It’s that time of year! You can make this for the holidays or a weekend dinner. This roast turkey recipe comes out tender, juicy and full of flavor. Removing the foil for the last half hour or so allows the bird to get that gorgeous golden brown and slightly crisp skin.
Depending on how many you are feeding, the ingredients can translate to a full turkey or even a whole chicken. I’m not quite sure what makes this so juicy, I lean towards giving credit to the fennel bulbs.
Roasted Turkey Breast
Equipment
- Roasting Pan
Ingredients
- 1 8-10 lb turkey breast
- 2 bulbs fennel, quartered
- 2 lemons, halved
- 1 head garlic, cut in half
- 1 bunch thyme
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat over to 350°. Cut the fennel bulbs into quarters, discard the stems. Cut the lemons into halves and cut the garlic bulb in half (no need to peel).
- In a mixing bowl, combine 4 tablespoons (½ stick) of butter, the juice of 1 lemon and the leaves from 5 sprigs of thyme. Mix to combine.
- Remove the turkey breast from packaging, discard bag of gravy if present. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Season the inside and out generously with salt and pepper.
- Stuff the cavity with the garlic, 1 bulb of fennel, 5 sprigs of rosemary, 1 lemon. Place the turkey in the roasting pan breast side up. Use the remaining fennel bulb quarters to prop the turkey up in place.
- Pour the lemon butter mixture over the turkey. Cut the remaining butter into ¼ inch pads. Using your fingers or a pairing knife, loosely separate the skin from the breast meat. Slide in the pads of butter and remaining rosemary sprigs.
- Pour in 1 cup of broth into the bottom of the roasting pan, loosely tent with foil and place on the lowest rack in oven.
- Roast for 2 hours, basting every 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue roasting until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165°
- Transfer from the roasting pan to a large cutting board. Cover with foil for 20 minutes before carving.
- If you plan to make pan gravy, hold on to the drippings in the roasting pan.
