Hot Honey Wild Turkey Tenders

These tenders are extra crispy and extra flavorful. This recipe is a great way to use up that wild turkey meat from this past season. Plus these tenders are easier to make than you would think! The homemade sticky hot honey sauce is sure to be a crowd pleaser for any party or game day.

The recipe is pretty straight forward. We will start by seasoning and marinating our wild turkey. For this we will need an array of seasonings, some buttermilk and hot sauce. We’ll marinate wild turkey strips for 4-12 hours depending on your life schedule. After that all we need to do is dredge the turkey strips into our breading mixture, which is a delicious combination of crushed cornflakes and seasonings.

There’s two ways to cook these tenders: air frying or deep frying. Both ways leave you with juicy and crispy turkey tenders so make them however you prefer. The sweet, spicy, sticky, sour hot honey sauce takes them to another level and is so easy to make yourself – you just need four ingredients and you can make it as the turkey cooks.

Tips for Cooking Wild Turkey

  • The biggest complaint about wild turkey that I hear is that it’s though. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be. Most people who complain about it being tough are overcooking it. When cooked properly, it can be almost as tender as chicken. When cooking with wild game, I always recommend using a meat thermometer. Do not cook the wild turkey past 165 degrees F.
  • Take your time when trimming and cleaning the bird. Remove any fat you see.  These birds have a jellylike fat layer, referred to as the sponge, attached to the front edge of the breast. This needs to be completely removed.

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • Can I swap out wild turkey meat for another meat? Yes! You can use virtually any upland bird including pheasant, quail, chukar, etc. You could even use something more commercially available like chicken! Just note that the cooking times will vary with meats of different sizes.
  • Can I swap the hot honey sauce for my favorite dipping sauce? Absolutely! Use whatever your heart desires. Honey mustard, hot sauce, or barbecue sauce are great options. They all go with the seasonings used in this recipe.
Print

Hot Honey Wild Turkey Tenders

Hot Honey Wild Turkey Tenders

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 3 reviews

Transform your spring success into these delicious wild turkey tenders. A wild turkey breast gets cut into thin strips, marinated in buttermilk then dredged in a seasoned cornflake breading. Drizzle with the homemade hot honey for the ultimate flavor bomb.

  • Author: Jenn Homa

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 Wild Turkey Breast, Cut into Strips
  • 1 cup Buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon Franks Red Hot 
  • 1 tablespoon Paprika
  • 1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Cayenne 
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
  • 2 cup Cornflakes, crushed 
  • Cooking Oil Spray or Frying Oil (for Deep Frying)
  • Ranch, for Serving (Optional)

Hot Honey

  • ¼ cup Honey
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted Butter
  • 2 tablespoon Franks Red Hot
  • ½1 teaspoon Chili Flakes 

Instructions

  1. Cut wild turkey breast into strips. Lightly tenderize using a meat mallet.
  2. Add strips to a large bowl with a lid or ziplock bag. Add in seasonings and mix well. Pour in buttermilk and franks red hot. Mix until the turkey strips are well coated. Allow to marinate for 4-12 hours. 
  3. After the marinade time is up, dredge the marinated turkey tenders directly into the crushed cornflakes until well coated.
  4. Cook the Turkey Tenders:
    1. Air Fryer Method: Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees F. Spray the basket of the air fryer with cooking spray, then place the turkey tenders into the basket, leaving room between each tender to allow the air to  circulate. Spray the tenders with a little more oil spray. Air fry in batches for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through. The turkey tenders should be golden brown and have reached an internal temperature of 165°F.
    2. Deep Fry Method: heat oil in a large deep cast iron skillet or deep fryer until it reaches 350 degrees. Fry the turkey strips in batches until they reach 165 degrees and not one degree over for best results. 
  5. While the turkey pieces are in the air fryer, melt the butter for the hot honey sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, mix in honey, hot sauce and chili flakes. Stir until well combined. Reduce heat to low and simmer for one minute. 
  6. Toss the wild turkey strips into the hot honey sauce and serve with ranch for dipping if desired.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag me — I can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

Similar Posts

39 Comments

  1. Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with SEO?
    I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m
    not seeing very good results. If you know of any
    please share. Kudos! I saw similar article here: Eco bij






  2. After exploring a few of the blog posts on your website, I seriously like your way of writing a blog. I saved as a favorite it to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back in the near future. Please check out my website too and let me know how you feel.

  3. Good day! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after going through many of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely happy I came across it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back frequently.

  4. Your style is so unique compared to other people I’ve read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this web site.

  5. You are so awesome! I don’t believe I’ve read through anything like that before. So nice to discover another person with some genuine thoughts on this issue. Really.. thanks for starting this up. This web site is one thing that is required on the internet, someone with some originality.

  6. Right here is the perfect webpage for anybody who wants to find out about this topic. You know so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic that has been written about for decades. Great stuff, just excellent.

  7. This is really interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and stay up for searching for extra of your great post. Additionally, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks!

  8. Kudos for posting such a useful blog. Your blog is not only informative but also very artistic too. There usually are extremely couple of individuals who can write not so easy articles that creatively. Keep up the good writing !!

  9. The next occasion I read a weblog, Hopefully that this doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. Come on, man, Yes, it was my choice to read, but When i thought youd have some thing fascinating to express. All I hear can be a number of whining about something you could fix should you werent too busy in search of attention.

  10. Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thanks, However I am going through difficulties with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I am unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting the same RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!!

  11. Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such fantastic info being shared freely out there.

  12. I absolutely love your website.. Pleasant colors & theme. Did you build this site yourself? Please reply back as I’m trying to create my very own blog and would like to find out where you got this from or exactly what the theme is called. Thank you!

  13. I discovered your site site on the internet and check some of your early posts. Continue to keep up the top notch operate. I recently additional increase your Feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading much more from you finding out later on!…

  14. I want to point out my gratitude for your kindness for visitors who need assistance with in this study. Your personal dedication to passing the solution throughout came to be extremely insightful and has in most cases permitted associates just like me to reach their pursuits. Your personal insightful publication signifies so much a person like me and even more to my mates. Warm regards; from each one of us.

  15. Phlebotomy Certification Ever before discovered of phlebotomy certification? Superior even now, ever before observed of phlebotomy? Certainly, it is not a typical phrase you hear approximately. In case, you will be thinking what it really is, phlebotomy is often a process by way of which blood is removed by implies of a needle. You may possibly be pondering, are not these folks called nurses? Nicely, no. Nurses can perform phlebotomy but not all phlebotomists are nurses. People that are qualified only to take away blood with a needle are known as phlebotomists, they as well perform in hospitals and clinics but which is all the health-related help they can supply unless theyre prepared for much more.

  16. After I initially left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on whenever a comment is added I recieve four emails with the exact same comment. Perhaps there is a way you are able to remove me from that service? Many thanks.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star