The average answer is 350 degrees, at 30 mins per pound, or until reaches 170 degrees internal temperature. I have a 2 and a half pound turkey breast. Should I cover it with foil after seasoning it with salt, pepper, and butter? Or leave it uncovered? Does my time and temperature sound right?
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I am confused, how should I cook a turkey breast? I have read different answers...?
- Thread starter Erin
- Start date
Yes that sounds about right.here is what i make.
ROAST TURKEY BREAST WITH ROSEMARY & GARLIC
Recipe By :
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Poultry Main Dish
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 Skinless turkey breast, bone
2 Garlic cloves -- cut into
1/2 ts Dried rosemary
3 tb Honey
1 tb Olive oil
1/2 ts Pepper
In, about 3 lbs
Slivers
rosemary
1 tb Dijon mustard
1 tb Lemon juice
Salt to taste
Trim any fat from turkey. Make small slits in top of
breast and insert garlic slivers and rosemary. (If you
don't have any fresh rosemary, add dried to the honey
mixture.) In small bowl, combine honey, mustard, oil,
lemon juice and pepper. Brush all over turkey breast.
Sprinkle with salt. Place turkey in baking dish, meaty
side up. Roast at 350 F for 45 to 60 minutes,
depending on size of breast. Baste every 10 to 15
minutes until done. To carve, slice meat off bone on
diagonal.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
ROAST TURKEY BREAST WITH ROSEMARY & GARLIC
Recipe By :
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Poultry Main Dish
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 Skinless turkey breast, bone
2 Garlic cloves -- cut into
1/2 ts Dried rosemary
3 tb Honey
1 tb Olive oil
1/2 ts Pepper
In, about 3 lbs
Slivers
rosemary
1 tb Dijon mustard
1 tb Lemon juice
Salt to taste
Trim any fat from turkey. Make small slits in top of
breast and insert garlic slivers and rosemary. (If you
don't have any fresh rosemary, add dried to the honey
mixture.) In small bowl, combine honey, mustard, oil,
lemon juice and pepper. Brush all over turkey breast.
Sprinkle with salt. Place turkey in baking dish, meaty
side up. Roast at 350 F for 45 to 60 minutes,
depending on size of breast. Baste every 10 to 15
minutes until done. To carve, slice meat off bone on
diagonal.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Tell you what:
Let's get all the technical crap out of here. Make it easy on yourself, and cook with your heart, not the clock. This is for a whole turkey, but you do it the exact same for just a breat, just with less ingredients and time.
Here is how I do turkey for thanksgiving every year, and everyone raves about it (and it's easy as falling down the stairs, it just doesn;t taste that way).
For an average size turkey (15lb or less), take a 1/2 lb of butter and let it soften (don;t melt it, you want it to the point of easy spreadability, so just take the block and leave it inthe cupboard untill ready). Put it in a food processor, and add a fat handful EACH of fresh sage leaves, oregano leaves, thyme leaves, and rosemary blades. Fire up that processor on high, and let it go untill you have a dark green concoction. It will smell like a dream.
With a rubber spatula, get every last bit of it into a small container, and put it in the fridge for a few minutes (being in the food processor with have it in almost a liquid state, you want it back to something more spreadable, not pourable). While it is in the fridge firming back up, get the turkey ready for it; carefull seperate the turkey skin from the meat, without ripping the skin. It's not hard, just slip your hand inbetween and work it around. Do this for the whole turkey. Take your thickened herb butter, takes a glob of it in your hand, and get it back under the turkey skin, and rub thjat deliciousness all over every last inch of the meat. Be liberal, and get all of the meat. When you are done, the turkey probably wont look that great; you'll be able to see the green through the skin a bit, and the whole bird will look a little sickly, but thats ok - no one cares what it looks like before it's cooked. Make a nice stuffing out of dried up bread cubes, celery, onion, etc, etc, etc (I'm not doing a stuffing recipe here, but if you want one I'll give it to you), and stuff that bird to maximum capacity - cram it in there full!
Take a large onion, and cut it into 6 or so thick slices - dont worry about peeling it or anything, you're not going to eat it.
Take your roasting pan, and put the onion slices on the bottom, and rest the turkey on top of that. This way, the turkey bottom wont burn or stick to the pan.
Now, take a few strips of smoked bacon and cover the turkey with them.
Everything I just told you to do is in maximum favour of retaining as much moisture in the turkey as possible. No one wants a dry turkey.
