Roast Turkey Breast is the perfect size turkey for small gatherings and smaller families! You can scroll down to get turkey cook times and temperatures to roast a turkey breast per pound!
Your entire family is going to love this crispy skin and tender white meat that’s perfect with cranberry sauce for any Sunday dinner, Thanksgiving, or Christmas Feast!
How To Roast Turkey
Read on for full instructions on roasting the best tender turkey or turkey breast.
1st – Thaw Turkey Breast
The best place to thaw a frozen turkey or frozen turkey breast is in the refrigerator:
- 4–12 lbs: 1 – 3 days
- 12–16 lbs: 3 – 4 days
- 16–20 lbs: 4 – 5 days
- 20–24 lbs: 1 week (6 days)
If you’re short on time, however, place your whole turkey, or whole breast in the kitchen sink and let the cool water run over it for a day! Then, sanitize your kitchen sink and surroundings with a beach or alcohol-based cleaner and paper towels to avoid food borne illnesses.
Roast Turkey Ingredients
- 12 -14 lb Turkey or Turkey Breast
- 1 1/2 cube SALTED Butter (1/2 a cube of butter is used if your will be basting turkey)
- 2 tsp chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- A teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- A teaspoon onion powder
- 2 carrots
- 4 celery stalks
- 2 shallots
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- 1 Onion
- Salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- 2 cups water (turkey or chicken broth work great too)
2nd – Bring Turkey Breast To Room Temperature
Take your thawed whole bird, boneless turkey breast, or whole turkey breast out of the packaging. Discard wrapping and sanitize counter that may have come in contact with any turkey juices. Place turkey breast on a roasting rack, in a roasting pan, on the counter at room temperature for 1 hour.
3rd – Preheat Oven
Move your oven rack down to the lowest level, and preheat to 325°F or 350°F oven (which ever you are using). It is recommended that your roast your turkey at 325°F so that the middle cooks before the exterior dries out.
4th – Prep Turkey!
Generously rub softened (or room temperature) SALTED butter to cover your turkey breast, or a whole turkey! A medium 12- to 14-lb turkey will need a half cup, 1 cube, of butter. Massage the butter over the top of the skin.
5th – Season Turkey Breast
The best way to season turkey breast is by evenly spreading these seasonings over top:
- 2 tsp chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- A teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- A teaspoon onion powder
If You Are Roasting A Whole Turkey, Stuff Small Hole With Apple To Keep Breast Moist
This may sound odd… But breast meat can dry out, and stuffing the small hole (or neck cavity) with an apple cut in half protects it from drying out!
STUFFING
I do not recommend roasting your turkey with stuffing, because it slows down cooking time and can make mushy stuffing.
6th – Aromatics
Aromatics help season the turkey meat and add delicious flavors to your pan drippings for gravy! To do this, place large pieces of chopped onion, celery stalks, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper inside the large cavity of a whole turkey before roasting.
The water in your pan will prevent anything from burning! Add: fresh herbs, shallots, carrots, celery, and add 2 cups of cold water UNDER the roasting rack inside the large roasting pan.
If you will be basting your turkey, add 1/2 a cube of butter to the bottom of your pan now.
7th – Cover (Then Uncover) Turkey
To protect turkey skin from browning too soon, loosely cover the bird and roasting pan with aluminum foil. Make sure to put the shiny side of the aluminum foil facing out. ***Remove foil halfway through roasting time so the skin gets nice and brown!***
Cook Time Chart for Turkey (in a conventional oven at 350°F or 325°F)
How Long To Roast Turkey Breast – General Rule:
The simplest way to figure out turkey roasting times is to calculate 13 minutes per pound at 350°F for an un-stuffed turkey, or 15 minutes per pound for a stuffed turkey. Or 15 minutes per pound at 325 unstuffed and 17 minutes per pound at 325 for a stuffed turkey.
Unstuffed Turkey Cook Time Chart at 350
| Turkey Size (lbs) | Cooking Time at 350°F (minutes) |
|---|---|
| 10 | 130 |
| 12 | 156 |
| 14 | 182 |
| 16 | 208 |
| 18 | 234 |
| 20 | 260 |
Stuffed Turkey Cook Time Chart at 350
| Turkey Size (lbs) | Cooking Time at 350°F (minutes) |
|---|---|
| 10 | 150 |
| 12 | 180 |
| 14 | 210 |
| 16 | 240 |
| 18 | 270 |
| 20 | 300 |
Unstuffed Turkey Cook Time Chart at 325
Cook Time Chart for Turkey (in a conventional oven at 325°F)
| Turkey Size (lbs) | Cooking Time at 325°F (minutes) |
|---|---|
| 10 | 150 |
| 12 | 180 |
| 14 | 210 |
| 16 | 240 |
| 18 | 270 |
| 20 | 300 |
Stuffed Turkey Cook Time Chart at 325
| Turkey Size (lbs) | Cooking Time at 325°F (minutes) |
|---|---|
| 10 | 170 |
| 12 | 204 |
| 14 | 238 |
| 16 | 272 |
| 18 | 306 |
| 20 | 340 |
Always use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.
