We’ll teach you everything you need to know to cook a moist, delicious turkey breast for the holidays.
Step 1 - Prepare your roasting pan. Many come with a rack in the bottom that will keep your turkey lifted up and out of the drippings. We actually prefer to remove the rack and instead we place our turkey breast right on top of a layer of celery stalks, carrots, onions, and cloves of garlic.
Step 2 - Prepare the turkey. Pat your turkey breast dry with a paper towel. In a small bowl combine the butter, salt, poultry seasoning, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Mix well to make a paste. Rub the seasoned butter mixture over the turkey breast.
Step 3 - Bake. Lay the turkey breast on top of the vegetables breast meat up. Cover with the roasting pan lid. Bake for 20 minutes per pound or until a meat thermometer placed in the thickest part of the breast shows the internal temperature is 160 degrees F.
Step 4 – Let it rest. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and carefully move the turkey breast to a cutting board. Loosely tent with foil. Let the turkey breast rest for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
Step 5 – Serve. When ready to serve carve the turkey into slices and place the slices on a platter.
HOW LONG TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE OVEN? At 325 degrees F a turkey breast is cooked for 20 minutes per pound, until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. Cooking time will vary based on the turkey you chose to use. A boneless turkey breast tends to cook faster than a bone-in turkey breast. Make sure to use an instant read thermometer to ensure turkey is fully cooked.
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE SLOW COOKER
Step 1 – Prepare the breast. Once you remove the turkey breast from the packaging, pat it dry with a paper towel. Next, pour the olive oil over it and rub it over all sides. In a small bowl, stir the salt, poultry seasoning, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper until combined. Use your hands to rub the seasoning all over the turkey breast.
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE SLOW COOKER
Step 2 – Prep the veggies. Chop the celery and carrots in half, cut the onion into six wedges, and then peel and crush the garlic. Once cut, place the celery, carrots, onion, and garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker and pour the chicken broth over it.
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE SLOW COOKER
Step 3 – Cook the turkey breast. lay the turkey breast on top and cover. Set the cooker to LOW and cook for 4 to 5 hours. The turkey is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE SLOW COOKER
Step 4 – Slice and Serve. Once the turkey has cooked through, carefully remove it from the slow cooker (or oven if you completed step 4) and place on a cutting board. Slice turkey and serve.
HOW LONG DO YOU COOK TURKEY IN A SLOW COOKER? Cook times will vary based on the size of your turkey breast. To help you out, below are approximate cook times based on weight. Your turkey is fully cooked when it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F. We highly recommend purchasing an instant read thermometer for this. It takes all of the guesswork out of cooking meats! Cook times for turkey breasts: – 2 to 3 pounds: 4 to 4.5 hours on Low – 4 to 5 pounds: 5 to 5.5 hours on Low – 6 to 7 pounds: 6 to 6.5 hours on Low
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE INSTANT POT
Step 1 – Get the spices ready. Mix the salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, sage, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika together in a small bowl until it is well combined.
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE INSTANT POT
Step 2 – Add the rub to the breast. Drizzle the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the turkey and then sprinkle the spices all over the breast. Rub in the spices until the outside is fully covered by the rub.
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE INSTANT POT
Step 3 – Sear the breast. Turn your Instant Pot to SAUTE, add the remaining olive oil and butter. Brown the turkey breast on all sides, cooking each side for about 2 minutes.
HOW TO COOK TURKEY BREAST IN THE INSTANT POT
Step 4 – Set it and cook it. Pour the chicken broth into the inner pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape down the bottom of the pot and remove any stuck on bits. If you don’t scrape it down well, you will likely get a burn notice on the Instant Pot and need to remove everything to scrape it down.
CAN I COOK FROZEN TURKEY BREAST IN THE INSTANT POT? We definitely don’t recommend placing a frozen turkey in the Instant Pot. When the meat is frozen, you have to add a significant amount of cook time. It can also lead to cooking the outside of the turkey while the center gets up to a safe temperature. We recommend letting your turkey breast thaw in the refrigerator before cooking.
Side recipes to serve with Turkey Breast