Easy Duck Confit
- Total Time
- 3½ hours, plus 24 hours' refrigeration
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt
- 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½teaspoon dried thyme
- 1bay leaf, crumbled
- 8moulard duck legs (about 4 pounds total), rinsed and patted dry but not trimmed
- Roasted potatoes, noodles or sturdy salad greens for serving
- Bitter salad greens such as arugula, chicory and/or radicchio, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
1905 calories; 178 grams fat; 60 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 85 grams monounsaturated fat; 23 grams polyunsaturated fat; 11 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 53 grams protein; 995 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf pieces. Sprinkle duck generously with mixture. Place duck legs in a pan in one layer. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
- Step 2
The next day, heat oven to 325 degrees.Place duck legs, fat side down, in a large ovenproof skillet, with legs fitting snugly in a single layer (you may have to use two skillets or cook them in batches). Heat duck legs over medium-high heat until fat starts to render. When there is about ¼ inch of rendered fat in pan, about 20 minutes, flip duck legs, cover pan with foil, and place it in oven. If you have used two pans, transfer duck and fat to a roasting pan, cover with foil and place in oven.
- Step 3
Roast legs for 2 hours, then remove foil and continue roasting until duck is golden brown, about 1 hour more. Remove duck from fat; reserve fat for other uses.
- Step 4
Serve duck hot or warm, over roasted potatoes or noodles or sturdy salad greens.
Private Notes
Comments
Or, you can throw the duck legs and salt/spices in a crockpot for 6-8 hours. Take out the duck and strain the fat. When you want to eat the duck, brown it in a saute pan to desired doneness. You will have perfect confit, and lot's of duck fat to fry potatoes. Have you ever fried eggs in duck fat? Too delicious for words.
With these temperatures, you are for sure going to completely dry out any duck. Confit is a method called poeler, which happens at very low temperatures. There's no way this recipe will ever meet the standards of any french home cook...
This is one of my favorite recipes...with minor changes. I roast the duck for less time, probably 1 1/2 hours with the cover and a half hour without. I also add a tiny bit of honey to each duck leg 10 minutes before the total cooking is done. This was how I had it in Paris therefore, voila, how I wanted it at home.
I use this recipe after I cook a whole duck. I roast the whole duck until the breasts are perfectly done and skin is browned. This typically leaves the legs incompletely cooked. After enjoying a delicious duck dinner, the next day I put the legs in a cast iron skillet with the rendered Duck fat and follow the rest of the recipe with the shortened cook time of 1 1/2 hours covered and 30 minutes uncovered. Delicious. The bones are then used for stock and I freeze remaining duck fat for future recipes like Duck Fat potatoes. It’s a recipe that keeps on giving!
Going to try this without the 24 hr fridge time hopefully it comes out well
This is a bad recipe! The cook temp and times are so off! We cooked as directed and it turned into duck jerky! Do not follow this recipe!!!! 300f for 2.5 hours and let rest in the fat for 30 min would produce a way better end product.