Cooking Turkey Breast

These days a number of people choose cooking turkey breast over cooking the whole turkey. There are numerous ways of cooking it. One of the methods used to cook a turkey is oven roasted turkey breast. This is an easy yet a traditional turkey recipe. Grilled turkey breast, rotisserie turkey breast, smoked turkey breast, deep-fried turkey breast or cooking it in slow cooker are some of the other methods of cooking turkey breast. Now let's see some turkey cooking tips.

Turkey Cooking Guide

When you want to cook a turkey, you will need to buy approximately 1 pound of turkey per person. Keep the turkey frozen, till you are ready to thaw and cook it. When you are going to cook the turkey, it is recommended to place the turkey in a pan. This will make sure that you do not lose any juices that may leak out of the turkey when you cook the turkey. It is not recommended to buy fresh pre-stuffed turkey. There are chances of harmful bacteria making their way into the stuffing, if the stuffing and the turkey are not handled properly. It's time to see how to cook a turkey.

How to Cook a Turkey Breast

Before you start cooking a turkey breast, make sure you clean it thoroughly. Rinse the turkey breast and then pat dry with paper towels. Now is the time to apply a marinade. The marinade can be made out of softened margarine, minced garlic and chopped garlic. You can either apply the marinade or choose to inject the marinade inside the breast. If you want to inject the marinade, you will have to powder the herbs, lest they will get stuck in the injector. For added flavor, using a wooden spoon loosen the skin on the turkey breast, but leave the edges of the skin attached to the turkey breast itself. Now apply some marinade between the skin and the breast. Pat the breast down, so that the mixture spreads over to the entire breast.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Now wrap the turkey breast in an aluminum foil. Fold the edges properly, so that the moisture is sealed in the breast itself. If the moisture is lost, chances are high that the turkey breast will become very dry. Now comes an important question, one which a lot of us face. Should the turkey breast be cooked up or down. While positioning the turkey breast, you will have to place the meaty side up in the roasting pan. Add some water or white wine or maybe chicken or turkey stock at the bottom of the pan. I would recommend stock.

Now you will need to cook the turkey breast at 350 degrees. The time will depend on the weight of the turkey breast. You will need approximately 20 minutes per pound of the meat. If you have a meat thermometer, you may choose to insert it in the thickest part of the turkey breast, with the face of meat thermometer on the outer side of the foil. You can understand that your turkey breast is cooked after the reading on the meat thermometer shows 170 degrees. Do not confuse this 170 degrees with 350 degrees of the oven temperature. Before the turkey breast is completely done, you will need to open the aluminum foil and baste it twice with the drippings.

You can use a similar method for crock pot cooking as well. Now that you are done cooking, with some fresh cooked vegetables and mashed potatoes you can savor the delicacy. But in all excitement, take care that you do not burn yourself with the escaping steam when you are opening the aluminum foil. When you open the turkey breast for basting, you may not want to cover it again, so that you get the picture perfect roasted turkey breast.