Salt-and-Pepper Roast Turkey Breast Recipe (2024)

Since this is a guide for beginners, I'll add: I've found out the hard way that the frozen turkey breast packaging isn't necessarily waterproof. When you're thawing the turkey breast in the refrigerator, keep it in a bowl.

"Transfer the turkey breast to a large sheet pan and thoroughly dry all over with a paper towel; get it as bone-dry as you can."Would it be ok to leave the turkey breast in the fridge overnight, uncovered? Fridge ought to dry it out. No?

Do we add the water to the sheet pan with the turkey breast or a separate pan to add steam?

For those who are wondering: Put the turkey on a rack and put the rack in a roasting pan. Put some water in the roasting pan. As the turkey cooks, it will drip fat and other juices. Without the water, these drippings will hit the hot roasting pan and burn, and your oven/kitchen/apartment/house will be filled with smoke, so don't let the roasting pan dry out.

Basically, the way I have been doing this meal for years. I have butcher cut up the whole turkey and then later braised turkey legs and thighs. Win-Win!

Since this is intended for novices, I'd like to see some info about food safety. Poultry oftentimes carries salmonella. If you use your bare hands to apply butter (and salt), you must wash them thoroughly before reaching for the pepper grinder lest you contaminate the grinder. It's a great tip to use a paper towel for drying; I watched a friend dry a chicken with a kitchen towel and then use that same towel to wipe down the counter. I was aghast, particularly since she used to run a diner.

I don't understand the instructions. Does the meat sit _in_ the water? Or on a rack _above_ the water?

For those asking about the cavity: The recipe calls for a whole turkey breast, which is the whole white-meat portion of the turkey. It's usually sold frozen, and looks a lot like a whole packaged, frozen turkey except it's smaller (6 to 8 pounds, as the recipe says). It does have a cavity. Think of a whole turkey with no legs or thighs. If you think it doesn't have a cavity, then you're thinking of a single half-breast, which is usually sold fresh. This recipe won't work for a half-breast.

It's fine if you prefer not to use butter, but never say never. Eric Kim knows what he's doing. So slather away, everyone.

We have always slathered our turkey, whole or breast, in butter, and have never had it burn. Turkey is a super lean meat and needs all the added fat it can get, IMO. For a whole bird, roast upside down until the last 30-60 minutes to get perfectly moist meat with crispy brown skin. For a breast, you may want to cover with foil for part of the roasting time of you are concerned with burning.

For a beginner's recipe this is sure missing a lot of details.Most important, what makes turkey dry is getting it too hot. 165F kills bacteria instantly but all the bacteria will be dead in less than 10 minutes at 150F. See sous-vide for details. An in-oven meat thermometer is REQUIRED equipment, especially for beginners.Olive oil works as well as butter. Beginners can skip the water nonsense. A boneless breast won't have a cavity, but follow the recipe otherwise.Wash hands constantly!

We followed the recipe with no changes, but used a cast iron skillet with the breast sitting on a bed of thickly sliced onions. This added depth to the juice that we later used with the carcass to make broth. All aspects were delicious.

Should the meat sit in the water or placed on a rack above the water?

I have cooked turkey breast for over 20 years. I basically coat it in fat, then roast without water. If the breast is not pre-brined, unusual for sure, then I add salt as directed in this recipe. If I were going to add water I would either put the breast on a rack (Instant pot racks work beautifully) or put it in a separate, small pan that won't interfere with air circulation in the oven. In my opinion the water adds nothing which is why I don't use it, but it can't hurt.

The bone-in turkey breast that I suspect most people default to is the Butterball brand turkey breast available in almost all national chain supermarkets. That product is already pre-brined, both in the fresh and frozen versions. I'm nervous about using additional salt to an already brined product. If I don't get additional clarification, I'll pass on the salt suggestion. I like the water suggestion and I will try it this year.

I usually enjoy reading through the comments, but some comments here baffled me. I bought a half breast, and I thought that this recipe only works for whole breasts did not make sense. The same recipe is in the “Joy of Cooking” and it simply suggests cooking 15- 20 minutes per pound. So the 2.5 lb half breast took about an hour, using the 160F test. It turned out soft and juicy. It worked!

This was good. My turkey breast wouldn't stand up on its sheet pan; I happened also to be roasting some turkey drumsticks, so I propped it up with one on each side, which prevented ideal browning. It was easy and resulted in unimpeachable turkey. As I prefer dark meat, I didn't love it, but the white meat lover in the family thought it was great.

This recipe leaves an enormous amount of salt in the pan. So when making pan gravy—which isn’t part of the recipe but which we dearly love—the salt content is like drinking seawater. Have put in sliced celery and raw potato to see if they will absorb some.

This was great-made it yesterday!!

This is my second time making a turkey, so I really appreciated a non-fussy recipe. I appreciated that the only thing you had to do ahead of time was to make sure to take it out to thaw. Also, you only need a sheet pan so no need to go out and buy a roasting pan you may only use one a year. I placed the turkey on a rack, in the pan and it came out very juicy. Another great recipe from Eric Kim!

I made this recipe yesterday as written and it was delicious! Very moist.

Thanksgiving 2023; Made this recipe for family and friends with a 8# bone in breast and it was fabulous, moist, flavorful, and relatively easy to prepare. You really can't go wrong here if you follow this to the T. I cook our breast to around 161-162 or so and rested it 20 minutes or so.

I would take the turkey out and let it get up to room temp for a little before adding the butter. Mine was too cold and the butter solidified and started falling off in chunks

I found the softened butter to be impossible to spread around. I finally melted the butter, added the salt and pepper to that and then easily spread it on the turkey. Worked great! I roasted 2 breasts and then cut off each side and froze the extras. I can defrost one side at a time for other dishes. Next time I’ll add some herbs so the butter mixture.

I gave this 5 stars because the results are great and its simple to prepare (as noted in comments) Its not as fancy as some of the other BIG BIRD recipes out there; but it is true to its goals. Definitely thaw that breast(s) fully two days before cooking to allow for a full 24 hours to dry brine in the fridge. I added paprika and garlic powder to the dry brine which added depth. Turkey very juicy and mostly consumed. I used our gas grill; it took 75min. You must use a digital thermometer.150

Delicious but so unnecessarily messy. Use olive oil or brushed-on melted butter. I, too, made a rack out of onions, carrots and celery.

Just completed and it was very good, but do not over salt it. We used the dripping for a gravy and could not use it as it was to salt. Other then that, just follow the directions. Simple meal. Mid summer and a nice way to enjoy a summers evening meal.

Excellent recipe!!

Could be titled how to ruin a turkey breast in 3 easy steps. 6 lb breast. 1/4c salt is about 1/8c too much. Tasted like pure salt. After a little over an hour my bird was 165 degrees. Dry as a bone. So 13-15 min per lb was about 3-5 min per lb too long.

I used lemon-parsley butter. Raves at the table. So simple, so delicious.