This Boneless Turkey Breast Roast is stuffed with garlic, has a golden herb crust and comes out tender and juicy every time! You need only 6 ingredients for flavorful and impressive results every time!
Reader’s Review
I am making this again this Thanksgiving, 3rd year in a row! I love the juiciness and the flavors but also the simplicity of this recipe. I might rub with butter this time instead of oil like another reader mentioned.
Ali
Make this juicy boneless turkey breast roast for Thanksgiving dinner instead of roasting a whole turkey! I am a pro at cooking a turkey breast roast for holidays because it’s always just 4 of us.
Over the years I have perfected a slow cooker boneless turkey breast, Instant Pot turkey breast and even air fryer turkey breast. Once we even had bacon wrapped turkey breast.
So, lots of options for you depending what you are feeling like this year!
Why You’ll Love a Turkey Breast Roast
- Perfect for small gatherings: If you are feeding only 4 – 6 people, this boneless turkey roast is a perfect size.
- Flavorful: Anything stuffed with garlic is always delicious! Use simple spices in this recipe or this turkey breast rub.
- Juicy every time: Juicy whole turkey is a hit and miss, where as a turkey breast roast is guaranteed to be juicy because cooking it is so easy!
- Frees up oven space: You need only 1 1/2 hours to cook this roast vs. 4-5 hours for a whole bird.
Ingredients for Boneless Turkey Breast Roast
When purchasing your turkey roast, general rule of thumb is 1/2 pound of turkey breast per person, so purchase accordingly to the number of guests you will be serving.
- Boneless turkey breast roast: This recipe calls for a fresh roast. If you have a frozen one, here is an easy tutorial how to thaw a turkey breast, even if you need to do so quickly. It can be only turkey breasts, turkey thighs or both. In either case, meat is shaped and held together by stretchy mesh.
- Fresh rosemary: Not dried. I am all for shortcuts but holiday roast calls for fresh herbs as it infuses the best taste.
- Garlic: There is really no substitute for fresh garlic, which has a very distinctive flavor. I don’t recommend to use minced garlic from a jar or garlic powder.
- Olive oil: Can also use avocado oil or grapeseed oil. I do not recommend to use melted butter because it will solidify as soon as you brush it on cold turkey breast roast and herbs will not stick.
- Salt and black pepper: To season and taste.
How to Cook Boneless Turkey Breast Roast
I prefer to roast turkey breast in my 6 Quart Dutch oven but you can also do so on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Stuff with garlic: In a medium roasting pan or Dutch oven, place turkey breast and make 10-15 inserts with a paring knife. Stick garlic slice into each hole until you run out of garlic.
Season with rosemary: Rub roast with oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper all around. Taking small handfuls of rosemary pat it onto the roast, then sprinkle some.
The goal is to coat the roast in herbs for best roasted turkey flavor.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes per 1 pound at 350 F: I cooked 3 pounds turkey breast roast for 90 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast reads 160 degrees F.
Remove mesh casing and slice: Using sharp knife or kitchen scissors, cut casing in the middle, remove and discard. Slice into thin slices without pushing on meat too hard.
How Do I Know It’s Done?
Remove roast from the oven as soon as when an instant read meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part reads 160 degrees F. As per USDA guidelines, poultry meat is safe to eat when it’s cooked to 165 F. Don’t worry, as the turkey rests tented under foil or in Dutch oven, it will continue to cook with residual heat and will reach 165 degrees F optimal temperature. This way it will be juicy!
How Long to Cook Boneless Turkey Breast?
The general rule of thumb is to cook it for 30 minutes per pound in preheated to 350 degrees F oven.
Here is a table of cooking times for quick reference:
| Turkey breast weight | Cooking time |
|---|---|
| 2 pounds | 60 minutes or 1 hour |
| 3 pounds | 90 minutes or 1 hour 30 minutes |
| 4 pounds | 120 minutes or 2 hours |
| 5 pounds | 150 minutes or 2 hours 30 minutes |
| 6 pounds | 180 minutes or 3 hours |
Extra Large Roast
7-10 pounds roast: Cook for 30 minutes per pound but check with a thermometer 30 minutes before calculated total time. Just to avoid overcooking it as oven gets hotter with time.
