This turkey breast recipe is the perfect way to roast turkey for a smaller crowd or for meal prep.
A turkey breast is simply seasoned and roasted to juicy perfection in the oven. It’s perfectly tender every time.
Roast turkey breast is delicious enough for a holiday and easy enough for a weeknight meal.
Roast Turkey Breast is Quick & Easy
I love roasting a whole turkey (and the leftover carcass for soup) but sometimes a roast turkey breast is just the right thing!
- This roast turkey breast is extra moist and juicy with lots of flavor.
- The prep is super easy and it cooks quickly and there is less mess to clean up after too.
- No waste – just tender, juicy slices of turkey!
- A roast turkey breast is easy to prep and super easy to carve. Simply slice and enjoy.
- Great for a smaller crowd or a family meal (and easy enough for a weeknight).
What Kind of Turkey Breast to Buy
Boneless Turkey Breast: This recipe is for boneless turkey breast which is sometimes called turkey breast roast. You can purchase a turkey breast roast at most grocery stores. While a turkey breast is all white meat, you can also buy a combination of white and dark meat. Both will cook for the same amount of time.
Bone-In Turkey Breast: This recipe also works with a bone-in, skin-on turkey breast. See the recipe notes for cooking times.
Seasoning for Turkey Breast: Season the turkey breast with salt & pepper and a bit of poultry seasoning or turkey seasoning. Add fresh herbs for extra flavor. We love parsley, rosemary, sage, and/or thyme.
How Much Turkey Per Person
A good rule of thumb is 1 ½ pounds of turkey per person or about ½ pound of boneless turkey breast per person. Make extra if you have big eaters or want to have leftovers.
How to Roast a Turkey Breast
For boneless or bone-in turkey breasts, a frozen 3 to 7-lb breast will take approximately 1 ½ to 3 hours.
- Prepare the turkey breast; Turkey breast is often sold as a roast a net. If the breast is not wrapped in a net, use kitchen twine to tie it along the roast. Tying the turkey breast for roasting creates a better shape for even cooking.
- Season: Brush turkey breast with oil, sprinkle on herbs & seasonings (per the recipe below).
- Roast: Preheat the oven to 350°F and roast the turkey breast with a little bit of broth and onion.
- Rest: Let the turkey breast rest before slicing.
If desired, the oil and herbs can be replaced with garlic herb butter or another flavored butter mixture.
How Long to Roast Turkey Breast
A boneless turkey breast will need to roast for 30-35 minutes per pound. The shape of the breast (some are thicker rounder while some are flatter) can affect the cooking time.
Use an instant-read thermometer to ensure the turkey breast reaches 165°F in the thickest part of the meat.
- 2 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 60 to 70 minutes.
- 2.5 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 75 to 85 minutes.
- 3 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 90 to 105 minutes.
- 4 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 2 hrs to 2 hrs and 20 minutes.
Check the Turkey Early
Always check the turkey breast early. It is lean and you don’t want it to overcook. Shape, size, and even the type of pan used can affect the cooking time. Ensure you take the turkey breast out just before it reaches 165°F to make juicy meat.
Do not use a disposable pan for this recipe (you can line your own pan with foil if needed).
Tips for Juicy Turkey Breast
- Turkey is lean, most importantly, do not overcook it.
- Use a meat thermometer to ensure you get juicy meat. The turkey must reach 165°F. Remove it from the oven about 5 degrees early (160°F) as it will continue to cook as it rests.
- Always rest the roast turkey breast. Remove it from the hot pan so it doesn’t overcook and rest for at least 10-15 minutes before slicing.
- Drippings or juices can be used to make gravy, add additional chicken or turkey broth if needed. We use this recipe for gravy.
Here’s a handy guide for using up leftover turkey.
Roasting from Frozen
It’s safe to roast a turkey breast from frozen! Simply add more roasting time to the recipe. Always use a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast to gauge if it’s fully cooked, especially with meats cooked from frozen.
Leftover Turkey Breast
Keep the leftover turkey breast in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze slices in a zippered bag with the date labeled on the outside for up to 2 months. Nothing tastes better than a big pot of homemade turkey soup or make a hearty turkey casserole that’s stuffed with pasta and cheese.
My Favorite Sides for Turkey Breast
Here are our favorite classic sides to pair with a roast turkey breast!
Did your family love this Roast Turkey Breast recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and a rating below!
Herbed Roast Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- 1 turkey breast boneless approx. 2 ½ -3 ½ pounds
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil or as needed
- 3 tablespoons fresh herbs chopped *see note
- salt and black pepper
- 1 small onion sliced
- 1 cup chicken broth or as needed
Instructions
- Remove the turkey breast from the fridge and let it sit out for about 30-60 minutes at room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Tie the turkey breast (if it is not tied or in a net already). If it is already in a net, leave it in the net to cook.
- Brush the turkey breast with olive oil. Generously sprinkle with fresh herbs, salt, & pepper.
- Place the turkey breast in a small casserole dish and nestle onions (and extra herbs if desired) alongside the turkey.
- Roast the turkey breast uncovered for 30 minutes. Add about 1 cup of broth, just enough to cover the bottom of the dish.
- Continue roasting (an additional 30-60 minutes) until the temperature in the thickest part of the breast reaches 165°F. (Approximate cook times below).
- Remove from oven and let rest 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Video
Notes
- 2 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 60 to 70 minutes.
- 2.5 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 75 to 85 minutes.
