Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Thighs

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

104 Comments

4.93 from 13 votes
4 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 7 hours
Total Time 7 hours 5 minutes
Jump to Recipe
Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Thighs are juicy, crispy, tender, and a total breeze to make on a weeknight! Who doesn’t like a crispy skin?

Slow Cooker Dinners are one of my favorite go-to weeknight meals. If you enjoy this recipe you should check out my Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken Thighs and my Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Breasts.

Sabrina’s Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Thighs Recipe

We make this Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey at least once a month, sometimes more, and every time we do, dinner is full of excitement. I think we are used to turkey being a deli meat or a Thanksgiving dinner option, and for us, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Recipe

Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey Thighs are juicy, crispy, tender, and a total breeze to make on a weeknight! Who doesn't like a crispy skin?
Yield 4 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 7 hours
Total Time 7 hours 5 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
White plate with turkey thigh, potatoes and brussels sprouts
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 4 turkey thighs , skin and bone on
  • kosher salt
  • cracked black pepper

Instructions

  • Add salt and pepper to taste (I do about ½ teaspoon Kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper).
  • ADD NO LIQUIDS AT ALL.
  • Put the turkey skin side up and cook on low for 7 hours, covered.
  • If you have any issues with the skin crisping, you can brown under a broiler, six inches from the heat, for 1-2 minutes or let it cook with the top slightly opened for the last hour to let any steam escape.

Nutrition

Calories: 2kcal | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 2mg | Calcium: 0.1mg | Iron: 0.01mg

Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes

Pin this recipe now to remember it later

Pin Recipe

Chefs Notes

Many people think that it takes forever to make turkey because we usually cook the whole bird, but it really doesn’t have to be that way. Imagine enjoying all the incredible flavors of turkey without spending hours in the kitchen. This recipe nails that deliciousness while being totally doable for a weeknight dinner. So, why not bring some Thanksgiving vibes to your dinner table any night? You’re going to love it!

Table of contents

Back to Table of Contents

About this Recipe

If there is one thing I know about dinnertime, easy slow cooker recipes are king. I have a good suspicion you all will love this Slow Cooker Turkey just as much! And it is even more awesome than normal slow cooker meals because the skin is crispy, and who doesn’t love crispy skin!? 

What to Pair With

While the crispy skin is delicious enough, you can top it off with Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy. Complete your meal with some Velveeta Mac and Cheese. Don’t forget about your greens, try making some easy Air Fryer Broccoli. You can also enjoy turkey thighs during the summer and make Southern Baked Beans and Easy Cole Slaw.

How to Store

  • Serve: You can leave thighs at room temperature for up to two hours before refrigeration
  • Store: Store turkey thighs in the refrigerator, wrapped in foil or in an airtight container, for up to four days.
  • Freeze: After turkey cools completely, remove the meat from the bones and place it in a freezer bag. Freeze up to 4 months.

Variations

  1.  Salt and pepper: Seriously, we do this version 9 times out of ten. Crispy salted thighs are just heaven.
  2. Salt, pepper, garlic, with a squeeze of lemon: Add salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of garlic to thighs. When done, add a squeeze of lemon on top.
  3. Salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic: Classic flavors, 2 tablespoons garlic, 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary.
  4. Salt, pepper, orange zest, rosemary, sage: zest of one orange, 2 teaspoons minced rosemary, and thyme.
  5. Salt, pepper, celery, carrots, and onions: roughly chopped veggies under the turkey, it’ll feel and smell just like Thanksgiving.
  6. Salt, pepper, butter, and flour: Now this one is a bit more complex, because you’re going to make it the classic way, then reserve the liquids left behind, remove the fat, and add the liquid to a saucepan to thicken with 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of flour. Mix the flour and butter in a small bowl with a fork, add to the turkey liquids, and thicken for an awesome, quick gravy.
  7. Salt, pepper, garlic, and Parmesan rind: 2 tablespoons minced garlic and chopped up Parmesan rind. Don’t waste good cheese for it, just the leftover rind to add flavor.
  8. Salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, and garlic powder: Easy spicy, Latin flavors. I serve this with my toasted Mexican Rice.
  9. Salt, pepper, sage, and dried cranberries: I know, I know, dried cranberries? YES! They will plump up to these delicious red little flavor balloons! Add ½ teaspoon dried sage or 1 teaspoon fresh minced sage and a big handful of dried cranberries.

