It’s that time of year! Kelly, an 8th grade English teacher, asked me to prepare the turkey breasts like I did last year for the school’s mentoring program, I was delighted to participate. Last year had the middle school hallways smelling like home with 3 crock pots going in my classroom for the after school event, each cooking a Savory Crock Pot Turkey Breast. Since I retired from teaching last year, I can longer tease all those students and teachers with the smell drifting down the hallway as they anticipate a holiday break with friends and families.
The original recipe, Slow Cooker Citrus and Herb Turkey Breast, came from Mom on Timeout as I was looking on Pinterest for something I could prep before school to have ready to go by dismissal time. This was a perfect choice and the kids appreciated and loved every bite of it! This year I thought I would add a little more citrus and some sage flavor since I still had some growing in my kitchen. We were not disappointed!
Monday morning, I quickly assembled all the ingredients in the 3 crock pots plugged in around my kitchen. I had a little help from my littlest “little” Weston who is three and loves to cook with Gigi and knows which herb is rosemary when asked His responsibilities also included counting 8 quarters of orange within each pot. When your grandmother is a math teacher, you count everything!
Within about 4 hours, the 5 pound turkey breasts were temperature tested (165 degrees) and removed from their crock pots. I brushed off some of the excess herbs on the breast and placed them under the broiler for approximately 4 minutes to achieve a light golden color.
Now, there were a lot of students arriving after the dismissal bell into the cafeteria with their mentors to assist with the meal’s preparation. The students, along with their mentors, were assigned jobs from slicing and plating desserts(with whipped cream), to cooking the sides as well as slicing the meat. All of this was done with the utmost supervision and cleanliness ( hands washed, gloves on). Teamwork was the name of the game and it was all delicious! Kudos to Kelly and the mentors for arranging this annual event for our students. Three Savory Crock Pot Turkey Breasts which were dismantled and eaten by the students. The crock pot literally steams the meat off of the bone. The herbs, as well as the citrus, permeated the meat without overpowering its moist flavor.
Savory Crock Pot Turkey Breast
- November 17, 2016
- Easy Difficulty
Ingredients
- 1- 5 lb. turkey breast
- 2 oranges, quartered
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 4 sprigs of rosemary
- 4 sage leaves
- 1 c. of low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 T. olive oil
- 2 t. chopped rosemary
- 2 t. thyme leaves stripped from sprigs
- 2 t. chopped sage leaves
- Salt and Pepper
Directions
- Step 1
- Take turkey out of packaging. Rinse and pat dry.
- Step 2
- Quarter oranges and lemon and place in bottom of crock pot.
- Step 3
- Evenly place herbs over the oranges and lemon.
- Step 4
- Put the turkey breast on top of citrus and herbs.
- Step 5
- Drizzle 1 T. of olive oil on top of the breast and smooth it out over the exposed skin.
- Step 6
- Sprinkle herbs and desired amounts of salt and pepper evenly over the turkey breast.
- Step 7
- Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the pot and cover.
- Step 8
- Set your crock pot to HIGH setting and cook for about hours 4 or until pop-up rises. Check to verify temperature is at least 165 degrees with an instant read thermometer.
- Step 9
- Reduce to the warm setting for a few minutes so meat can continue to steam off of bones.
- Step 10
- Remove from pot and place on a non-stick foil-lined pan.
- Step 11
- Place under broiler for about 4 minutes or until golden brown.
- Step 12
- Allow to cool slightly after removing from oven. Some of the bones will be easily removable at this point making it easier to slice.
- Step 13
- Slice turkey. Remove any other bones and place on a platter to feast upon! Cover with foil until ready to serve.
