Roasted Turkey Breast comes out incredibly juicy inside, with crispy skin and flavorful with simple ingredients like garlic and dried herbs.
It is perfect for small gatherings during Thanksgiving and Holidays.
Roast Turkey Breast
This roast turkey breast is just perfect for small Thanksgiving or Christmas table. I promise, you will be impressed how moist it will come out!
When you roast entire turkey, the breast is often dry. Another point for breast vs. whole turkey.
Ingredients for Roasted Turkey Breast
- Boneless or bone in turkey breast: With skin on. If you have roast in a mesh pouch, see this recipe.
- Butter: Softened for easy rubbing.
- Garlic: I recommend to use only fresh garlic as roasted garlic flavor is the best. But if all you have is garlic powder, use about 2 tsp.
- Seasonings: Dried rosemary, smoked or regular paprika, salt and pepper. Use other dried herbs like thyme, basil, oregano.
How to Roast a Turkey Breast
- Prep butter paste: Soften butter to paste like consistency so you can brush it on (more than I did) and mix with seasonings.
- Prep turkey: Brush onto turkey breast all round and into all crevices.
- Bake: Bake on a rack with 3 cups of water for 20 minutes. Cover loosely with foil or parchment paper and bake for another 70-80 minutes. For bone-in turkey breast, cook for 18 minutes per lb at 450 degrees F. For boneless turkey breast, I estimate 12 minutes per pound at 450 degrees F.
- When is roast done? Always check with a meat thermometer. You want to remove breast from the oven when internal temperature in the deepest part of meat reaches 150-155 degrees F. Meat keeps “cooking” for a bit after you remove it from the oven. Roasting till 160 degrees F will result in a dry breast.
- Let rest and make gravy: Let rest for 20 minutes before slicing. If you slice into meat right away, juices will flow out versus staying in the meat. Make turkey gravy with the drippings.
Tips
- Skin on: Roast breast with skin on to keep it moist. It acts as a barrier and insulator for dry poultry. You can always remove it after.
- Liquids: Water at the bottom of the pan is to keep oven moist while baking meat. You can also use broth or stock.
- Baking dish: Make sure to use high heat proof oven baking dish. 450 F is high T. Better to use metal pan.
- Prevent dish from cracking: If you use clay or glass baking dish and run out of liquid at the bottom of it and it starts burning, add ONLY hot water. Do not add cold water.
- Parchment paper: If using parchment paper, make sure it is not burning. Mine wasn’t and I prefer it to baking with aluminum foil that leaches harmful chemicals into food when heated.
Serving
For Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter:
- Mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower
- Turkey gravy and healthy cranberry sauce
- Healthy green bean casserole
- Healthy sweet potato casserole or mashed sweet potatoes.
- Brussels sprouts salad
Leftovers ideas:
- Make healthy one pot turkey tetrazzini.
- Try turkey salad using healthy chicken salad recipe.
- Can never go wrong with turkey noodle soup.
More Turkey Breast Recipes
Roasted Turkey Breast {SO Juicy!}
Roasted Turkey Breast comes out incredibly juicy inside, with crispy skin and flavorful with simple ingredients like garlic and dried herbs.
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Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 315kcal
Ingredients
- 5 lbs turkey breast bone in and skin on
- 2 tbsp salted butter softened
- 2 large garlic cloves grated
- 1 tbsp rosemary dried
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Rinse and pat dry turkey breast. Place in a large baking tray that fits a rack. We will season and bake in same dish.
- Using paring knife or shears, trim fat from turkey breast, if necessary.
- In a small bowl, add softened butter, garlic, rosemary, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Mash and mix with a fork.
- Using hands or brush (depends how soft is your butter), rub turkey breast with seasoned butter all around, starting from the bottom with bone side. Make sure to rub the meat part, in the crevices and under the skin well whenever possible.
- Make sure turkey breast is side up. Place it on a rack and then put rack inside the baking dish. Pour water on a side.
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes on a bottom rack.
- Loosely cover with foil and bake for 70-80 minutes more or until internal temperature in the deepest part of meat reaches 150 - 155 degrees F when checked with thermometer.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Slice against the grain using a sharp knife.
- Serve warm with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Store: Refrigerate leftovers for up to 5 days. Or freeze in portions for up to 3 months and use in sandwiches, salads, frittatas, casseroles and soups.
Notes
- Roast breast with skin on to keep it moist. It acts as a barrier and insulator for dry poultry. You can always remove it after (but who would want to get rid of crispy skin?! :))
- Water at the bottom of the pan is to keep oven moist while baking meat. You can also use broth or stock.
- Make sure to use high heat proof oven baking dish. 450 F is high T. Better to use metal pan.
- If you use clay or glass baking dish and run out of liquid at the bottom of it and it starts burning, add ONLY hot water. Do not add cold water. I did that and my dish cracked. You don't want to know what happened after. 🙂
- If using parchment paper, make sure it is not burning. Mine wasn't and I prefer it to baking with aluminum foil that leaches harmful chemicals into food when heated. Just saying.
- Use other dried herbs like thyme, basil, oregano.
- I recommend to use only fresh garlic as roasted garlic flavor is the best. But if all you have is garlic powder, use about 2 tsp.
Nutrition
Calories: 315kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 61g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 161mg | Sodium: 651mg | Potassium: 692mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 280IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 2mg
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I used your recipe to cook a boneless, skin on turkey breast last night. It was perfect. It was only 3 lbs so I modified using the time instructions you provided in a previous post (it would be good if you included that in the notes, so it comes up when the recipe is printed). I don’t use butter, so I substituted with vegan butter, and that seemed to work fine, but the skin didn’t brown up, so I broiled for a few minutes at the end to brown up the skin.
Thanks for sharing Lisa!
I need to adjust recipe to a 2.5 lb bobe in turkey breast. Advice
As per recipe – For bone-in turkey breast, cook for 18 minutes per lb at 450 degrees F. For boneless turkey breast, I estimate 12 minutes per pound at 450 degrees F.
So easy!