Cooking Turkey Breast in the Instant Pot
Cooking a turkey in the instant pot may just be the next big thing, but there are some areas that you may find need tweaking when it comes to cooking the perfect turkey breast. The great thing about using an Instant Pot for your turkey is that it frees up the oven to be used for other foods. Also – it cooks a lot faster and is not dried out!
The recipe that we started with called for a boneless turkey breast, however we ended up substituting a bone in turkey breast, and it came out perfectly with a few minor adjustments.
The recipe did not mention a liquid source for the initial cooking of the breast, and we know that in order for an instant pot to work correctly, it is vital that you have a liquid source while cooking. We ended up adding in 1 cup of chicken broth during the cooking process, which we later omitted from the gravy portion of the recipe.
Once the turkey breast was done we removed it from the pot and added the remaining gravy ingredients, and voila – turkey and gravy in an instant pot came out perfectly!
Enjoy!
– Julie
Instant Pot Turkey Breast Recipe
PrintInstant Pot Turkey Breast
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
- 4 lbs turkey breast thawed (boneless or bone in)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp tarragon
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 cup broth
For the gravy:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup half and half
Instructions
- Drizzle olive oil all over the turkey breast. Rub the turkey well with the smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Finish with the minced garlic.
- Turn Instant Pot to the high sauté setting. Add 2 tbsp butter and oil, and sear turkey breast on all sides. Transfer the breast to a plate or a cutting board.
- Add Instant Pot wire rack, pour in 1 cup of chicken broth, and then place the turkey on top of wire rack. Close lid and set to Manual setting for 25 minutes on high pressure.
- Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, allow natural release, then transfer the breast to a cutting board, cover completely and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting into it.
For the gravy:
- Turn the Instant Pot to the high sauté setting (don’t discard the turkey drippings). Add 2 tbsp of butter and cook until the butter is melted. Whisk in the flour with the butter and cook for a couple minutes, whisking constantly. Then whisk in the half and half and cook for an additional 3 minutes or until thickened.
Julie,
Great recipes! One comment, please refer to either electric multi cooker or electric programmable pressure cooker instead of Instant Pot. You are promoting a brand name rather than cooking technique. I work for a land grant university and it is a policy to avoid using brand names when providing educational programs. The program we teach is titled Cooking Under Pressure.
Thank You for all you do.
I’m nine years into remission from metastatic breast cancer. Your newsletters have been extremely helpful to me personally and in my professional career.
Karen
Thanks for the tip, yes good idea! Although I did use an Instant Pot brand for my class and I can’t tell anyone how to use any other kind of pressure cooker because I have no idea how, but I am not partial to the Instant Pot otherwise! 🙂
So glad you found me and are doing well so many years later. Congrats on all that living you have done. And we’re so lucky to have you educating others as part of your life’s work!!
🙂 Julie