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Slow Cooker Turkey Breast + VIDEO

Slow cooker turkey breast with gravy is a great option when you’re feeding a smaller crowd. Free up your oven this holiday season and cook your turkey in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.

overhead shot of half turkey breast with skin and half sliced turkey breast. Garnished with 1 slice of lemon and fresh rosemary

Since turkey breast is just a portion of the whole bird, it’s great for cooking in a slow cooker or Instant Pot. Both methods help you make the juiciest and most delicious turkey breast that will wow guest this holiday season or any time of the year.

collage of ingredients for slow cooker turkey breast

Ingredients For Crock-Pot Turkey Breast

  • Turkey Breast
  • Butter or Ghee
  • Oil
  • Seasonings

overhead shot of sliced lemon, onion, and sprigs of fresh rosemary in a black crockpot

How To Cook A Turkey Breast In The Slow Cooker

Prep The Turkey Breast

  1. Rinse & pat turkey dry. Loosen the skin of the turkey breast. Place the butter under the skin of the turkey. Rub the oil all over turkey.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together salt, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, paprika, and pepper. Rub the seasoning mixture all over the turkey.

Slow Cooker

  1. Add onion, lemon, and sprigs of fresh herbs to the bottom of the slow cooker.
  2. Add the prepared turkey on top.
  3. Cook HIGH 3-4 or LOW 6-8.

Instant Pot

  1. Pour the water or broth into the Instant Pot. Add the trivet.
  2. Add the onion, sliced lemon, and fresh herbs on top of the trivet.
  3. Place prepared turkey breast on top of the trivet, breast side up.
  4. Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure and cook for 6 minutes per pound
    of turkey (make sure internal temperature for the turkey breast is 165° Fahrenheit).
  5. When done, let the pressure cooker naturally release for 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.

After It’s Done…

  1. Transfer the turkey breast to a cutting board. Loosely tent the turkey with foil and let it rest 15-20 minutes.

Crisp The Skin

  1. Preheat your broiler to high.
  2. Carefully remove the turkey from the appliance and place on a baking sheet.
  3. Place the baking sheet the oven & broil for 3-5 minutes or until the skin is crisp to your liking.
uncooked, seasoned turkey breast in a black crockpot

before

What Size Turkey Breast To Use

To cook a turkey breast in the slow cooker, you will need a large 6-quart slow cooker. I usually use a turkey breast in the 6-pound range and that ends up being just the perfect size while also having enough leftovers to get an easy extra meal. I always suggest thinking about the shape of your  slow cooker or Instant Pot when picking out a turkey breast. This is because you may find turkey breast in 5-7 pound range but it still might not fit in your appliance based on its shape. Be sure to think about how your turkey will fit in the slow cooker (or Instant Pot) when you’re turkey shopping.

cooked turkey breast in a black crockpot

after

How Many People Will This Serve?

A good rule of thumb is to plan for a pound per person of turkey meat. Generally, adults will eat ¾ to a full pound and children will eat about half a pound, but this can also change based on how many sides you offer and what those sides are. If you are serving two or more heavy sides like mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, or bread rolls then you can probably count on people eating less of the turkey. If you have fewer or lighter sides such as salads or roasted vegetables, then more turkey will probably be eaten. For the four to six-pound turkey breast that I usually cook, I end up having about four to six servings as well, but I always like to over estimate just a bit when I have guest coming over.

broiled turkey breast on a foil lined baking sheet

broil to crisp the skin

Turkey Recipes 

overhead shot of half turkey breast with skin and half sliced turkey breast. Garnished with 1 slice of lemon and fresh rosemary

How Long Does The Turkey Take To Thaw?

To cook this turkey breast in the slow cooker, you will need to thaw it first. Thawing time will vary based on the temperature of your refrigerator, but generally turkey thaws at a rate of four to five pounds every 24 hours. Since you are just thawing the breast and not the whole turkey for this recipe, I highly recommend taking the breast out of the freezer the night before you intend to use it and let it thaw in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. This ensures there won’t be frozen spots in the meat & that it will cook evenly in your slow cooker.

Instant Pot: Cooking A Turkey From Frozen

While you need to thaw your turkey breast before cooking it in a slow cooker, you can skip thawing when you use an Instant Pot! The pressure-cooking setting of the Instant Pot allows you to cook your turkey breast completely and evenly without thawing by forcing the heat and juices back into the meat. That is why it gets so tender when you make Instant Pot turkey breast! From frozen, a five to six-pound turkey breast should take about an hour and fifteen minutes on high pressure to make sure the turkey reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

close up shot of turkey breast with gravy on a white platter

Making Gravy

If you are making your turkey breast in the slow cooker, you will need to strain the drippings into a pan on the stovetop to make the gravy. If you are making your turkey breast in the Instant Pot, you will need to strain your drippings and then add them back into the pot and switch to the sauté function. No matter which way you cooked your turkey breast, you will need to add a tablespoon of butter/ghee and your preferred type of flour to make the gravy. Melt the butter into the drippings and then grab a whisk and add in your flour. Make sure to whisk continuously to prevent getting clumps and make sure your gravy is nice and silky.

