Roasted Turkey Drumsticks With Star Anise and Soy Sauce Recipe (2024)

This recipe seemed like such a great idea, and the marinade/sauce was wonderfully tasty, but somehow it and the dark turkey meat do not make for a good combination at all, at least as far as we are concerned. We agreed that the sauce ought to work well with chicken or pork tenderloin, so I'll try it again with one of these.

I much preferred Mark Bittman's "basic braised turkey " which uses drumsticks and/or thighs in a savory grouping of flavors. The turkey is half steamed/half roasted over a base of mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery sautéed in pancetta or bacon. The result: a more tender and savory meat, with a succulent vegetable sauce than the overly sweet version described in this recipe.

I made this according to the recipe the first time and was frustrated by all the tendons so the next few times I made it with thighs. I love the flavor. Yes, it is rich so a small amount goes a long way.

We really enjoyed this and used turkey wings and the legs.

I kept adding water to bottom of pan to keep from burning and to make gravy. Then cookednall the reserved marinade to the drippings at the end to make a great gravy.

Haven't done a dinner of turkey legs in years. Really good. Enjoyed the marinade. The turkey looks great as the marinade caramelizes on the skin and the meat was very tender and tasty. And then the marinade is good with rice,mashed potatoes, etc.

Try the same recipe with turkey thighs. Much easier to carve, and thighs fit better in most cooking pots.

this sort of ends up with the intensity of a confit but none of the softness. Sauce combo is great but turkey legs just too sinewy to be good. I won’t make this again but I will play with this combo of flavors for marinade. i cooked the whole thing on a bed of green cabbage that came out great—way better than the turkey.

I thought this was fantastic. The marinade is salty--as a gravy it needs to be used sparingly. Also, the burned remains of the marinade took three days to soak off the pan. However, the meat is moist and so, so delicious, and it was really quite easy. I made two drumsticks which not only fed two of us for Thanksgiving with copious leftovers, but will provide the basis for some deeply flavorful turkey matzoh ball soup with even more leftover meat.

I loved this marinade as an alternative to traditional turkey roasting. It worked well for me on the first crack at it. Whisking the oil into the marinade made it viscous, and it clung to the flesh nicely. I basted the legs 3 or 4 times during the hour I roasted them. The anise flavor was nicely warming and dominant. I agree, turkey legs aren't the easiest to navigate, you may need a napkin or two, but they are delicious and fun to eat.

Thank you, Melissa! This festive dish made for a fun, if smaller and last minute, Thanksgiving this year. I had to cut it in half and research a few ingredient replacements: swapped out the star anise for fennel seeds, used apple cider vinegar instead of sherry, and shallots on hand in place of green onions. Still complex, delicious and easy! Threw a couple sweet potatoes onto the baking sheet and it was all done in 60 minutes. Thanks again!

This sounded good, but either my marinade didn't thicken or it was rather thin, so I felt as though a lot of ingredients went to waste and couldn't really adhere to the turkey or impart much flavor. I think I'll follow the suggestion to try Mark Bittman's recipe next time. Will not make again.

I thought this was delicious, but I sympathize with those who found the turkey legs challenging. Unless your family or friends love to tackle drumsticks, I recommend removing the meat from the bones before serving. Once they cooled down a bit, I found that I could hold the legs vertically by the end bone, and cut downward with a good carving knife. I used kitchen shears to get small bits. I arranged the meat over short-grain brown rice and drizzled the reserved marinade and drippings over it.

I made this with two turkey wings, and cut the marinade ingredients by 1/3. I had no star anise so I used fennel. They were cooked to 165 degrees within an hour and served with Basmati rice and asparagus.

This recipe would probably be great with chicken legs or thighs. Turkey legs made this recipe gross -- my family didn't like it and didn't want me to save it as leftovers. I have never baked turkey legs, so I wanted to try it. Thanks to reviewers' suggestions, I used the Bittman roasted turkey legs recipe, substituting this recipe's marinade, mixing in stock & adding his veggies. The stock/marinade was tasty. But the meat was tough and hard to pull off the bone.

Melissa Clark is my favorite food writer, but this recipe didn't work for us at all. Turkey was tough and unpleasant. Will try again with chicken-flavor was good. Turkey legs not so much. At all.

I made this according to the recipe the first time and was frustrated by all the tendons so the next few times I made it with thighs. I love the flavor. Yes, it is rich so a small amount goes a long way.

I kept adding water to bottom of pan to keep from burning and to make gravy. Then cookednall the reserved marinade to the drippings at the end to make a great gravy.

I made these last night and they were delicious. My drumsticks were smaller than those Melissa used so I have some of that lovely marinade left over, which I'll freeze and use again! The smaller drumsticks only needed about an hour in the oven and came out moist and easy to get off the bone. I didn't have scallions so used a baby Vidalia instead. Served with brown rice, seasoned with Vidalia and sesame oil. Stir fried shiitakes, threw in some peas and topped that with furikake. Yum.

Haven't done a dinner of turkey legs in years. Really good. Enjoyed the marinade. The turkey looks great as the marinade caramelizes on the skin and the meat was very tender and tasty. And then the marinade is good with rice,mashed potatoes, etc.

I much preferred Mark Bittman's "basic braised turkey " which uses drumsticks and/or thighs in a savory grouping of flavors. The turkey is half steamed/half roasted over a base of mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery sautéed in pancetta or bacon. The result: a more tender and savory meat, with a succulent vegetable sauce than the overly sweet version described in this recipe.

This recipe seemed like such a great idea, and the marinade/sauce was wonderfully tasty, but somehow it and the dark turkey meat do not make for a good combination at all, at least as far as we are concerned. We agreed that the sauce ought to work well with chicken or pork tenderloin, so I'll try it again with one of these.