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Field-to-Table Turkey Recipes for the Holiday Season
November in New Mexico brings cool weather, falling leaves, and the familiar pull of grabbing a shotgun, pocketing a turkey tag, and heading into the mountains to bag a prized bird. Whether you’ll be hosting a Thanksgiving feast, Friendsgiving dinner, or just cooking yourself a well-earned meal, wild-game turkey brings lean, flavorful meat, and a story worth sharing at the table. Below you’ll find a curated list of OutdoorHub’s best wild-turkey and wild-game recipes to help you choose the perfect centerpiece for your Thanksgiving meal.
Wild Turkey & Wild Game Recipes
Wild Turkey with Raspberry Sauce
This recipe layers wild turkey with bacon, onions, and celery, then roasts it beneath a tangy raspberry sauce that cuts beautifully through the natural richness of the bird.
Cooking Wild Turkey Using Raspberry Sauce
Wild Turkey Schnitzel Recipe
Thin-sliced wild turkey breast is pounded flat, breaded, and pan-fried to a crisp golden crust. Served with lemon and berry relish, this dish blends German comfort food with upland tradition.
Wild Game Pie
A hearty, rustic meat pie built from mixed game — including wild turkey if you choose — combined with apples, mushrooms, potatoes, and savory herbs, tucked under a flaky crust. Perfect for feeding a crowd.
Time to Eat Crow . . . Really! How to Make Wild Game Pie
Smoked Turkey
This video shows how to turn a standard turkey into a smoked centerpiece by brining, slow-smoking, and finishing with flavorful glazes. The technique gives wild or domestic turkey a deep smoke profile and moist texture — perfect for hunters or cooks looking to give Thanksgiving a wood-smoke upgrade.
Video: Switch It Up This Thanksgiving, Smoke Your Bird
Or take a look at this video: Bag a Bird? Now Use Chad Mendes Recipe for Smoking Wild Turkey Breast
Smoked Venison Ham
This how-to video demonstrates smoking a large cut of venison ham. The piece is brined, seasoned, and smoked at low temperature over hours until it develops a firm, smoky sliceable texture. Great for using other wild game in your holiday spread.
Video: How to Smoke a Venison Ham
Whiskey-Glazed Turkey Breast
This recipe features a brined turkey breast (skin-on) covered in butter and bacon strips, then roasted and finished with a whiskey butter glaze. The glaze brings a sweet-smoky kick, the bacon adds fat and flavor, and the method keeps the breast from drying out — ideal when you’ve got lean wild turkey breasts and want maximum flavor.
Wild Turkey with Cheddar Biscuits & Gravy
Here’s a creative dish where wild turkey breasts are poached, shredded, and served alongside cheddar-biscuits and a rich gravy. It’s part comfort food, part wild-game upgrade — great for a hearty side or secondary dish on your holiday table, especially when you’ve got extra turkey to use.
Wild Turkey with Cheddar Biscuits and Gravy
Colossal Wild Turkey Club with Cranberry Aioli
This sandwich recipe stacks thin-sliced smoked wild turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and a homemade cranberry aioli between grilled bread. The cranberry aioli ties in holiday flavor, and the smoked turkey gives the club a wild-game spin. Works as a make-ahead item or for using leftover turkey after the main course.
March Madness Sandwich- Colossal Wild Turkey Club with Cranberry Aioli
Smoked Wild Turkey Breast Roulade
A camp-style but refined preparation: wild turkey breast is pounded thin, seasoned, rolled into a roulade, smoked until just cooked, then chilled and thinly sliced. The result is elegant, game-forward, and perfect as an appetizer, carving centerpiece, or layered in a hearty sandwich.
Roll it, Smoke It, Slice it Thin! Smoked Wild Turkey Breast Roulade
Pairing Wild Game with Harvest-Style Sides
Wild turkey’s lean, woodsy flavor shines brightest when paired with harvest-driven sides that match the season rather than overpower it. Think along the lines of roasted vegetables, hearty grains, fall greens, and anything that brings balance through richness, acidity, or natural sweetness. While this article focuses solely on OutdoorHub’s main wild-game dishes, readers can easily build a complete Thanksgiving meal by choosing sides that reflect the same field-to-table spirit — simple, rustic, and rooted in the flavors of the season.
You can try this dessert to pair with your wild-game feast: Rustic Black Cherry Tart: A Perfect Dessert Pairing for Wild Game
Final Thoughts
Whether your bird comes from the mountains of New Mexico or your own backyard woods, bringing wild game to the holiday table is a tradition worth keeping alive. These recipes celebrate the work that goes into harvesting your own meat, the camaraderie of the hunt, and the flavor you simply can’t buy in a store. No matter which dish you choose, you’ll end up with a meal that honors the season, the landscape, and the hands that brought it all together. So carve it up, pass it around, and enjoy a meal that tastes like the wild places we’re thankful for.
The post Field-to-Table Turkey Recipes for the Holiday Season appeared first on OutdoorHub.