Cover that whole thing with tinfoil, and we are going to cook this puppy on the BBQ. Preheat your BBQ to somewhere from 350 - 375 (mine has 3 burners, and if I use the 2 outside ones at between med and low, it will hold a perfect 355 for as long as I need it to) and put the pan right in the middle of the grill, facing back to front. Close the lid and DO NOT OPEN IT AGAIN FOR AT LEAST ONE FULL HOUR. When you open the BBQ you are letting heat and goodness out. Open it only when you need to, and for as little time as possible.
Now, I said we are doing this with the heart and not the clock, but just so you have something to go by, last year I did a 13 1/2 pounder in this exact fashion and it took somewhere between 3 and 3 1/2 hours.
After the first full hour, just open it very quickly and make sure nothing funky is going on. If your temp gauge says that you are holding 350 - 375 fine, you may not even want to do that. At about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, turn the turkey 180 degrees, so it is now facing you front to back and close the lid asap.
At just over 3 hours, you want to test it for the first time. Have a meat thermomitor? Stick it in the cat's butt to see if it is sick, you don't need it for the turkey. Take a skewer, wooden or metal, it doesnt matter. Keeping in mind we want the lid on the BBQ open for as little time as possible, you are going to take back the foil from the breast (remember, you started b ack to front, and then switch, so the boobs are going to be looking ast you at this point).
After you take the foil back, the first thing you should notice is that the bacon is nicely cooked, and that any exposed turkey skin is a nice golden crispy colour (also, an aroma that takes you away to a better place... but come back down, you have cooking to do!). If you see the turkey skin is still white and rubbery, then close the lid right away and come back in a 1/2 hour.
When you are ready to test, take that skewer, and on a slight upward angle, poke it into the front of the turkey bresat right at the thickest part, all the way into about the dead middle (a couple of inches) and then take it out. In about 2 seconds, juices should be flowing from that hole. If they are pink or darker, you have more cooking time required. If they are clear, then you are in the clear as well. Take the turkey off, get it inside, and racover it with the foiul for at least 20 - 30 minutes. This will give you the time you need to do your fianl prep work on the potatoes, squash, salad(s), rolls, breathing the wine, and all the other thanksgiving goodies I wait 364 days for.
Now for the holy grail: take off the foil, and let the aroma take you back to that place for a minute. Scoop out all the stuffing, and bake it for a minute. While it is baking, remove the skin from the turkey, and carve it up.
Enjoy, and don;t forget to invite me.
Let's get all the technical crap out of here. Make it easy on yourself, and cook with your heart, not the clock. This is for a whole turkey, but you do it the exact same for just a breat, just with less ingredients and time.
Here is how I do turkey for thanksgiving every year, and everyone raves about it (and it's easy as falling down the stairs, it just doesn;t taste that way).
For an average size turkey (15lb or less), take a 1/2 lb of butter and let it soften (don;t melt it, you want it to the point of easy spreadability, so just take the block and leave it inthe cupboard untill ready). Put it in a food processor, and add a fat handful EACH of fresh sage leaves, oregano leaves, thyme leaves, and rosemary blades. Fire up that processor on high, and let it go untill you have a dark green concoction. It will smell like a dream.
With a rubber spatula, get every last bit of it into a small container, and put it in the fridge for a few minutes (being in the food processor with have it in almost a liquid state, you want it back to something more spreadable, not pourable). While it is in the fridge firming back up, get the turkey ready for it; carefull seperate the turkey skin from the meat, without ripping the skin. It's not hard, just slip your hand inbetween and work it around. Do this for the whole turkey. Take your thickened herb butter, takes a glob of it in your hand, and get it back under the turkey skin, and rub thjat deliciousness all over every last inch of the meat. Be liberal, and get all of the meat. When you are done, the turkey probably wont look that great; you'll be able to see the green through the skin a bit, and the whole bird will look a little sickly, but thats ok - no one cares what it looks like before it's cooked. Make a nice stuffing out of dried up bread cubes, celery, onion, etc, etc, etc (I'm not doing a stuffing recipe here, but if you want one I'll give it to you), and stuff that bird to maximum capacity - cram it in there full!
Take a large onion, and cut it into 6 or so thick slices - dont worry about peeling it or anything, you're not going to eat it.
Take your roasting pan, and put the onion slices on the bottom, and rest the turkey on top of that. This way, the turkey bottom wont burn or stick to the pan.
Now, take a few strips of smoked bacon and cover the turkey with them.
Everything I just told you to do is in maximum favour of retaining as much moisture in the turkey as possible. No one wants a dry turkey.
