Strawberries and chocolate are a legendary combination, perfect for the holidays. Our version of the Tik Tok viral Chocolate Covered Strawberry Turkeys are as adorable as they are delicious — the perfect Thanksgiving treat. Gobble, gobble!
Whether you are looking for a mid-morning Thanksgiving snack (after you already scarfed down the Sausage Breakfast Casserole) to set out for the ravenous hordes who would otherwise be trampling your kitchen, or you want an elegant evening appetizer to serve your guests between card games and football, we’ve got you covered with step-by-step instructions for how to make a strawberry look like a turkey. Because why not?
Best of all, there is no beak, wattles or feathers to worry about decorating so the hard stuff is taken out of this recipe. I love that as I always want to make the ones with the candy corn beak and by Thanksgiving time, I can’t find them anymore. Problem solved!
🍽️ Why This Works
Adorable | These little turkeys are such a cute way to serve your guests a small pre-dinner treat or late-night appetizer! Your turkey chocolate-covered strawberries will be the talk of the party.
Novel | While everyone else is serving pumpkin spice twenty different ways for dessert – you’ll be providing a fresh fruit dessert with a festive twist.
Kid’s Thanksgiving Treat | Little kids, tweens, and teens alike are going to love these little turkeys and gobble them up faster than you can blink. Something about eating a bite-sized chocolate turkey is very satisfying. It’s one of those Thanksgiving dessert table ideas that borders on brilliant.
Decoration | Use these to decorate your Thanksgiving table or for a whimsical kids table.
🦃 Ingredients
Strawberries | Try to find large strawberries that are nicely ripened if you can. If you have a farm market that brings in fresh produce year-round you might be able to get California strawberries for a real treat!
Pretzels | Stick pretzels will form the legs of the turkey and add a little salty crunch to the turkey chocolate-covered strawberry.
Dark Chocolate | I find that using dark chocolate instead of sweet is a nice balance for the strawberries. Using sweet chocolate will make the strawberries taste extra sour and have a sharp contrast. Alternatively, using milk chocolate will taste great with the sweetness of the berries.
PRO TIP: Skip the chocolate chips and grab the melted chocolate bark used for dipping truffles. You will be able to skip the coconut oil then to make it thinner. Easy, peasy!
Frosting | You’ll just need a tiny bit of frosting to keep the legs in place and form the turkey feet. White almond bark or white chocolate bark works fantastic as a substitute for the frosting. It’s found on the top shelf at Walmart in the baking aisle. It will harden faster with no need to put in the refrigerator.
Coconut Oil | Use a bit of oil to thin the chocolate will help make a nice smooth coating of chocolate for your turkey. You won’t need much.
Look for the Chocolate Bark on the top shelves of the grocery stores for a quick and easy dipping chocolate. If you use the bark, you don’t have to use coconut oil.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
Disposable Piping Bags | These handy bags will help you squeeze just the right amount of frosting on for the leg hinges and turkey feet. The best part is, when you are all done you can simply throw the bag away. No cleaning necessary!
Strawberry Huller | It’s not strictly necessary as you can simply cut the top of the strawberry off just as we did. However, a huller is a really nice tool to remove just the green.
Microwaveable Bowl | You need a good microwavable safe bowl to melt the chocolate in the microwave.
Dipping Tools (optional) | We love using these dipping tools as excess drip of the chocolate comes right off. If you plan to work with melted chocolate more than once a season, these are a life saver.
📝 Instructions
Step One: Trim the tops and stems off of the strawberries
Step Two: Next, pipe a small dab of frosting on each side of the strawberry to hold the “turkey legs” in place to act as glue. You don’t have to cover the bottoms of each leg.
Step Three: Attach pretzel sticks to the frosting to form the legs as shown.
Step Four: Chill in the freezer for a few minutes on a baking sheet. I like to use a piece of parchment paper for the non stick properties.
PRO TIP: If the turkey legs won’t stay, cut a small slit in the strawberry and gently push the end of the pretzel turkey leg into the berry.
Step Five: Melt chocolate with just a little bit of coconut oil and stir until smooth in a microwave-safe bowl.
Step Six: Hold the whole strawberry over a bowl or place it on a rack and spoon the melted chocolate over to cover it entirely. Alternatively, use a long skewer to poke the strawberry and dip into the melted chocolate. A fork or toothpick will work great in this situation as well.
If you have a chocolate dipping tool, use that so the chocolate will drip right off of the tool and you won’t waste the excess chocolate.
Step Seven: Place on a wax-paper-lined tray and place in refrigerator until set.
Step Eight: Finally, pipe on white “foot” covers.
