed the necks. Once the veggies are brown, add the Turkey necks back to the skillet (with the veggies). Then add additional seasoning (I always season my turkey necks before I brown them), and water (I prefer chicken broth), and place the combined dish in the oven to bake at 350F for about 1.5 hours... I hope this helped
This sounds amazing. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
This is a wonderful recipe -- thanks! FYI, if you live anywhere around an Amish poultry market, you're likely to find turkey necks (and all other parts) year-round and at a great price!
I dont know of any Amish markets around us but thank you. When we go to visit my inlaws in the south, they have some great options.
Never used neck bones before. Wasn’t really expecting too much, but was pleasantly surprised. The whole family ate them and enjoyed them. Now I know what to do with neck bones.
Hey Brian, I am so happy that you guys loved the recipe. It is definitely not the typical turkey recipe but that's what makes it great!
This recipe sounds fairly easy but the pic here looks like turkey tails not the turkey neck that comes out of turkey after you buy it. But I did follow this recipe for my turkey neck so that I can put it in my greens so we’ll see how it turns out. I’ve cooked turkey tails as well by themselves in a cooking bag and they’ve turned out great.
I just found your recipe and information. I just ordered a turkey yesterday. I will see if I can get extra turkey necks. Wondering what your recipe for a turkey is because if the turkey neck recipe is as good as everybody says I would like to know how you would prepare a turkey so that I as a man who doesn't know how to cook worth beans, can make the best out of my turkey! Thank you very much! Richard
Hey Richard, the best part is that around Holidays they do sell turkey necks in most stores. For turkey, I have a few recipes, smoked turkey or a simple turkey recipe.
I accidentally got turkey necks and wasn't sure what to do with them so am trying your recipe which looks tasty. Should the carrots be browned with the onions, or added with turkey and water afterwards in oven? It wasn't clear in the instructions. Also, do you add any other spices besides salt? Thank you, I am cooking this now and it looks delicious!
I add carrots after I cook the onion, just chunks of carrots to cook together with turkey necks. You are welcome to add your favorite spices. I like simply just salt and sometimes pepper.
Just amazing and so unexpected in flavor! So glad I gave this recipe a try, would of never thought to use the neck. Thanks for the recipe.
Valia, thank you for sharing your feedback. I am so happy you loved the recipe. Totally agree that you would never expect such a great flavor from turkey necks. 🙂
I never thought turkey necks could taste so yummy!!! But another surprise is the juices with onions and carrots, how good they taste. I just made it second time and added twice as much vegetables because they taste sooo good!!! I also cooked it for 2.5 hours. Thank you so much for this recipe!!!?
I am so happy to hear that you loved it. Thank you for sharing your feedback. Yes, the veggies absorb all the flavors from turkey necks.
Like most people, I have always just thrown the necks away because I didn't know what to do with them. Also, my mother told me once that the neck is where they inject the turkey with antibiotics 7 hormones, so... yuck! That ruined necks for me. Now, I am going to think better about wasting them. Thanks for opening my eyes.
Growing up in Ukraine we literally ate everything 🙂 But I would say this is a better part of turkey. They taste incredible. 🙂 Tell me what you think after you try them.
That feel when there are still people who remove the neck and toss it out or give it to the dogs. Such plebs.