how long to cook turkey thighs

Easy Roasted Turkey Thighs make a small Thanksgiving meal a one oven dinner. Tender, browned, crispy skin and easy to make, they'll cook quickly!

Easy Roasted Turkey Thighs

Easy Roasted Turkey Thighs cook in a single baking pan alongside three other dishes in one oven making your whole Thanksgiving meal easy enough to cook in one oven.

I love easy Thanksgiving meals, one of my first was Slow Cooker Turkey with Gravy, Candied Sweet Potatoes and Green Peas which was just 7 ingredients (not counting salt and pepper) in the entire meal.

Then this year I released the whole thanksgiving dinner in 1 slow cooker post: Slow Cooker Thanksgiving Dinner (for 2!) with more than 7 ingredients but it includes stuffing!

Totally tender and crispy roasted turkey thighs in the oven for the easiest Thanksgiving dinner ever!

This dish is meant to be an easier way to make your Thanksgiving turkey! I already have posts for Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast and Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Thighs that can help when you don't have oven space, but this easy roasted turkey thigh is the perfect oven cooked option for a small Thanksgiving gathering.

Cooking turkey parts instead of the entire bird serves a few purposes. First it cuts WAY back on the cooking time. Second it allows you to cook more of your favorite pieces. Breasts and wings are generally considered white meat, turkey thighs and turkey legs are dark meat.

Roasting both dark meat and white meat works well, but with turkey thighs you're able to roast longer and have a deeper browning without losing the moistness you'd want in your turkey.

Looking to bump up the flavors? Yes, I stick to Kosher salt and pepper here for a reason, I want you to have the basics so you can decide how you want to season your turkey. Here are some flavor options for your turkey thighs:

Lemon, garlic and rosemary: lemon zest, kosher salt, black pepper, minced fresh garlic and minced fresh rosemary will make a delicious bird, just be careful the rosemary smell can take over anything else in the oven with the turkey.
Orange, cranberry: orange zest, minced cranberries, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, kosher salt and black pepper. This dish will play nicely with any oven neighbors.
Truffle Butter, fresh thyme: Kick up the flavor (Trader Joe's has $2.99 truffle butter right now too!) and slather the turkey in truffle butter, kosher salt, black pepper and chopped thyme for a rich umami flavor.
Bacon: Drape the turkey in bacon along with your Kosher salt and black pepper for a smoky flavor.
Tarragon, Shallots, Lemon: Fresh minced tarragon and shallots with lemon zest, Kosher salt and black pepper, this dish will perfume the rest of the oven.

See that extra browned bit by the bone in the bottom of that last picture? Thats the best part of the whole thigh! Super crispy and flavorful. My husband and I both reached for it at the exact same time. I let him win 😉

Looking for more side dishes?

Ultimate Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
Slow Cooker Mushroom Rice
Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
Roasted Garlic Butter Mushrooms
How To Cook Spaghetti Squash (The Ultimate Guide)

Tools used in the making of this Easy Roasted Turkey Thighs:
9×13 pan: Keeps the liquids the turkey releases from ending up on the bottom of the oven and browns great.
Oven Thermometer: Easy to test if your turkey is done and safe to eat without opening the oven to check and slow down the cooking.

▢ 2 1-pound turkey thighs bone in and skin on
▢ 1/4 cup butter softened
▢ 1 teaspoon Kosher salt *
▢ 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
Season with salt and pepper.
Lift the turkey skin and stuff it with the softened butter, then pat it down in an even layer (gently).
Place the thighs in the baking pan.
Roast the turkey thighs for 50-60 minutes or until the thermometer shows the turkey is cooked to 170 degrees.

* Please see additional flavor options above in the post for more variety.

Keyword: Easy Roasted Turkey Thighs

The easiest and most delicious roasted turkey thighs you'll ever eat and with almost no effort! #turkey #thanksgiving #holidays #smallbatch #recipe

Easy Roasted Turkey Thighs make a small Thanksgiving meal a one oven dinner. Tender, browned, crispy skin and easy to make, they'll cook quickly! #turkey #thanksgiving #holidays #smallbatch #recipe

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the upcoming cookbook: Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients which is being published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

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