Storage and Serving
These store in the refrigerator for 1 days ahead of time but is best served the day of.
Serve these on a tray or in little truffle liners so everyone can just pick up one without making a mess.
🍴 Substitutions
- Skip the white tips of the toes and make everything a solid chocolate covered, including the pretzels. Use mini marshmallows for the white tips of the toes.
- Dip the pretzels in caramel and allow them to harden and then continue on with the process. This will give it a little bit of extra yumminess.
- Stir in crushed Rice Crisp Cereal to add texture to the outside of your little turkeys.
❗ Expert Tips
Wash your strawberries ahead of time, lay them out on a paper towel, and make sure they are thoroughly dry before you begin making your turkey chocolate-covered strawberries. Otherwise, you will find that neither the frosting nor the chocolate will stick.
Melt the chocolate in ten to fifteen-second increments in a microwave, stirring between each set. This is because chocolate holds its shape even when melted. So you can’t “look” to see if it is melted, you have to stir to check. Otherwise, you will burn the chocolate. When it is getting close to thoroughly melted, stir in a dab of coconut oil and decrease the microwave time slightly as a caution. (Against overcooked and clumpy chocolate.)
If you prefer, you can melt your chocolate in a double boiler. That’s still a legit method.
To begin with, build your turkeys on a tray that will fit in your freezer and your refrigerator. Line the tray with waxed paper. That way you can move it from freezer to counter and back to the fridge with ease. You can buy 8″ sheet pans if your freezer is small. Parchment paper will also work.
Royal icing like what you get for a gingerbread kit is a great choice. You can buy this already made at your local craft store. It sets up fast and holds more firmly than regular frosting. You can also just use regular store-bought white frosting or homemade.
Dipping the strawberries into the melted chocoalte can loosen the legs with the weight of extra chocolate. Instead, make sure to spoon the melted chocolate over the strawberries with their pretzel legs attached. Or make sure the legs are secure before dipping.
Recipe FAQ
No, you can use whatever kind of chocolate you prefer. You can even use “white chocolate”. I prefer dark chocolate because I find that the more sweet chocolate emphasizes the tartness of the strawberry instead of drawing out the sweetness of the strawberry.
Making this dish is as easy as finding gluten-free pretzels, which you should be able to find at your local grocery store. I find that gluten-free pretzels are every bit as tasty as normal pretzels, so if you have a gluten-free guest coming for Thanksgiving just plan to make all your turkeys GF.
This is the quintessential Thanksgiving question right? Since you are trying to schedule all the different things you need to fix or cook into one or two days so it makes perfect sense to prepare what you can well ahead of time! Unfortunately, chocolate strawberries are really best eaten on the day that they are made.
Simply store them covered at room temperature and for best results eat within (at most) 24 hours. After 24 hours they must be refrigerated, but this will cause seeping of moisture from inside the strawberry through the chocolate. They don’t freeze well either, so making them ahead of time is not a good option.
Using a dab of the coconut oil will make the chocolate smooth out and have a professional finish.
Fill a small saucepan with a couple inches of water and place the pan on the stove to simmer. Once the steam starts rising, place a Pyrex bowl on top of the pan (it has to be big enough that it doesn’t fall in) and then add the chocolate to the glass bowl. It will gently start to melt. Stir often until it fully melts and then dip from the bowl.
More Great Thanksgiving Dessert Ideas
Air Fryer Caramel Apple Hand Pies {15 Minutes}
Roasted Pumpkin Pie Spiced Pecans {5 Minute Prep}
Related Recipes
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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Turkeys
Equipment
- Wax Paper
Ingredients
- Strawberries
- White Frosting
- Coconut Oil
- Dipping Chocolate
- Pretzel Sticks
Instructions
- Trim the tops off of the strawberries
- Pipe a small dab of frosting on each side of the strawberry to hold the "legs" in place.
- Attach pretzel sticks to the frosting to form the
- Chill in the freezer for a few minutes to harden.
- Melt chocolate with just a little bit of coconut oil and stir until smooth.
- Hold the strawberry over a bowl or place it on a rack and spoon the melted chocolate over to cover it entirely. Alternatively, use a long skewer to poke the strawberry and dip into the melted chocolate.
- Place on a wax-paper-lined tray and place in refrigerator until set.
- Pipe on white “foot” covers.
Notes
- Skip the white tips of the toes and make everything a solid chocolate covered, including the pretzels.
- Dip the pretzels in caramel and allow them to harden and then continue on with the process. This will give it a little bit of extra yumminess.
- Stir in crushed Rice Crisp Cereal to add texture to the outside of your little turkeys.
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