I use wild turkey breast here, but you can use store-bought, too. You can also use regular breadcrumbs or panko, although I like the Saltines. And any sauce that makes you happy will be fine here. Or no sauce at all.
Prep time: PT25M
Cook time: PT25M
Total time: PT50M
Rating
5 stars (31 reviews)
Keywords
fried foods, turkey
Ingredients
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 cuo Heinz chili sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon mustard powder
2 teaspoons hot sauce
Salt
2 pounds turkey breast, cut into chunks
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon spice mix of your choice (Cajun, Cavender's, Old Bay, etc.)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk or regular milk
1/4 cup yellow mustard
2 sleeves Saltines
oil for frying
Categories
Appetizer
Main Course
Cuisine
American
Steps
To make the sauce, put everything in a food processor or blender and puree. Set it aside.
Mix the flour with the spice mix; I use Cavender's mostly. Mix together the eggs, buttermilk and mustard. Mash the Saltines. I do this by putting them in a heavy freezer bag and crushing them with a rolling pin.
Dredge about 1/4 of the turkey chunks in the flour, then the egg wash, then put them in the freezer bag with the crushed Saltines and shake well to coat. Before you take them out, press the crushed Saltines into the meat. Set the chunks on a baking sheet, and do the rest of the turkey, 1/4 of it at a time.
In an ideal world, you would rest the breaded turkey nuggets in the fridge for 1 hour. Do this if you can, because it will make the coating stick to the turkey better. If you are rushed for time, you can skip this.
When you are ready to fry, put enough oil in a large frying pan to come up about a finger's worth (about 1/2 inch) and bring it to somewhere between 325F and 350F. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet and put that in your oven. Set the oven to "warm."
Fry the turkey nuggets in batches so you don't crowd the pan. Set the finished turkey nuggets on the rack in the warm oven while you do the rest. Serve with the comeback sauce.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 669 kcal
Carbohydrates: 38 g
Protein: 43 g
Fat: 38 g
Saturated Fat: 7 g
Cholesterol: 211 mg
Sodium: 863 mg
Sugar: 5 g
Reviews
Sheri Hundley on 2026-05-14 (5 stars): Made this with 1/2 wild turkey breast. My husband & brother-in - law were amazed at how tender they turned out. I did the brine as was suggested
David on 2024-11-25 (5 stars): this guy is one heck of a cook. and I'm just a kid sayn' that.
Justin on 2024-10-13 (5 stars): best wild turkey recipe there is
Bambi Downs on 2024-04-09 (5 stars): Best thing we ever tasted with my son's big Tom! Definitely use the saltines (I bought oyster crackers so less work crushing -- same thing). The sauce!! Wow -- big winner here. Definitely brine and also let sit one hour with the cracker coating to firm up before frying. Thanks for a real treat!
Will on 2022-03-30 (5 stars): Yummy!
Josh on 2021-08-06 (5 stars): So stinking good! Thanks for yet another winner Hank!
Bryan on 2021-05-12 (5 stars): This was excellent with a wild turkey I harvested this spring. I used the bread crumbs and Old Bay in the flour.
Amie Orwick on 2021-04-22 (5 stars): This is my family's new favorite way to eat wild turkey! The recipe is perfection, and I appreciate the tips for success, like chilling the coated chunks and the frying temperature of the oil. The sauce is delicious too. I didn't have chili sauce so I used a T of sriracha. Thank you for yet another great recipe!
Sharon on 2021-02-06 (5 stars): I came across a lonely bag of wild turkey breast tenders at the back of the freezer and used this recipe to surprise my husband. He was delighted. I will definitely make this again.
Sally Potts on 2020-08-16 (5 stars): Made this with panko instead of bread crumbs (due to what's on hand) and grilled on a pizza stone on the bbq (too hot to use stove or deep fryer inside this week)... Turned out sooo delicious - I use online recipes all the time but rarely comment on them, but this one is so good I had to!
Looking forward to actually frying them next time too:)
Madison on 2020-04-24 (5 stars): This is the only recipe I use for when we cook wild turkey. When we first harvested our turkey we cut the pieces of the breast up kind of too thick, so before cooking this recipe I lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter lay the breast pieces in a single layer add a sheet of plastic wrap on top then use a meat tenderizer to beat them suckers thin. Then I marinate. I also throw the flour mixture in a ziplock bag and shake the turkey to coat, then you don’t get gooey flour hands. Super yummy recipe, Thank you!
Timothy M Cass on 2020-03-22 (5 stars): This turned out great for me! Family loved it! I brined the breast for 2 hours with brown sugar added. Will definitely use this recipe again.
Jessica Jackson on 2020-01-21 (5 stars): My family loves this recipe! The kids will actually sit their butts down and eat what’s on their plate! The only thing I changed was I used panko instead of saltines. It’s great either way! The Comeback Sauce is also great on vegetables.
Robert Bridgeman on 2020-01-09 (5 stars): I tried this recipe in the cast iron skillet to avoid the mess of deep frying. Another one of Hank's recipes, not surprisingly, fantastic.
Seth on 2019-05-09 (5 stars): I used this recipe with the “triangles” from the turkey breast like the recipe suggests and it turned out fantastic. The one thing I would do differently in the future is use a fresh sleeve of crackers and new bag on the second half of the turkey chunks. I just didn’t get as consistent breading on the second half as the cracker crumbs started to clump up. Entire family loved this meal. Great way to introduce wild game to someone.
