This fried wild turkey nuggets recipe is hands down my favorite way to prepare breast meat. A Japanese-influenced dish (aka Karaage) that uses a flavorful brine that produces some of the tastiest wild game I’ve ever eaten.
Instead of using an all-purpose flour mixture as the breading (like for my fried duck), the turkey is coated in cornstarch, potato starch, or rice flour.
These coatings produce a light and crisp texture, allowing you to fry at a higher temperature. Even frying at a higher temperature with something like panko bread crumbs would yield a burnt bird.
One of the best parts about this recipe is that you don’t need a turkey fryer. You can use a tabletop deep fryer, dutch oven, or a deep-sided large skillet for a quick pan fry.
The dipping sauce that I like to serve this with is simple to whip up. It uses the same ingredients as the brine mixed with a little Mae Ploy chili sauce. These crispy turkey nuggets are great stuffed inside steamed buns, sandwiches, tacos, or rice bowls. You can also make my spicy gochujang aioli recipe for a creamier style sauce. For more options, check out my wild game sauces page.
Tips For Better Frying:
Let the meat come to room temperature: After you bread it, let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. This is a great way to minimize a drastic drop in the temperature of your cooking oil. If the oil temperature becomes too low, the breading will become soggy and greasy, and we don’t want that. We want crispy, delicious turkey nuggets.
Working Ahead:
Don’t be afraid of frozen turkey: You can freeze the raw nuggets after they have been brined and breaded. Lay them in a single layer on a sheet pan fitted with parchment paper. Freeze Until They Are Solid To The Touch, About One Hour. Then transfer them into freezer bags.
Frying in frozen form: You can fry the nuggets while frozen. As mentioned above, you don’t want to drop the temperature of your cooking oil too much, so I recommend increasing the temperature of the oil to around 385 degrees F and frying in very small batches.
Thawing before frying: If you want to thaw the meat before frying, you need to do one extra step. Lay the frozen turkey pieces in a single layer onto a baking sheet pan with parchment paper. Place in your refrigerator uncovered overnight.
Using Different Cuts: If you’re not in the mood for nuggets, turkey tenderloins and turkey cutlets are also good choices. Cutlets are simply the breast meat pounded thin with a meat mallet to reduce thickness and break up muscle fiber. And if you didn’t find much success this hunting season, you can use the meat from a domestic turkey.
Looking for more Wild Turkey Recipes? These are a few of my favorites:
- Smoked Wild Turkey Breast
- Coconut Curry Turkey Thighs
- Easy Mexican Wild Turkey Tinga
- Smoked Wild Turkey Legs
Lastly, if you make this delicious fried turkey nuggets recipe this turkey season, be sure to leave a comment or tag me on Instagram! I thoroughly enjoy hearing feedback and checking out the photos of recipes that you’ve made.
FRIED WILD TURKEY BREAST NUGGETS
Ingredients
For the Turkey
- 1 boneless skinless wild turkey breast, cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1.5 cups Corn Starch, potato starch or rice flour, for coating the turkey
- Oil as needed for frying (peanut oil, canola oil, avocado oil)
For the Brine
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/2 cup White Vinegar
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1/4 cup Honey
- 1/4 cup Fish Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chopped Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Chopped Hot Chilies
- 2 ounces of the Brine
For the Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce
- 3/4 cups Mae Ploy Chili Sauce
- All of the remaining brine
Instructions
Make the brine.
- Place all of the brine ingredients into a bowl. Mix well until the honey and sugar have dissolved.
Brine the wild turkey meat.
- Place the turkey pieces into a small bowl. Pour about 1/4 cup of the brine over the turkey and distribute evenly. Let marinate for 6-8 hours.
Make the sauce.
- Combine the remaining brine with the Mae Ploy chili sauce into a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
Fry the turkey.
- Heat oil to 375 degrees. Drain the brine from the turkey and discard. Place the turkey in a large bowl and toss with the starch, making sure they are well coated.
- Shake the access starch off of the meat and gently place a few pieces in the hot oil. Be sure not to overcrowd the cooking vessel, which will drop the oil temperature.
- Fry the turkey chunks until they reach a nice golden brown color. You're looking for an internal temperature of 165 degrees F with an instant-read thermometer.
- Place the cooked turkey onto paper towels and season lightly with kosher salt and pepper.
7 thoughts on “Fried Wild Turkey Nuggets”
So Dang Crispy And That Sauce Is Fire Bro!
This one Surprised me
These thangs are tasty man….
I Shot my first tom last weekend and looking at different recipes. This one stands out because i cant eat gluten. Thanks for posting it, ill report back with results.
I hope ya like it! We put them in corn tortillas and for fried turkey tacos.
I tried this tonight as one of two experimental recipes with my first ever gobbler and this was the star of the show. The sauce will work Just as well with homemade chicken tenders, also. I’ll use this again.
So glad y’all like it!