Citrus and Sage Roasted Turkey Breast

I usually post a nutrition article on Mondays, but I have several Thanksgiving recipes I want to make sure I share in time for you to add them to your menu. While all holidays have come to center around food in my world, Thanksgiving especially is important. If there is high pressure meal for most cooks, it is Thanksgiving.

I feel like turkey is the most stressful of all the items on a Thanksgiving menu for most of us. Roasting meat in general is incredibly easy: season, put in oven, leave it alone. But, turkey provides some higher stakes. It is a big bird, which most of us buy frozen. It is hard to thaw, which can lead to long cooking times. And undercooked turkey is bad news.

One solution: go for a turkey breast instead. Since it is much smaller, it thaws and cooks faster. The other tricky part of cooking a traditional turkey is getting the dark meat done without drying out the white meat. Since a turkey breast is just the white meat, you avoid that problem too. It is a win al around. And this recipe adds a lot of really delicious seasonings to make your turkey breast extra special.

Enjoy!

Citrus and Sage Roasted Turkey Breast (Serves about 6 plus some leftovers)

1 whole bone-in turkey breast (about 5-6 pounds)
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup finely chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons orange zest
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Juice of 1 orange
1 onion, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Pat turkey dry. Run hands between skin and meat to loosen, being gentle to not tear the skin.

3. Stir oil, sage, orange zest, salt, pepper, and juice together. Gently spread this mixture between the skin and meat with your fingers. Distribute it evenly throughout. Stuff Orange halves and onion pieces inside the cavity.

4. Place turkey breast in roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven to 350 degrees. Rotate turkey breast 180 degrees and roast for 30 more minutes. Rotate again and then tent loosely with foil. Connie to cook until turkey breast reaches internal temperature of 165 degrees (about 25-40 more minutes). Remove onion and oranges pieces from cavity; discard. Let turkey rest for 25 minutes, uncovered, before slicing.

Nutritional Information (Amount per serving):

Calories: 229
Protein: 34 g
Fat: 10 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 76 mg
Carbohydrates: 1 g
Fiber: 0 g
Sodium: 179 mg

Recipe Notes: Make sure you get the turkey breast that looks kind of like a whole turkey. They sell smaller, skinless turkey breasts. That isn’t what you want. For the nutrient analysis, I’m assuming you do not eat the skin.

Source: slightly adapted from epicurious.com

Low Iodine adjustment: Use non-iodized salt.