Butterball sells a 3 pound turkey breast roast that you can find in your grocery’s frozen section. They’re very convenient and tasty. I usually roast mine, which comes out great, but not always as tender and juicy as I’d hoped. Well, sous vide to the rescue and then some! In no time at all, sous vide cooks up the turkey roast just flat out perfectly. Tasty. Juicy. Tender. You cannot beat it, whether you slice it thick to serve with gravy and mashed potatoes ala Thanksgiving or slice it thin for (out of this world!) sandwiches.
A Few Tips
There are a few key (but simple) things to keep in mind when making turkey breast roast using sous vide.
First, you have to remove the gravy packet. It doesn’t go into the sous vide. Now, removing it is easy if the turkey breast roast is defrosted, but if it’s frozen you’ll have to run it under cold water for a few minutes until you can pull it away.
Second, keep the turkey in the mesh bag that it comes in until you are ready to sear it at the end. Remove it carefully once the breast is sous vide or you’ll end up removing a lot of the seasoning.
Last, season the roast liberally. If you think you put too much on you probably nailed it perfectly. There’s a lot of turkey that needs to be seasoned. Don’t be shy with it and you’ll get that flavor in every bite.
If you own a smoker, you can skip the searing step and instead place the roast on a smoker for 30 minutes or so to let that great smoke flavor absorb into the turkey.
I use an Anova sous vide cooker. It’s my immersion circulator workhorse!Also try my sous vide corned beef.
Turkey Breast Roast using Sous Vide
Ingredients
- 3 pound Butterball Turkey Breast roast frozen or defrosted
- paprika
- your favorite poultry seasoning
Instructions
- Set up your immersion circulator for 138 F.
- Note: Keep the turkey in the mesh packaging until you are ready to sear it.
- Remove the gravy packet. Note: If using a frozen breast, run briefly under cold water long enough to loosen and remove the gravy packet.
- Sprinkle the breast with paprika and plenty of the seasoning. Don't be shy with it.
- Transfer to a bag and vacuum seal.
- Transfer bag to sous vide setup and cook for 5 hours if frozen, or 3 hours if defrosted.
- Remove bag from water and cut open, draining off any juices. Remove breast (carefully so it stays intact) from mesh bag.
- Sear the breast on all sides in a large skillet with a few tablespoons of oil over high heat. Or sear on a hot grill or under a broiler. You'll want to sear for about 1 minute per side.
- Slice as desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.