Cover that whole thing with tinfoil, and we are going to cook this puppy on the BBQ. Preheat your BBQ to somewhere from 350 - 375 (mine has 3 burners, and if I use the 2 outside ones at between med and low, it will hold a perfect 355 for as long as I need it to) and put the pan right in the middle of the grill, facing back to front. Close the lid and DO NOT OPEN IT AGAIN FOR AT LEAST ONE FULL HOUR. When you open the BBQ you are letting heat and goodness out. Open it only when you need to, and for as little time as possible.
Now, I said we are doing this with the heart and not the clock, but just so you have something to go by, last year I did a 13 1/2 pounder in this exact fashion and it took somewhere between 3 and 3 1/2 hours.
After the first full hour, just open it very quickly and make sure nothing funky is going on. If your temp gauge says that you are holding 350 - 375 fine, you may not even want to do that. At about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, turn the turkey 180 degrees, so it is now facing you front to back and close the lid asap.
At just over 3 hours, you want to test it for the first time. Have a meat thermomitor? Stick it in the cat's butt to see if it is sick, you don't need it for the turkey. Take a skewer, wooden or metal, it doesnt matter. Keeping in mind we want the lid on the BBQ open for as little time as possible, you are going to take back the foil from the breast (remember, you started b ack to front, and then switch, so the boobs are going to be looking ast you at this point).
After you take the foil back, the first thing you should notice is that the bacon is nicely cooked, and that any exposed turkey skin is a nice golden crispy colour (also, an aroma that takes you away to a better place... but come back down, you have cooking to do!). If you see the turkey skin is still white and rubbery, then close the lid right away and come back in a 1/2 hour.
When you are ready to test, take that skewer, and on a slight upward angle, poke it into the front of the turkey bresat right at the thickest part, all the way into about the dead middle (a couple of inches) and then take it out. In about 2 seconds, juices should be flowing from that hole. If they are pink or darker, you have more cooking time required. If they are clear, then you are in the clear as well. Take the turkey off, get it inside, and racover it with the foiul for at least 20 - 30 minutes. This will give you the time you need to do your fianl prep work on the potatoes, squash, salad(s), rolls, breathing the wine, and all the other thanksgiving goodies I wait 364 days for.
Now for the holy grail: take off the foil, and let the aroma take you back to that place for a minute. Scoop out all the stuffing, and bake it for a minute. While it is baking, remove the skin from the turkey, and carve it up.
Enjoy, and don;t forget to invite me.
I will tell you the very best way (and tastiest) to cook a turkey breast - in the crock pot. Place in crock pot, salt and pepper, and add 1 cup of water. Cook on low for about 6 hours. This is so moist and delicious!
If you want to cook it in the oven, just follow the minutes per pound guideline on the turkey breast package. I would cook at 325 degrees though so you won't dry out the meat, and I would season the turkey with salt, pepper, and rosemary, then rub the top with oil. I would only cover the bird if it is getting too brown.
Good luck and enjoy!
If you want to cook it in the oven, just follow the minutes per pound guideline on the turkey breast package. I would cook at 325 degrees though so you won't dry out the meat, and I would season the turkey with salt, pepper, and rosemary, then rub the top with oil. I would only cover the bird if it is getting too brown.
Good luck and enjoy!
chef_renee
New member
I recalculated this recipe for your 3# turkey breast, so the cooking times on the bottom will have to be cut in half, but the recipe is already recalculated for the 3#, not too far away from the 2.5# you need. So, the recommended 1 3/4 hour to 2 1/2 hours would recalculate to 3/4 of an hour to 1 1/4 of an hour. Baking uncovered is recommended and I agree because I make these all the time, such wonderful flavors, so healthy and tasty and oh so inexpensive, plus I always cook extra for leftovers. The turkey skin adds so much flavor and is best not boiled (wrapped in foil) but baked to release better flavors. Hope this helps you out today!
Honey-Mustard Turkey Breast
Honey mustard adds subtle flavor to this moist roasted turkey breast from our Test Kitchen. Don't have honey mustard? Use 1/4 cup each honey and brown mustard.
INGREDIENTS
3 pound bone-in turkey breast
1/4 cup honey mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
DIRECTIONS
This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 10 servings.
Place the turkey breast in a shallow roasting pan. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Spoon over turkey. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees F for 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees F, basting every 30 minutes.
Honey-Mustard Turkey Breast
Honey mustard adds subtle flavor to this moist roasted turkey breast from our Test Kitchen. Don't have honey mustard? Use 1/4 cup each honey and brown mustard.
INGREDIENTS
3 pound bone-in turkey breast
1/4 cup honey mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
DIRECTIONS
This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 10 servings.
Place the turkey breast in a shallow roasting pan. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Spoon over turkey. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees F for 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees F, basting every 30 minutes.