Tips for Best Results
- Don’t remove the casing before cooking: Casing is holding pieces of meat together. If you remove it, meat will fall apart. Do not worry, we will season it inside.
- Bake roast uncovered: If you cover it, white meat will steam instead of roasting.
- Don’t check on it during baking: I do not recommend to open the oven and try to baste it with turkey broth or melted butter. Each time you open the door, the oven temperature drops and your cook time will be skewed.
- Important to let meat rest: Resting meat results in juicy and tender turkey. Remove roast from the oven, cover with aluminum foil and let turkey breast rest for 10 minutes. Don’t skip!
- Browned crispy skin: You can try broiling the roast for a few minutes at the end. Just be careful not to dry out the turkey.
Variations
As is, this turkey breast roast recipe produces amazing results! If you want to try some variations though, here are some ideas.
- Can’t stand the thought of not using butter to rub turkey? Melt small amount of butter then mix with EVOO or some readers have had success with using room temperature butter.
- Stuffed turkey breast: If you are up for the challenge, some readers have successfully removed mesh, unrolled the breast and spread additional layer of fresh herbs and butter, then rolled it back up and stuffed breast back in mesh before roasting.
Serving Ideas
I like serve it with my mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, healthy cranberry sauce and Greek yogurt dinner rolls.
Are you wondering “What else to serve with turkey breast?” Here are a few more holiday side dishes that are the perfect complement to your festive celebration.
How to Store
Store: Refrigerate cooked turkey roast whole or sliced in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Leftover turkey is so good cold on its own, in a sandwich or we love these leftover turkey quesadillas. Or reheat just until warm with gravy.
Freeze: Freeze leftovers sliced or cut into bite sized pieces in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator and then use leftovers for turkey noodle soup, turkey and rice soup, as a protein in a salad for lunch.
FAQs
Yes. You could season the turkey breast, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Let turkey come to room temperature, then proceed with roasting.
You can absolutely cook 2 roasts in the same Dutch oven, and the oven temperature still stays the same but the cooking time will increase more than if they were in separate pots. Because there’s less air circulation around each roast, they heat each other up and the Dutch oven traps moisture, slowing browning. Plan for 20–35 minutes longer than a single roast. Start checking early for recommended internal temp to avoid overcooking. Also be sure to place the roasts side by side and leave a little space between them if possible.
Trust the first internal temperature check, remove it from the oven and let rest so turkey juices settle back into the roast. Also to keep it moist for a while, don’t slice it right away but rather before serving.
If your roast comes out tough, it is because of type of meat the store used to wrap into the casing. I once happened to buy a small 2 pounds roast and it was pretty chewy with muscle tissues. I highly recommend to buy a minimum 3 pounds roast.
More Main Dish Recipes to Try
Here are a few more suggestions for your small holiday meal instead of traditional turkey!
Boneless Turkey Breast Roast
Video
Ingredients
Boneless Turkey Roast
- 3 pounds fresh boneless turkey roast, in casing
- 3 large garlic cloves, cut into matchsticks
- 3 large rosemary sprigs, leaves removed and minced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- Ground black pepper, to taste
Easy Pan Gravy (Optional)
- 2 cups low sodium chicken stock, or water
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Boneless Turkey Roast
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium roasting pan or Dutch oven, place turkey roast and make 10-15 inserts with a paring knife. Stick garlic slice into each one until you run out of garlic.
- Rub roast with oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper all around. Taking small handfuls of rosemary pat it onto the roast, then sprinkle some. The goal is to coat the roast in herbs.
- Bake uncovered for 90 minutes. Check with meat thermometer, it should read 160 degrees F.
