Steven Rinella's Thanksgiving Hot Take Will Make Turkey Purists Furious

Steven Rinella loves turkeys. He hunts them. He cooks them. He defends them like they're his own children. But as a self-proclaimed "Thanksgiving purist," he will not be eating one on Thursday.

"This… OK. This is a major issue in my marriage," Rinella told OutKick Outdoors. 

His wife, Katie, believes it's "sinful" not to serve turkey on Thanksgiving, while Steve insists that eating turkey on the holiday isn't even historically accurate. 

"I've pointed out to her that historians don't even think the Pilgrims ate turkey on the first Thanksgiving. They think they were probably eating geese or ducks," Rinella explained. "They ate the best of what they had. They definitely ate deer meat, you know?"

A renowned outdoorsman, author and founder of MeatEater, Steve could talk for hours about the history of hunting, fishing and wild game cooking. He takes these matters very seriously.

MORE: How Steven Rinella Became America's Wild Game ‘Middle Man’

So while many families are arguing about politics this time of year, the Rinellas have a much more primal divide.

"At our home on Thanksgiving, I like to cook the best things we have around. Like, my kids have some cow elk tags this year. If one of them gets a cow elk right before Thanksgiving, that's what we would have," Steve said. "So every year it's the same thing. I'm in charge of the Thanksgiving meal. I don't do turkey. I do the best stuff we have that we got lately. She gets mad.

"We're already gearing up for this year's fight."

Steven Rinella is host of the Netflix series, "MeatEater," where he "brings game meat from field to table in remote regions."

(Photo by John Hafner)

If you know anything about Rinella, this holiday hot take might actually surprise you. After all, his love and admiration for turkeys is well-documented as he's hunted and written about them for decades. 

Steve even got visibly offended on Theo Von's podcast in September when the comedian joked that turkeys seemed "unwell" and "like they got picked last for gym." Rinella snapped back that it was "the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

So while Steven playfully described his annual Thanksgiving feud with Katie, he's sticking to his guns. Turkeys, he says, are hunted in the spring and eaten in the summer — long before you start planning your Thanksgiving feast.

"By fall, the turkeys should be gone," he said. "You should have eaten them all."

Mistake Everyone Makes While Cooking Thanksgiving Turkey

For most people, the turkey isn't even the main event. In fact, Campbell's 2025 State of the Sides Report revealed that 63% of Americans prefer side dishes to the actual bird. I'm, admittedly, part of that camp.

But according to Steven Rinella, there's a simple explanation for that: most people are cooking their turkey the wrong way.

For years, he, too, tried the traditional method — plucking a wild turkey "all the way" and attempting the classic roast. But it's nearly impossible to cook the whole animal evenly.

"It's very tricky to get the bird where the legs are cooked through and tender and the breast is still juicy," he said. "By the time the legs, near the hip joints, by the time that's cooked, the breast is usually incinerated. They're very lean bird."

He’s basted them "with a pound of butter," wrapped them in foil, everything short of sending up a prayer. It can work, but Rinella says there are much better ways.

(Getty Images)

"When we clean turkeys, we part them out," he said. "Thighs, drumsticks, breasts… I might brine and smoke the breasts. I might slow cook the thighs and drumsticks and pick them for turkey tacos or turkey soup. I cut the turkey apart, and I use the parts, whatever the best thing to do with the part is, and that's what we do."

In other words, treat each cut like its own ingredient instead of trying to force the whole bird into a Norman Rockwell painting.

"I'm sure some people are pissed, because you can do it. It's just, there's better ways to do it," Rinella said. "This is very personal. Everybody has their own take home on this. But that's where I've landed after many years of turkey eating."

And if you'd rather skip the turkey in favor of more sweet potatoes and green bean casserole, it's probably because the bird just wasn't cooked the right way.

"Not the turkey’s fault," Rinella deadpanned.

Watch Our Full Conversation With Steven Rinella:

This turkey talk barely scratches the surface. Steve also talked with OutKick Outdoors about wild game for beginners, the regional myths about what animals "can't" be eaten, the one game meat he gave up on cooking, and a lot more.

Check out the whole interview — it's perfect viewing while you avoid helping in the kitchen this week.

OutKick Outdoors' new interview series, Open Season, brings you conversations with adventurers, hunters, hikers, anglers, conservationists, and everyday people with unbelievable outdoor stories. Got a guest idea? Email me at Amber.Harding@outkick.com — we'd love to hear who we should talk to next!