Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

This Slow Cooker Turkey Breast has herb butter pushed up under the skin and cooks until it pulls apart with a fork, with gravy made right from the drippings in the bottom of the pot. Then 4 minutes under the broiler so the skin actually crisps.

First, the vocabulary, because I know some of you call it a crockpot and some of you call it a slow cooker and you’re all correct. Crockpot is a brand name, the way Kleenex is. It caught on so widely that people now call every slow cooker a crockpot. Same machine, same recipe, carry on.

Now the turkey.

A 4 pound bone in breast sits on a bed of sliced onion with a cup of broth under it, and 5 or 6 hours later it’s tender enough to pull apart with a fork. The herb butter goes up underneath the skin before any of that happens, and that’s the whole reason it tastes like something instead of tasting like boiled turkey.

And then there’s the skin, which is where slow cooker turkey got its bad reputation.

A slow cooker is a steam box. That’s the entire point of it, and it’s why the meat comes out as juicy as it does. It’s also why the skin comes out pale and soft. Four minutes under the broiler fixes that completely. Don’t skip it, and don’t wander off during it, because broiled skin goes from gold to black in about 30 seconds and I’d like us both to avoid that.

What you get is the whole centerpiece without handing over your oven for 4 hours, which if you’ve ever hosted is the actual problem you were trying to solve.

• Turkey breast (4 pounds, bone in and skin on): Bone in for flavor and moisture, skin on because we’re going to crisp it at the end. A boneless breast works too and there’s a section on that below.
• Butter (3 tablespoons, unsalted and softened): Properly soft, so it mashes into a paste with the herbs instead of tearing the skin when you push it under.
• Fresh rosemary (2 teaspoons, finely chopped) and fresh thyme (2 teaspoons, finely chopped): Fresh, and chopped fine. Big pieces of rosemary under the skin are unpleasant to bite into.
• Garlic (2 cloves, minced): Into the butter with the herbs.
• Salt and pepper (to taste): Into the herb butter, and then taste the gravy again at the end.
• Chicken broth (1 cup, low sodium): Only a cup. The turkey is going to release a lot of its own liquid and all of it becomes gravy.
• Onion (1 large, sliced): This is a rack, not an ingredient you eat. It holds the breast up out of the liquid so the bottom doesn’t go mushy, and it flavors the drippings while it’s there.
• Cornstarch (2 tablespoons): For thickening the gravy at the end, whisked with cold water first.

Make the herb butter: Mash the 3 tablespoons of softened butter together with the 2 teaspoons of rosemary, 2 teaspoons of thyme, 2 minced garlic cloves, and a good pinch of salt and pepper, until it’s a smooth paste.

Get the butter under the skin: Slide your fingers between the skin and the meat to loosen it, working carefully so you don’t tear it. Push about ⅔ of the herb butter underneath and spread it around as best you can. Rub the rest over the outside of the skin.

Build the slow cooker: Lay the sliced onion across the bottom. Set the turkey breast on top of it, skin side up. Pour the 1 cup of broth around the turkey, not over it, so you don’t wash the butter off.

Cook it: Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours, until a thermometer in the thickest part of the breast reads 165°F. Keep the probe off the bone, since bone reads hotter than the meat around it.

Crisp the skin: Move the turkey to a broiler safe pan and put it under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes, until the skin is golden. Stay right there and watch it. This is a 30 second window, not a 5 minute one.

Rest it: Transfer to a cutting board and leave it alone for at least 10 minutes. Make the gravy while it rests, so nothing is sitting around getting cold.

Make the gravy: Pour the drippings from the slow cooker into a saucepan and discard the onion. Bring it to a boil. Whisk the 2 tablespoons of cornstarch together with 2 tablespoons of cold water, then whisk that into the boiling drippings. Simmer until it thickens, and taste it for salt and pepper.

Carve and serve: Slice the breast against the grain and serve with the gravy.

Wonderful! I did a trial turkey breast just to make sure this would be good enough for Thanksgiving. It is! The turkey is tender, juicy, flavorful. The gravy is perfect!~Janie

5 to 6 hours on low for a 4 pound bone in breast. On high it’s 3 to 4 hours.

I’d use low if you have the time. High gets you there faster and the meat is noticeably less tender, because the muscle fibers tighten up when they heat quickly. That’s the whole trade.

Rough guide by weight, on low:

• 3 pounds: 4 to 5 hours
• 4 pounds: 5 to 6 hours
• 5 pounds: 6 to 7 hours
• 6 pounds: 7 to 8 hours, and check your slow cooker actually fits it with the lid down

Boneless runs about an hour faster than bone in at the same weight.

But the clock is a guide and the thermometer is the answer. Every slow cooker runs a little differently, and a $20 instant read thermometer will save you more turkeys than any timing chart I can write. You want 165°F in the thickest part of the breast.