- Remove from the oven, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Internal temperature will reach 170 degrees F and juices settle.
- Using a sharp knife or scissors, remove the casing and slice. Serve warm at a Holiday table with traditional sides of mashed potatoes and gravy, cold as an appy or use in sandwiches instead of deli meat.
Easy Pan Gravy (Optional)
- Place roasting pan with juices from cooking turkey roast on medium heat. Scrape and shake rosemary and burnt on pieces from removed casing into the pot. There is a lot of flavor. Discard the casing.
- Add broth and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes and whisk to scrape the walls. Again lots of flavor in there. Add white wine, butter, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium and cook for 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, add a bit of gravy from the pot and cornstarch. Whisk well with a fork, pour back into the pot and whisk until gravy starts boiling.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes or until thickened a bit. Serve with a turkey roast.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate roast whole or sliced in an airtight container for up to a week. It tastes so good cold. And warm with gravy. This recipe is so versatile!
- Freeze: Freeze leftovers sliced or cut into bite sized pieces in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator.
- Make ahead: Season the turkey breast with garlic and herbs, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Let turkey come to room temp, then proceed with roasting.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Fantastic! I made my Perdue boneless/seasoned turkey breast roast by adding oil, garlic, & fresh rosemary in my Dutch Oven. It turned out exactly as your recipe pictured. I did turn it throughout cook time to get evenly browned. I made your gravy too and it is exceptional. The au jus on the cutting board tasted great too! I am looking ahead to Thanksgiving. Incredible flavor! Thank you! Your directions were superb too!
Aw, that is so amazing to hear!:) Enjoy! I am adapting this recipe to Instant Pot now.:)
Staring this right now I just need fresh rosemary. I normally don’t do well with gravy, but I’m going for it. I’ll let u know in about 3 hours how it turned out. Thx Lenette
Hope you like it!:)
Tried it. Turned out great. Totally satisfied.
That is so amazing to hear! Glad you enjoyed my recipe!
It’s out of this world delicious??
Yay! So happy to hear, Tracy! Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to let me know you enjoyed my recipe.
This was really delicious, however mine did not brown as nicely as yours. It was pretty white on the top, actually. It also took way less time to reach the 160 degree temperature. I’m thinking this could be because I used the regular boneless turkey breast with the skin on, not one wrapped in mesh. I couldn’t find that at my grocer.
Any tips on how to adapt this to work with the cut I have and to also make it brown? I’m thinking maybe cooking it at 400 degrees next time? I’m not sure. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks for the recipe!
I would not change cooking T – too risky. I would remove the skin and wrap with kitchen twine into a roast. It’s all there is to it. Make sure same weight. Should work.
Turned out yummy
So happy to hear!
I’m making this tomorrow due to a grocery delivery sub. I ordered a double breasted bone-in turkey, but I got 2 boneless, skinless turkey breasts.
Anyhooo…I don’t have a have a Dutch oven, will any roaster work? I do have an IP. Will that work better?
I also don’t have fresh thyme or any herb other basil. Will dry work and how much?
Thanks for your help to save my Christmas turkey dinner on Christmas Eve!
I would tie them with kitchen twine into roast if you can and cook as per time suggested. Yes use 1-2 tsp dried basil. Salt pepper. And garlic will save the day. Here is https://ifoodreal.com/instant-pot-turkey-breast/ Instant pot turkey breast if you want to make that.
I never cooked a boneless turkey breast, so I made it according to the recipe and it was simply delicious. Love the garlic and rosemary. It was better the next day for sandwiches. My husband is asking for me to make it again.
Oh, yessss! Awesome, awesome.
Thanks! Cooking this tomorrow, for the 4th.
You left out #5: Got a free turkey breast from the grocery store for the holidays, don’t know what to do with it so I defrosted it for this recipe and still haven’t cooked it by June :+)
Pray For Us…
It will be fine.:)
This turkey recipe is so delicious!