Crock Pot Turkey Breast

Crock Pot Turkey Breast recipe.
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  • Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

5pounds turkey breast with skin and bones (thawed for a day in refrigerator, if frozen)
1tablespoon olive oil
1teaspoon dried thyme
1/2teaspoon dried sage (rubbed sage)
1large carrot, cut into pieces
2 ribs celery, cut into pieces
1 onion, peeled and cut into 4 pieces
2cups chicken or turkey stock

Instructions

  1. Trim extra skin and fat from turkey breast, leaving the parts of skin that are directly covering the meat. If you have a meat thermometer, pull out the pop-up timer if desired. Rub breast all over and inside with thyme and sage. Heat olive oil in heavy frying pan, then brown turkey breast on both sides and top, about 5 minutes each side.
  2. Put browned turkey breast in crockpot, then add carrots, onions, and celery. Pour turkey or chicken stock over. Cook on high until temperature in the thickest part of the meat reaches 165F; this was 2 hours and 45 minutes for me. (You can also cook on low for a longer time, probably about 5-6 hours. The temperature still needs to be 165F.)
  3. Remove turkey breast and let rest while you make gravy. Use a fine-mesh skimmer to scoop out vegetables and skim the broth, or strain through fine strainer into small saucepan. You should have close to 2 1/2 cups broth. Bring to a boil and reduce by about 1/4, or until there is a strong turkey flavor. (I just kept tasting it as it cooked down, and stopped when it tasted good to me.)
  4. Reduce heat so the liquid is barely at a simmer. Mix arrowroot starch with 2 T cold water, then stir gently into the simmering liquid and stop stirring once it’s combined. Don’t over whisk or continue to cook once it’s thickened, or the gravy won’t stay thick. Gravy can also be thickened with cornstarch mixed with water if you don’t have arrowroot, but it will take about 1 T cornstarch per cup of liquid to get the same amount of thickness.

Suggestions:

*I used a 4.5 quart crockpot for this recipe.

*May substitute chicken stock with 2 cups water with 1 T Penzeys Turkey Soup Base about 4 tsp. arrowroot starch for gravy (or can use cornstarch, but arrowroot thickens with much less starch)

Recipe courtesy of Kalyn Denny who had no idea how her life was going to change when she started Kalyn’s Kitchen in 2005 as a place to store the South Beach Diet friendly recipes all her friends were asking for. Now Kalyn, a retired elementary school teacher, is a full-time blogger, and spends most days cooking, photographing the food, and writing up recipes. In addition to her main blog, Kalyn recently created a site called Slow Cooker from Scratch where she features from-scratch slow cooker recipes from food bloggers, and writes for BlogHer.com.