Side Dishes

Storing Leftover Turkey Breast

To me, leftover turkey is one of those foods that tastes even better the next day. Leftover, cooked turkey keeps for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. After that time, you can freeze any remaining leftovers. To freeze, place leftover shredded turkey breast in freezer bags and lay them flat in the freezer to freeze. Frozen turkey without gravy will keep for up to 4 months. If your leftover turkey is covered with gravy, it will keep for up to 6 months.

Recipes Using leftover turkey

Leftover turkey can be re-used in lots of recipes like soups, sandwiches, salads, and casseroles. Any casserole dish that calls for shredded chicken, you  can substitute leftover shredded turkey meat. My favorite way to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey is to make soup. Here are a few of my favorite leftover turkey soup recipes. 

Leftover Turkey Soup

Leftover Cajun Turkey & Sausage Soup

Turkey Corn Chowder

Caprese Soup

Wild Rice Turkey Soup

I use a 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot to make this recipe.

Print
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overhead shot of half turkey breast with skin and half sliced turkey breast. Garnished with 1 slice of lemon and fresh rosemary

Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

Slow cooker turkey breast is a great option when you’re feeding a smaller crowd. Free up your oven this holiday season and cook your turkey in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.

  • Total Time: 5 hours 20 mins
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 57 pound bone-in turkey breast
  • 4 tablespoons ghee or butter
  • 1 tablespoon oil of your choice
  • 34 sprigs fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary
  • 1 small onion, sliced
  • 1 lemon or orange, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoons pepper
  • 1 cup water or broth (Instant Pot only)

Instructions

Prep The Turkey Breast

  1. Rinse & pat turkey dry. Loosen the skin of the turkey breast. Place the ghee/butter under the skin of the turkey. Rub the oil all over turkey.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together salt, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, paprika, and pepper. Rub the seasoning mixture all over the turkey.

Slow Cooker

  1. Add onion, lemon, and sprigs of fresh herbs to the bottom of the slow cooker.
  2. Add the prepared turkey on top.
  3. Cook HIGH 3-4 or LOW 6-8.

Instant Pot

  1. Pour the water or broth into the Instant Pot. Add the trivet.
  2. Add the onion, sliced lemon, and fresh herbs on top of the trivet.
  3. Place prepared turkey breast on top of the trivet, breast side up.
  4. Close lid and seal valve. Set high pressure and cook for 6 minutes per pound
    of turkey (make sure internal temperature for the turkey breast is 165° Fahrenheit).
  5. When done, let the pressure cooker naturally release for 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.

After It’s Done…

  1. Transfer the turkey breast to a cutting board. Loosely tent the turkey with foil and let it rest 15-20 minutes.

Crisp The Skin

  1. Preheat your broiler to high.
  2. Carefully remove the turkey from the appliance and place on a baking sheet.
  3. Place the baking sheet the oven & broil for 3-5 minutes or until the skin is crisp to your liking.

Notes

When the turkey is done, let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

  • Author: Shannon Epstein
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 5 hours

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on one of the product links, I might receive compensation. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.

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Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

Katie Nye

Sunday 15th of March 2020

I made this last night for my family. I served it with steamed cauliflower, roasted asparagus and cold watermelon chunks. The presentation was beautiful, the turkey was perfect. I made the gravy exactly to instructions and the flavor was wonderful. However, the consistency of the gravy was gelatinous. I'll definitely use this recipe again but I think that I'll cut the amount of arrowroot by half.

Healthy Holiday Recipes the Whole Family Will Love

Friday 30th of November 2018

[…] *Courtesy of Shannon at FitSlowCookerQueen  […]

Shirley Chaney

Thursday 7th of December 2017

What is ghee ?

Fit SlowCooker Queen

Friday 8th of December 2017

It's clarified butter. I'ts made by cooking out the milk solids, impurities, and water from unsalted butter which results in a lactose-free butter that is full of nutrients.

colbrachamom

Saturday 2nd of December 2017

This was so delicious! Thanksgiving is definitely not the only time to use this recipe!

Fit SlowCooker Queen

Wednesday 6th of December 2017

I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for the feedback!

Kimberly

Tuesday 21st of November 2017

This recipe looks great! I plan to make it tomorrow but noticed the onion is missing from your ingredients list. How much do you recommend? Thx!!

Fit SlowCooker Queen

Friday 24th of November 2017

I used two small onions. Enjoy!