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Oven Roasted Turkey Breast

Easy Oven Roasted Turkey Breast {or Whole Chicken}

This easy oven roasted turkey breast {or whole chicken} is a fool-proof recipe that anyone can make. Purposely kept simple, but feel free to add fresh herbs and other seasonings to fancy things up, if you wish.

Course Holiday Foods, Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword Chicken, Turkey, Turkey Breast
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Resting Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings 6 people
Author Heather @ thecookstreat.com

Ingredients

  • 1 6 to 8 pound bone-in skin-on turkey breast or whole chicken thawed
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons coarse salt

For Gravy:

  • turkey or chicken drippings strained through a strainer
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ teaspoon chicken bouillon
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F (or 450 degrees convection roast if your oven has convection).

  2. Prepare turkey breast by rinsing in sink, removing neck and giblets in the center cavity and gravy packet (if applicable). Pat dry with paper towel, rub with oil and sprinkle with coarse salt, to taste.

  3. Place turkey breast in a 9x13-inch pan breast side up and cover loosely with a large piece of foil (alternately you can use a small roasting pan with a lid if you have one). You won't want to roast without a cover or you will have a mess to clean up as the juices will splatter all over.

  4. Roast the turkey breast side up until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reaches 157ºF and juices run clear, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. If your oven comes with an oven probe, that is a really easy way to cook a turkey because it will notify you when the probe reaches the temperature you set. Remove turkey from oven, tent with foil, and let stand 20 minutes before carving.

For gravy:

  1. Strain turkey drippings through a strainer and collect juices in a small sauce pan. Add 1 ¾ cups of water and chicken bouillon and heat over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons cornstarch and ¼ cup of water until smooth. Whisk cornstarch slurry into turkey drippings and heat until thickened.

Recipe Notes

1. Make sure the turkey breast or chicken is completely thawed. I usually thaw mine in the refrigerator about 3 days before cooking.

2. You can sub chicken stock or broth for the water and chicken bouillon in this recipe.