Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Turkey Hearts
Turkey hearts stuffed with spiced cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and run over the coals on a skewer.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 70
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 3, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Wild turkey hearts | 8 to 10 | trimmed of fat and any tubes at the top |
|---|---|---|
| Cream cheese | 8 oz block | let it sit out until it stirs easily |
| Sweet barbecue rub | 2 tbsp | |
| Jalapeños | 2 | seeded and diced small |
| Bacon | 1 lb | thin cut wraps tighter and renders faster |
| All-purpose seasoning | to taste | for the outside of the wraps |
Method
- Get a bed of coals going, or light the grill to medium. You want steady heat, not flames.
- Stir the cream cheese, barbecue rub, and diced jalapeño together in a cup or bag until it is one color.
- Split each heart most of the way open and pack the cavity with the cheese mixture. Do not overfill or it runs out on the fire.
- Wrap each heart in a half strip of bacon and thread three or four onto a skewer, running the skewer through the bacon ends so they stay shut.
- Dust the outside with all-purpose seasoning.
- Grill 10 to 12 minutes a side, turning the whole skewer at once, until the bacon is rendered and browned.
- Rest a couple of minutes before eating. The filling is hotter than it looks.
Hearts are the one organ that eats like muscle meat: dense, mild, no liver funk. They are also small, which is the whole problem on a grill. Skewering three or four together turns a dozen fiddly pieces into one thing you flip once, and nothing drops into the coals.
This one stays a cooler recipe. Cream cheese and raw bacon have no shelf-stable stand-in that behaves the same, so treat it as a first-night camp meal or a hunting-camp appetizer rather than something you carry. Doing the filling at home is the real time saver — stirring cold cream cheese with a stick at camp is worse than it sounds.
Packing
Hearts and bacon stay in the cooler on ice, doubled bags. Mix the cream cheese filling at home and carry it in a screw-top jar so all you do at camp is stuff and wrap. Bring metal skewers or soak wooden ones before you leave.
Variations
- Duck breast strips, dove breasts, or cubed venison all work the same way if you have no hearts.
- Skip the jalapeño and add smoked paprika for the same color without the heat.
- No skewers: build the wraps in a foil packet on the grate and turn the packet instead.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table/recipes/bacon-wrapped-stuffed-turkey-hearts