Instant Pot Turkey Breast Recipe
Ready for the juiciest, most delectable turkey you'll ever taste? Cook this Herb-Roasted Instant Pot Turkey Breast Recipe from fresh or frozen in under an hour!
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 596kcal
Ingredients
For the Turkey Breast
- ¼ cup butter, ghee, lard, or coconut oil softened
- 2 teaspoons dried sage OR 2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme OR 2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary OR 2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 7 pounds bone-in full turkey breast defrosted and any gravy packet removed (see notes to cook from frozen or different size turkey breasts)
- 1 cup chicken or turkey broth
- 1 small onion roughly chopped
- 1 small carrot roughly chopped
- 1 stalk celery roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 small apple sliced
For the Turkey Gravy
- 2 tablespoons butter ghee, lard, or coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
- 1 ½ cup strained drippings from turkey
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, ghee, lard, or coconut oil with the sage, thyme, rosemary, garlic powder, salt, and cracked pepper.
- Dry off the turkey breast with paper towels. Then spread the herb mixture over the entire breast, including separating the skin from the breast meat and putting it between. If using coconut oil, the mixture might start to solidify on a cold turkey breast—that’s okay, just spread it the best you can; the flavor will still be there in the final meat. Set aside.
- In the basin of your Instant Pot, place the broth, onion, carrot, and celery. Then place the metal trivet on top. Place the turkey breast, breast side down, in the Instant Pot. Fill the cavity with the garlic and apple slices.
- Close the Instant Pot lid and turn the level to “Seal.” Cook on high pressure (or use the Poultry setting) for 6 minutes per pound, following the chart above in the post.
- When the cooking time is up, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then manually release the remainder of the pressure. Preheat oven broiler to high.
- Transfer the turkey breast to a baking pan—breast side up—and cook under the broiler until the skin is crisp and brown, about five minutes. Remove from broiler and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
- To make the gravy: While the turkey is broiling, strain the drippings from the Instant Pot through a fine mesh sieve.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter, ghee, lard, or coconut oil. Sprinkle in the arrowroot powder and whisk until well combined. Pour in 1 ½ cups of the strained drippings. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
- Serve turkey slices topped with turkey gravy.
Video
Notes
- Turkey breasts come in one of two ways—either full size, which is actually two breasts still connected by the breast bone (about 6-8 pounds on average), or a half breast (about 3-4 pounds). You’ll see the full size breasts more frequently in the store, and just as long as it isn’t too big, a full size breast should fit fine in a standard Instant Pot. If you happen to find a larger breast, you can halve it and cook one half at a time to make it work.
- Many frozen turkey breasts come with a gravy packet in the cavity of the breastbone. I recommend discarding this packet and making your own gravy from the drippings. It’s a breeze to do, it tastes much better, and most of the gravy packets contain ingredients that can be off-putting to health conscious folks.
- To cook from frozen: Make sure you can remove the gravy packet and all packaging. Begin with Step #3 of the recipe, placing the frozen turkey breast in the Instant Pot without the herb coating. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes per pound, following the chart in the blog post. When cooking time is up, transfer the turkey breast—breast side up—to a baking pan. Melt the butter, ghee, lard or coconut oil and combine it with the herbs, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Brush this mixture liberally onto the turkey breast, and then cook in a 425°F oven for 7-10 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 596kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 79g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 235mg | Sodium: 1483mg | Potassium: 94mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1566IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg
