By cooking a turkey breast with a stuffing that contains cranberries, you're combining several traditional Thanksgiving dishes into one. This recipe is perfect for Thanksgiving for smaller families. The cranberries get nice and plump cooked with the other stuffing ingredients, and the turkey is moist and tender. Take a look at How to Stuff a Turkey Breast for picture instructions.
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 (5-7 lb.) turkey breast, bone in, skin on
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup chopped celery
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cups oatmeal bread cubes, dried in the oven
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 tsp. dried sage leaves
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup chicken stock
- melted butter for basting
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse turkey breast and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
In large skillet, melt 1/2 cup butter and cook celery and onion until tender. In large bowl, combine remaining ingredients except butter for basting. Pour celery mixture over ingredients in bowl. Toss gently with two spoons to coat. Add chicken stock and toss until lightly moistened.
There are two ways to 'stuff' the breast. First, stuff it while still 'closed'.
- Place some of the stuffing in between the two halves of the breast. The breast comes folded up, so just pry it apart a little bit and add stuffing; don't pack.
- Then use kitchen string to loosely tie the breast closed. Place on a roasting pan, add 1/2 cup chicken stock to the bottom of the pan, rub the turkey with some butter, and roast.
- Place remaining stuffing in a casserole dish, cover, and refrigerate. Add to the oven and bake, uncovered, for the last 45 minutes of the turkey roasting time.
Flatten the breast
- Or you can just place the turkey, skin side down, on a cutting board. Gently pull the two halves apart.
- Then turn the turkey over and press down on the breastbone so the breast is more opened up. Then put the stuffing in a foil-lined roasting pan and place the breast, skin-side-up, on top.
- With this method, whenever you baste the turkey, pour some chicken broth or water on the stuffing not covered by the turkey and stir it gently. This way the stuffing doesn't burn and just keeps getting better!
Whichever method you choose, coat the turkey with melted butter, and roast the turkey and stuffing at 350 degrees for 2 to 2-1/2 hours until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the meat reads 165 degrees F. Baste once or twice during roasting with pan drippings. Serves 4-6