More Delicious Turkey Recipes

Collage of cooked turkey thighs plated and in slow cooker

Photos Used in Previous Posts:

Cooked Turkey thighs in slow cooker

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

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 cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, 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

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

Categories

Leave a comment & rating

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

Recipe Rating




Maximum file size: 10 MB.
Allowed formats: JPG, JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF. Drop images here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

    1. Hi Gene, you can stack them on top of each other, but they won’t get crispy. If you want all of the thighs to be crisp, turn your oven to broil, and crisp the tops of the thighs for 1-2 minutes before serving

      Reply

  4. This recipe was a hit this weekend for Canadian Thanksgiving. If you have a small crowd, it is so much easier than doing a whole bird. Meat was perfect and juicy! I only did 2, for about 5 hours, and I didn’t worry too much about crispy skin. Next time I will try it for longer and see how it crisps up. The meat is so good I wouldn’t even care if there was no skin. And I love skin!

    Reply

  5. For anyone that hasn’t tried this method, it yields amazing results. I used to have to buy a larger bird to get a sufficient quantity of dark meat to keep the family happy. Now I can buy a smaller turkey and supplement with these slow cooker thighs. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  6. I am giving this a try tomorrow for thanksgiving ..the other recipie (Guinness beer sloppy joes) were incredible and got rave reviews from friends..gonna try more of your recipes..i will specifically look for your recipes..thanks and ill let you know how it comes out!

    Reply

  7. I really want to do this on thanksgiving for extra dark meat to add to the whole smoked bird. I love the idea of not taking up oven space! Just wondering, though, would a 5 qt. crockpot work for this?

    Reply

    1. This recipe was made in a 6 qt. slow cooker. For larger roasts I also brown the meat in the insert and not lose a bunch of the flavor by transferring the meat and leaving the browned bits behind. Let us know how your recipe turns out!

      Reply

  8. I do not see any place the temperature to cook this at….for a 7 hour cook I really think that is important info…. also, not mentioned if left uncovered or ?? I’m going to try to wing it and guess the temp for cooking… bizarre not to see info included…. but sounds fabulous…

    Reply

    1. Instruction #3:
      Put the turkey skin side up and cook on low for 7 hours, covered.
      Because we used a slow cooker the “temperature” is low.
      Sorry for the confusion.

      Reply

  9. This is an EXCELLENT recipe! I have made it several times. Could i use a skinless, boneless chicken breast in place of the turkey thigh? Perhaps you have to have that skin and bone to provide some juice in the cooker. But maybe i could add just a quarter cup of water to the chicken breast? Would love to hear your thoughts.

    Reply

    1. Yes you can use skinless, boneless chicken breasts. And you are right, they do not give off the same amount of liquid and take less time to cook, so watch your inner temperature (165 degrees is the goal) of the thickest part of your chicken breast. Yes you can add water IF you think it’s necessary. A shorter cook time may help you avoid the extra water. Hint: I would use chicken broth rather than water!

      Reply

    2. The recipe simply says “add salt and pepper to taste”. Add it where? How? Rub it into the skin? Just put it all under the turkey? Rub it all over? It seems to me the results would vary tremendously.

      Reply

  10. Can I do this recipe in a turkey roaster? I’d like to layer the bottom of the roaster with thighs. I sous vide my white meat but still looking for a good way to deliver delicious dark meat. Should the thighs be touching when I start? What temperature would you use? Thank you!

    Reply