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Easy Roasted Herb Butter Turkey Thighs

A beautiful main course on any day or the holidays! Make in a large skillet (at least 15") This recipe can be easily doubled and made in roasting pan instead of a skillet.

Course dinner
Cuisine American
Keyword holiday dinner, turkey dinner, turkey thighs
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 4 turkey thighs (about 4- 4 1/2 pounds meat)
  • 1/2 of one yellow onion, peeled and chopped
  • 3 sprigs rosemary, two left whole and one finely chopped
  • 6 sprigs fresh thyme, 3 left whole, 3 stripped of leaves and finely chopped
  • zest of one lemon
  • zest of one small juice orange
  • 1 full head of garlic, cut in half
  • 3/4 cup butter, room temp (separated)
  • sea salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons parsley, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat over to 350 degrees and place oven rack in center position. NOTE: you will be turning the heat up to 425 the last 15 minutes of cooking

  2. Chop onion and place in skillet. Place two rosemary sprigs in pan and chop the rest. Place three sprigs of thyme into pan, strip the leaves on the remaining sprigs and chop.

  3. Use a microplane to zest lemon, cut the lemon in half and place both halves in pan flat side down. Repeat with orange, but only place one half of the orange in pan. Cut the head of garlic in half and places both halves in pan flat side down

  4. Place 1/2 cup butter in a small bowl. Add lemon and orange zest, chopped rosemary and thyme and use a fork to mash until well combined.

  5. Use your fingers to separate skin from turkey thighs and place about two tablespoons of butter under skin of each piece. Press the skin down to work herbed butter completely under the skin. Place thighs into pan, skin side up, right on top of onions and herbs. You may need to move some of the garlic and citrus halves around to accommodate thighs. Just make it work! Generously sprinkle each thigh with sea salt and pepper and top each thigh with remaining butter (about a tablespoon on top of each thigh)

  6. Place skillet/pan in the oven for one hour. Then turn heat up to 425 for 5-10 more minutes allowing skin to brown. Remove from oven and allow to rest for five minutes before serving.

  7. Serving tips: you can either pour juices onto platter and place thighs on top, or pour juices over turkey. Just know if you pour juices over the top the skin will soften instead of remaining crispy.

    You can also serve with my cranberry sauce or a half batch of my gravy.