Here at River Brothers, we’re all about getting the most out of your harvest—whether it’s filling tags in the spring woods or filling plates back at home. This smoked wild turkey pinwheel recipe is one of our favorite ways to turn a turkey breast into a show-stopping, flavor-packed meal that’s both simple to make and easy to customize.
If you’ve got a spring gobbler in the freezer (or fresh off the hunt), this is a great recipe to break it out for.
What You'll Need
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Wild turkey breast
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Plastic wrap (for pounding out)
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Stuffing of your choice (we used onions, wild asparagus, spinach, bacon, and dried berries)
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Cream cheese
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Swiss cheese
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Butcher string or kabob sticks
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Pellet grill or smoker
- Meat thermometer
Step 1: Smoke It Low and Slow
Before you start assembling your pinwheel, make sure your pellet grill or smoker is fired up. We used a Pitboss Austin XL on the Smoke setting, which held around 250°F.
Once your pinwheel is rolled and secured, place it on the smoker and let it ride for about 3 hours, or until the internal temperature hits 165°F. That’s the key number with turkey—always go by internal temp, not just time.
Step 2: Prep Your Turkey Breast
Start by cleaning up your wild turkey breast. Get rid of any sinew or silver skin, then lay it on a clean surface. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top—this keeps it from tearing while you flatten it.
Using a meat mallet or the back of a skillet, pound the breast out until it’s a uniform thickness. How thin you go is up to you, but getting it nice and even makes for easier rolling and better cooking.
Step 3: Cook Your Stuffing
You can get creative here—we’re not too fancy, and we like to work with what we’ve got or can forage ourselves. For this batch, we cooked down:
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Chopped onions
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Wild-picked asparagus
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Spinach
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Crispy bacon
- A handful of dried berries (cranberries, blueberries, cherries) tossed in at the end
Cook it all down in a pan until soft and well combined, then let it cool completely. This step’s important—don’t throw hot stuffing on a cold turkey breast or you’ll lose moisture and make it harder to roll.
Step 4: Build the Roll
Once the stuffing has cooled, spread a layer of cream cheese across the turkey breast. Add some slices of Swiss cheese, then pile on your stuffing mixture.
Now start at one end and carefully roll it up into a log. If you’re handy with butcher’s string, tie it off to keep everything tight. If not—don’t worry—we’re just good ol’ country boys and used broken-up kabob sticks to pin it in place. It does the job just fine.
Step 5: Rest Before Slicing
Once you pull it from the smoker, let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing in. We know, it smells amazing and it’s hard to wait—but trust us, this step is crucial. Resting lets the juices redistribute so you don’t end up with a dry or messy cut. It’s worth the wait.
Final Thoughts
This wild turkey pinwheel is one of those meals that looks impressive but is easy enough for any night of the week. And best of all—you can swap in whatever stuffing ingredients you and your family enjoy. The goal here at River Brothers is to make wild game approachable, rewarding, and always delicious.
If you give this one a try, tag us in your photos—we’d love to see your wild game creations!
Until next time, keep it wild.
