Lemon Garlic Butter Turkey Breast

Today on The Stay At Home Chef I'm showing you how to make lemon garlic butter roasted turkey breast. I've got several options on the website when it comes to cooking a turkey breast. This one has a flavor profile that I'm kind of obsessed with right now. It is so delicious, it's crave worthy, and the gravy on this is incredible. You can use a roasting pan for this which has a rack in it, but you don't necessarily need one. You can also just use a regular 9x13 pan. If you're using the 9x13 pan go ahead and lightly grease it, then place the turkey into the pan skin side up. This recipe works with bone-in turkey breast as well as boneless turkey breast, so you can use either one. This one is a double-sided bone-in turkey breast which is about 7 pounds. This is a full turkey breast with both sides, but you can also buy them with just one side of the breast bone-in. Set your turkey to the side for a second, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and grab a lemon. You want to zest the lemon which will add a big bright burst of citrusy goodness. Set your zest to the side, slice your lemon in half, then either squeeze by hand or use a juicer to get all of that delicious lemon juice. Then pour that lemon juice into a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 teaspoons of paprika, 1 1⁄2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1⁄2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. Give this a quick mix to form a paste. Then we're going to add in 8 tablespoons or 1⁄2 a cup of softened butter, and you want to make sure it's super soft to room temperature. We're also going to add in 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and our lemon zest. Then use a fork to mash this all together. It really is important that that butter is softened to room temperature, otherwise this step will be a little rough. Grab your turkey and you're going to use your fingers to separate the skin from the meat inside. It's not pretty, but you really just get in there and push your way through, separating out the skin, which will help it crisp up. Don't forget to flip it and go from the other side as well. We're going to attack the skin at all angles. Not only will this give us a crisper skin, it also allows us direct access to the meat to add flavor to the meat, not just the skin. So you're going to take a little forkful and stuff that buttery, seasoned goodness into the meat itself. This is a super messy job, but don't worry. Just get in there with your hands and rub it around. You're going to use about half of the butter mixture beneath the skin. While those hands are still ridiculously messy, go ahead and rub the remainder of the butter mixture on the outside of your turkey. Listen, I can just see the comments now about my messy hands, but I'm keeping it real with you. You can wear gloves if you want, but that does seem kind of wasteful. Most chefs are just going to get in there with their hands. It doesn't need to be pretty or have even coverage at this point. This is all going to melt as the turkey roasts. With clean hands, we're going to transfer our turkey breast to the oven where we're going to roast it at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, uncovered for about 20 minutes per pound is the rule of thumb. You're looking for an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit before you pull it out of the oven where we'll let it rest so it reaches that 165 target that you're looking for, and it really helps if you use an instant read thermometer so there's no guesswork and you have 100% accuracy. Now basting is optional, but if you want, you can get in there every 30 minutes or so, grab some of that liquid, and pour it back over the top of your turkey breast. It's just a way to maximize your flavor on your meat and on your skin. Basting really is optional, but what you're doing when you do take the time to do it is you're getting all of that flavor that's melted to the bottom of the pan and returning it back to the top so that you can maximize the flavor potential. Now if at any point you feel like things are starting to burn on top, you can always cover it loosely with aluminum foil. Now at 160 degrees Fahrenheit, that's when you're pulling it from the oven, and there's something called carryover cooking which will happen and increase that temperature to that 165 degrees Fahrenheit that you're looking for for food safety reasons. It's called carryover cooking. It has to do with thermodynamics. You don't really have to worry about it. Just let it rest or sit here for about 15 minutes, and you can always give it a final blast of that liquid for additional flavor. And like I mentioned, these juices also make for an incredible gravy, so you can whip that up using the guide on my website, or just serve the turkey with the juices from the pan for drizzling over. Thanks for watching. You can find the full written recipe in the video description. Be sure to subscribe, like, and follow, and check out the rest of my videos, where you can find hundreds of restaurant quality recipes you can easily make at home. We'll see you later.