- 3 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 90 to 105 minutes.
- 4 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 2 hrs to 2 hrs and 20 minutes.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Turkey
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Used this recipe to roast a 5# boneless Turkey breast. I appreciated the tip to put a bit of stock and sliced onions in bottom of roasting pan. It really kept the meat tender and moist. And nice reminder to tie up breast to create a more uniform size/shape for even cooking.
Easy and straightforward recipe. In my keeper box.
I am so glad you enjoyed this turkey recipe Sharon!
Will be making it tomorrow. Using those herbs it onus’s like a home run!! yummy!!
what if I can’t find a ‘poultry pack’ ? how do you measure out the individual herbs for this recipe?.
can this recipe use a roasting bag for the oven?
I haven’t tried a roasting bag so I can’t say for sure LuAnn. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Hi LuAnn, you will still want to use 3 tablespoons fresh herbs. So I would use approximately 3/4 tablespoon each of fresh parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme. I hope this helps!
The cooking time was spot on! Thank you! The key is bringing the turkey out of the fridge a minimum of 30 minutes prior to roasting. I admit I read some of the reviews, took to heart about undercooked etc and cooked an extra 10 minutes I now know I shouldn’t have.
So sorry to hear that, Jennifer. We found the cooking times to be accurate when we prepared it. Depending on the size of your Roasted Turkey Breast you may need to adjust the cook time accordingly.
We use an instant-read thermometer to ensure the turkey breast reaches 165°F in the thickest part of the meat and follow these cooking times:
2 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 60 to 70 minutes.
2.5 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 75 to 85 minutes.
3 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 90 to 105 minutes.
4 lb Turkey Breast – roast for 2 hrs to 2 hrs and 20 minutes.
Holly—I have a 7 lb boneless breast. I assume it would be best to defrost rather than put in oven frozen.
The turkey breast should be thawed first.
I’m super excited to try this recipe this year! I’m just wondering if you used a frozen turkey or a fresh one? I heard that all fresh turkeys should be bribed but frozen ones like butterball don’t need to be if you use a cheese cloth.
You can use fresh or frozen. The frozen turkey should be thawed first. You can brine the turkey breast if you’d like, we use this turkey brine recipe but it is not required. The key to tender and juicy turkey breast is to ensure it isn’t overcooked.
Do you roast your 3 pound turkey breast covered or uncovered?
https://www.spendwithpennies.com/roast-turkey-breast/
We roast the turkey breast uncovered. Enjoy!
Looks good
I used this recipe for a thawed 3 pound breast roast. It ended up taking over 90 minutes to cook, which threw off the timing of the side dishes. I’m pretty confident in my oven’s temperature and my own cooking skills, so it added some unwelcome stress to my meal preparation.
Having said all that, it was DELICIOUS. Perfectly moist, with a wonderful crispy skin. I will try this again but will not count on it being done in 50 minutes.
So glad you loved the turkey, albeit a bit later than expected! Happy Thanksgiving!
Well I purchased a 3lb boneless turkey breast and gave this recipe a try. Not sure what I did wrong as it definitely did not cook nearly as fast as this recipe said. I followed the directions exactly (minus the onion as I did not have one).It only got up to 100 degrees F at the 50 minute mark…I’m still waiting for it to be done so it looks like a late dinner for us. Very disappointing as this is my first attempt at cooking any kind of turkey on my own for Thanksgiving…
Sorry to hear that it took longer than expected Robyn. Did you preheat your oven? Do you have an oven thermometer?
I understand the comment to start at 425 degrees, a much higher temperature in ordet to seal in the juices. But then it is cooked at 375 degrees for the remainder of time while most recipes seem to suggest 325 or 350 for the entire time. I have a three and a half pound fresh boneless turkey breast from a local farm and I just wanted to confirm these temperatures as I don’t want to mess this up. Thank you! Also can this be cooked untied?
Because this is a smaller piece of meat, it can cook at a slightly higher temperature than a whole turkey. It can be cooked untied, this will make the shape a little bit flatter and it can cook a tiny bit quicker.
I would definitely suggest using a thermometer to check the temperature early so it doesn’t overcook. You’ll want to remove the turkey breast from the oven once it reaches 165°F (I usually remove it a couple of degrees sooner, around 162 as it will climb a couple of degrees as it rests). Happy Thanksgiving!
If using dried seasoning, would I use the same amount? 1.5 tablespoons of parsley and 1.5 tablespoons of rosemary, sage, & thyme divided equally?
I’d start with about ½ Tablespoon of dried parsley, and ½ Tablespoon total of the other dried herbs. Mix them with the oil. Find out more about substituting fresh vs dried herbs. Enjoy!
Thanks so much! And I have a 6 pound bone in turkey. Would I use the same amount of seasonings as you’ve listed for the 3 pound? Or does the size not matter?
Great question! The surface area will be greater for that big of a breast, so you may need to increase the oil and seasonings (I’d guess about half more) to cover the breast in full. Take a look at the picture for an idea of how the herbs look on the turkey.
Where do you get the string to tie it and what kind of string?
The string is called butchers twine and can be purchased online at Amazon or at any grocery store, usually in the equipment section.
It says to *see note on the fresh herbs but it doesn’t say how much to use of each one. Can you please elaborate on that?
I generally use about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons parsley and make up the rest based on what I have on hand. Most often I buy a poultry pack of herbs so I’ll include 1 1/2 tablespoons of sage, thyme and rosemary (equal amounts).