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Roasted Turkey Breast

What’s the best part of cooking a large Thanksgiving meal? For me it’s smelling a turkey cooking in the oven for a long time. It’s a uniquely “Thanksgiving” aroma.

For our mini-Thanksgiving Jim and I cooked a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. I read about roasting a turkey at high-heat quickly instead of baking at a lower temp, so I thought this would be a good time to try it out. The turkey came out great, but it was really smoky in the kitchen, so be prepared for that. This was hands-down the juiciest turkey that we’ve even made, and it was also the simplest to make. It’s also so much quicker.

Roast Turkey Breast recipe

Roasted Turkey Breast
Serves 8
The juiciest turkey breast ever.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
1 hr 15 min
Total Time
1 hr 45 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
1 hr 15 min
Total Time
1 hr 45 min
Ingredients
  1. 1/2 Stick butter
  2. 1 whole turkey breast
  3. Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450F.
Clarified butter
  1. Melt the butter in a small pot. Spoon out the foam and solids.
  2. Place the turkey breast in a roasting pan and brush with 1/2 of the clarified butter and sprinkle with salt. Use more salt than you think is necessary. If you have an injector you can inject the rest of the clarified butter into the turkey.
  3. Roast the turkey for 1:15 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 160F. Remove from oven and cover with foil. Let rest for 45 minutes. Internal temp should come up to around 175F.
  4. Slice and serve.
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Roasted Turkey Breast recipe

That’s the last Thanksgiving recipe for this week. We’ve got a few more Thanksgiving and holiday recipes coming your way next week. ICYMI, yesterday we posted our favorite mashed potatoes recipe. 

 

Simple and Delicious Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I absolutely love that creamy, airy goodness. Jim likes making mashed potatoes and does it fairly often, but he took it to another level by using a ricer for the potatoes instead of mashing them with a masher. It gives a smooth and delicious finished product… with no lumps!

As you know, we live in the south (the Deep south). People around here love their mayo. Me… not so much. Lots of people put things like mayo, or sour cream, in the mashed potatoes. I don’t understand it at all, those things have no place in potatoes. Thankfully Jim agrees with me on this point and we get to keep it simple with just potatoes, butter, and cream. 

Easy and Delicious Mashed Potatoes Recipe

Let’s talk gravy for a sec. We usually just have potatoes without gravy… just add some pepper and butter, or a little bit of parmesan, and off you go. On those occasions when we’re cooking something that you can make a gravy from then we definitely like to go in that direction. For our little mini-Thanksgiving last weekend we were able to make some really tasty turkey gravy that went well with the potatoes.

Easy and Delicious Mashed Potatoes
Serves 6
Our favorite basic mashed potatoes recipe. Only classic ingredients here... potatoes, butter and cream.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Ingredients
  1. 2.5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
  2. 1 stick butter, softened
  3. 1/4 C cream
  4. Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Boil potatoes in a large pot of salted water for around 18 minutes, or until fork tender.
  2. Put the potatoes through a ricer and into a large bowl.
  3. Add the butter to potatoes and mix. Then add the cream and mix again.
  4. Check the potatoes for seasoning and consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste and milk or cream to get the consistency like you want.
Topping Ideas
  1. Extra pepper and melty butter
  2. Bacon, cheddar and chives
  3. Parmesan
  4. Grrraaavvvyyyy!
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 Be sure to check out the other recipes this week from our mini-Thanksgiving, including yesterdays Brussels Sprouts with Cranberry Brown Butter. Enjoy!

Brussels Sprouts With Cranberry Brown Butter

Thanksgiving may be one of the few times a year when you can take your vegetables, smother them with a buttery sauce, and still feel good about it. That’s exactly what we did with our twist on brussels. Nothings screams Thanksgiving quite like cranberries, so we thought, why not spruce up a veggie with some cranberries???

Brussels have definitely grown on me. I wouldn’t touch it as a kid, but I now mostly like it as an adult. It’s still something that I think it’s too bitter to eat straight-up, so I like to add some other strong flavors to help it along. See our bacon & molasses brussels recipe for evidence.

Brown butter is a tasty deliciousness on its own, but the addition of cranberries turns it into a great holiday sauce. The brown butter definitely does not overpower the brussels in this recipe, it gives it just the right balance of sweetness and nuttiness to the dish.

Cranberry Brussels recipe

Brussels Sprouts with Cranberry Brown Butter
Serves 4
A delicious Thanksgiving-themed twist on sauteed brussels sprouts. Cranberry brown butter adds a holiday flavored twist.
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
25 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
25 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 lb brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
  2. 1 leek, thinly sliced
  3. 1 C cranberries, chopped
  4. 3/4 stick butter
  5. 1 tbsp garlic
  6. 1 tbsp brown sugar
  7. 3 tbsp olive oil
  8. Salt and pepper to taste
For the brown butter
  1. Heat butter in a sauce pan until it starts to brown.
  2. Add brown sugar and cranberries. Cook for 2 minutes.
For the brussels
  1. Heat sautee pan over med-high heat.
  2. Add oil and sautee brussels and leak for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to cook evenly.
  3. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute.
  4. Add brown butter, cook for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
  1. I used a mandolin to slice the veggies evenly. It makes them very fine and delicate.
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Cranberry Brussels recipe

We’re doing Thanksgiving recipes all week this week. Yesterday we posted our favorite dressing recipe, and there’s still much more to come. Hope you’re enjoying following along!