Prevent Dry Turkey
Prevent overcooking! Use a → Meat Thermometer ← to Check the internal turkey temperature about ¾ of the way through that time, and then again every 10 minutes, and roast until the temperature reads 165°F when checked at the thickest area of the thigh (do not touch the bone) and thickest area of the breast.
8 – 12 lb Turkey Breast, roast at:
- 325°F for 2 3/4 to 3 hours.
- Start checking internal temps after 2 hours.
To Baste or Not to Baste Your Turkey
Basting your turkey every 30 minutes or so helps moisten and flavor the breast meat! It’s really simple to baste, and just requires your to open your oven and carefully squirt the liquid from the bottom of the pan over the top of your entire turkey! The butter you added to your roasting pan makes a better basting solution. You can also use turkey broth.
The positive: Basting turkey really helps the turkey skin to brown nicely…
The negative: HOWEVER, it is questionable whether basting liquids penetrate turkey skin and really moisten the meat. PLUS opening the oven every 30 minutes or so lets the heat out and lowers the temperature. This will make the roasting time longer till the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees at the deepest point (fully cooked).
This is why we put butter under the skin and an apple in the smaller hole. These methods help keep the turkey meat moist without lengthening the roasting time. Plus, you can put your turkey in the oven and not have to keep checking it every half hour minutes as the turkey cooks.
Meat Thermometer
A Meat Thermometer is a very important tool when cooking big birds!
For food safety, a turkey or turkey breast must reach an internal temperature of 165°F at the deepest point you can measure before you take it out of the oven… The internal temperature will continue to rise after you remove it to about 180 degrees.
How To Use A Meat Thermometer
You can use an instant-read thermometer or a remote thermometer (remote thermometers have a probe you insert before roasting, and that shows the internal temperature on a digital display sitting on your kitchen counter).
Insert the thermometer probe into the thickest part of the breast or the thickest part of the meat can also be the thigh.
When the internal temperature show 165 degrees F, then carefully remove it from the oven and place the roasting pan on a cutting board.
Recipe Card
Oven Roasted Turkey – Christmas & Thanksgiving Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Turkey or Turkey Breast 12-14 pounds
- 1 1/2 cube SALTED Butter 1/2 a cube of butter is used if your will be basting turkey
- 2 tsp chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- A teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- A teaspoon of onion powder
- 2 carrots
- 4 celery stalks
- 2 shallots
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- 1 Onion
- Salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- 2 cups water turkey or chicken broth work great too
Instructions
- Defrost Turkey (See post for when to take your turkey out of the freezer)
- Remove From Package
- Remove Neck and Season. Generously rub softened (or room temperature) SALTED butter to cover your turkey breast, or a whole turkey, under the skin! A medium 12- to 14-lb turkey will need a half cup, 1 cube, of butter. Starting at the neck hole (smaller hole), carefully push your hands under turkey skin (careful not to rip turkey skin, and do NOT separate skin completely from turkey.) Massage most of the butter UNDER the turkeys' skin, and a little over the top of the skin.
- Add aromatics (Sage, Thyme, carrot, and onion pot to the turkey and roasting pan.
- Cover Turkey with Aluminum Foil and bake for half the time (about 2 hours for a large turkey)
- Uncover Turkey and roast for the remaining time or till it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees at the deepest point. And remove from oven.
- Let Turkey rest for 20 minutes after removing from oven.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Thanksgiving Recipes
Let Your Turkey Rest BEFORE Carving!
For juicy meat: After your turkey reaches 165 degrees F, it’s really important to leave it alone on the counter and let it REST, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes before you carve it!
Leftovers
There are so many ways to use leftover turkey, but make sure to use or freeze it after 4 days in the refrigerator.
4 comments
Nikki
Juliea – You have the best recipes and tips. Just in time for the upcoming holidays. Thanks!
Virginia
I appreciate the information on cooking turkey, I found just what I was looking for in this roast turkey recipe.
You’ve ended my 4 day hunt! God Bless you. Have a nice day.
Darin
Thank you for the help!
Britt
Lots of great info! Just in time for Thanksgiving. I will definitely reference back to this post in a few weeks 🙂