Oven Roasted Turkey Breast is the centerpiece of many holiday tables! This recipe is made with a bone in turkey breast that is basted in butter with sage, rosemary and parsley. White wine, garlic and onions baste the turkey from the baking dish.
It is a flavorful and juicy turkey recipe with crispy skin. You also get to make a tasty gravy from the cooking liquid in the pan!
Pair this turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and brussels sprouts for a great dinner or holiday meal!
Thawing a Frozen Turkey Breast
Even though your bone in turkey breast is way smaller than the average whole turkey, it will still take a couple days to thaw your turkey breast in the fridge! Plan 2-3 days to defrost it in the fridge.
You can also do a quick defrost by soaking your WRAPPED frozen turkey breast in a bath of cold water. Add enough cold water to cover the turkey completely. Change the water every 30 minutes. Plan on about 30 minutes per pound.
How to Prep Your Turkey Breast for the Oven
Here is step by step how to prep your thawed turkey breast to be roasted to golden perfection:
- Make the butter and herb mixture. Set aside
- Place the bird in a roasting pan that has chopped onion and crushed garlic. Pat the turkey breast dry with a couple paper towels. Gently pull the breast skin from the bird by running your fingers between the skin and meat.
- If there is an excess of neck skin, trim a little with kitchen shears.
- Pat the meat dry with a paper towel. Then rub ¼ of the butter mixture over the meat. Pull the skin back in place over the butter and meat.
- Turn the bird over and rub ¼ of the butter mixture on the underside.
- Cover the top of the turkey breast skin with the remaining butter/herb mixture.
- Pour 1 cup white wine into the bottom of the pan.
- Ready to cook! Follow cooking instructions in the recipe card.
Amount Per Person
When you are cooking for a crowd you want to plan about ½ lb of turkey per person.
Carving
Carving a turkey breast is going to be a lot less complicated than carving a whole turkey! You have two options. The first can be brought to the table off the bone already carved. The second option can be brought the table and carved:
- First find the chest bone between the two breasts. Carve the two breasts from the bones by running your knife between the breast and the chest bone. Slice each breast into individual slices, similar to cutting a chicken breast.
It is going to be similar to carving a rotisserie chicken (except you won’t have legs, thighs or wings), like in this video:
2. Or you can slice the breast while it is still on the bone, like they show in this carving video from Butterball.
Wine
If you do not normally have wine in the house you can sub chicken stock for the bottom of the pan. However you can also purchase just a small carton of wine which will be almost 2 cups. Black Box makes a great one!
If you don’t want to drink the rest you can freeze your wine (but only if you plan to cook with it!!!). Pop the wine carton in a freezer baggie and freeze for up to 3 months until you are ready to use it in another recipe. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
This instant pot mushroom risotto recipe would be a great recipe to use up the rest of the wine.
Recipes for Leftover Turkey
This is going to a much smaller amount of turkey than if you cooked a whole turkey. However if only a couple people are eating you may have some leftovers. Here are a couple recipes that would be amazing for your leftover turkey.
- Turkey Pot Pie
- Turkey Tetrazzini
- Enchilada Casserole (swap turkey for the beef)
- White Chicken Chili (swap turkey for the chicken)
- Creamy Chicken and Noodles (swap turkey for the chicken)
More Holiday Dinner Recipes
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Oven Roasted Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- 4-6 lb bone in skin on turkey breast - Note the weight you will need that for cooking time!
- 6 tablespoon butter, softened
- 2 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
- 2 tablespoon sage, chopped
- 2 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 large onion, cut into 8 large pieces
- 1 cup white wine - something crisp and dry like chardonnay or pinot grigio. Could sub chicken broth if you don't want to use wine.
Gravy
- Drippings strained from the turkey pan
- 2 cups chicken or turkey stock
- 2 tablespoon corn starch
- 3 tablespoon cool water
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 350 °.
- Prep your baking dish by adding in the cut onion and smashed garlic cloves.
- With plenty of paper towels pat your turkey breast dry on all sides. This step will be very important so the butter spreads well.Trim any excess neck skin.
- Place the turkey breast over the onions in the baking dish. set aside.
- In a small bowl smash together the butter, salt, pepper, sage, rosemary and parsley.
- Lightly pull up on the turkey skin and start to push your fingers between the skin and the meat, lightly pulling the skin away from the meat, try not to tear the skin. If you can slip a paper towel under there to pat some of the moisture it will help the butter spread in the next step.Once it is all loosened grab ¼ of the butter mixture with your fingers and rub it between the skin and meat. See photo for reference. Position the skin back so that it covers the turkey.
- Now turn the breast over and rub ¼ of the butter mixture on the underside.
- Place the turkey back in the pan, breast side up, and rub the skin with the remaining butter mixture.
- Pour 1 cup of white wine into the bottom of the baking dish.
- Place the turkey in the oven and roast for about 18- 20 MINUTES PER POUND.Example – I have a 4 lb turkey so I will roast it for 72-80 minutes. I will start checking the temp with a meat thermometer around 72 minutes and leave in the oven if it hasn't reached at least 160°.
- Make sure that the turkey has reached 160° in the thickest part.
- Remove from the oven and very loosely tent with foil and let rest for about 15-20 minutes before carving.Make the gravy while the turkey rests…
Gravy
- Strain the liquid from the bottom of the turkey baking dish into a skillet with high sides.
- Over medium, add the 2 cups stock, and bring to a hard simmer.
- Combine the cornstarch and water and slowly whisk it into the simmering liquid. It should thicken immediately.
- Taste for seasonings. Serve over sliced turkey and mashed potatoes.
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