Start checking an hour before you think you’re done. Turkey breast has no fat to protect it, so the window between perfect and dry is narrower than it is on a whole bird.

Nothing crisps in a slow cooker. Not turkey skin, not chicken skin, not anything. It’s a sealed, humid box, the moisture has nowhere to go, and skin needs dry heat to render and brown.

So after 5 or 6 hours you will lift the lid and find pale, soft skin sitting on top of beautifully cooked turkey. That’s not a mistake. That’s just what the machine does.

Three to 5 minutes under the broiler and it’s a different bird. The fat renders, the skin tightens and goes golden, and it crackles when you cut it.

Two things to know before you do it. Use a pan that can take a broiler, not a glass dish, and put the oven rack in the middle rather than right up at the element. And genuinely stay in the room. I know that sounds like I’m fussing. Broiled skin turns from gold to burnt faster than you can get back from the fridge.

If you’d rather not broil, a very hot oven at 450°F for 8 to 10 minutes does the same job with a little more margin for error.

Yes, and plenty of people prefer to, because carving is easier and there’s nothing to work around.

Three changes:

Cut the time. About 4 to 5 hours on low for a boneless breast of the same weight. No bone means heat gets to the middle faster.

Still check the temperature. 165°F. Boneless gets there sooner and dries out sooner, so start checking at 3 hours 30 minutes.

Keep the skin if you can get it. A skin on boneless roast still broils up beautifully. If yours came netted and skinless, leave the netting on while it cooks so it holds its shape, and rub the herb butter straight onto the meat instead of under skin that isn’t there.

The gravy is the same either way, and boneless gives up slightly less liquid, so you may want to start with 1¼ cups of broth instead of 1.

Everything you need is already in the bottom of the slow cooker. A cup of broth went in, and several cups of turkey juices came out of the bird, and all of it is seasoned by the herb butter and the onion.

Pour it into a saucepan and leave the onion behind. It did its job and it’s spent.

Bring it up to a proper boil, because cornstarch needs real heat to thicken. Whisk your 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water until there are no lumps, then pour that in while whisking. It thickens within a minute or 2.

A few notes for doing this right:

• Cold water for the slurry, always. Cornstarch in hot liquid seizes into lumps instantly and you’ll be straining it out.
• Taste before you salt. Those drippings reduced for 6 hours and they’re saltier than you expect.
• If it’s too thin, mix another teaspoon of cornstarch with a teaspoon of cold water and add it. If it’s too thick, splash in more broth.
• If you want it richer, whisk in a tablespoon of butter at the very end off the heat.

• Soften the butter properly. Cold butter tears the skin when you try to push it under, and a torn skin won’t crisp evenly.
• Pour the broth around the turkey, not over it. Over the top washes your herb butter straight off.
• Don’t lift the lid to check on it. Every peek costs you 15 to 20 minutes of cooking time while the slow cooker climbs back to temperature.
• Use a thermometer. 165°F, in the thickest part, away from the bone. This is the only piece of equipment in this recipe that matters.
• Start checking early. An hour before the recipe says. Turkey breast has no fat to forgive you.
• Rest it 10 minutes minimum. Cut it straight off the broiler and the juices run out onto the board instead of staying in the meat.

The whole point of using the slow cooker is that your oven is free, so use it. Cheesy Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Chives or Mashed Potatoes on Craving Home Cooked if you want the straightforward version, and Caramelized Onion and Gruyère Mashed Potatoes on All My Cravings if you’re showing off.

Potatoes Au Gratin if you’d rather have something that bakes alongside everything else.

Quick Yeast Dinner Rolls for the gravy, and there will be more gravy than you think.

Easy Cornbread or Pumpkin Maple Cornbread if your table leans that way.

And something sharp to cut through it all. German Red Cabbage is sweet and tangy and sits beautifully next to turkey.

If you want a second protein on the table, Crockpot Ham runs in a second slow cooker and needs nothing from you.

Carved turkey keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Pour a little gravy or broth over the slices before you seal it, because turkey breast dries out in the fridge faster than dark meat does.

Gravy keeps the same 3 to 4 days separately. It’ll set firm when it’s cold and loosen right back up when you warm it.

For the freezer, 3 months. Slice it first and freeze it in portions with some gravy, which protects it from freezer burn and means you can pull out 1 dinner instead of all of them.

Reheat slices gently in a covered dish with a splash of broth at 325°F until warmed through. The microwave works but it turns turkey breast rubbery quickly, so short bursts only.

And then there’s the leftover question, which is really the fun part: Leftover Turkey Shepherd’s Pie, Turkey Tetrazzini, Turkey Noodle Casserole and Turkey Rice Casserole are all built for exactly this.