This Roast Turkey with Herb Butter melts in your mouth in all of its lemon butter herb juiciness. Perfect for the holidays or Any day.
I know, roast turkey usually appears on our menus only around the holidays. And that’s a shame because turkey is not only a lean and healthy meat, but it’s also incredibly good.
I recently saw a video of Ina Garten’s Herb Roasted Turkey Breast, so that gave me inspiration. I loved her recipe but I can’t leave well enough alone. I’ve always made my roast turkeys with butter. A habit from watching my Dad faithfully baste the turkey with butter every half hour as it cooked. And those turkeys always turned out perfectly. So I added butter along with the dried ingredients instead of fresh. The result was amazing and just like the buttery rich turkeys I had growing up.
I think this Turkey with Herb Butter recipe might change your mind on how often you’ll serve this delicious dish. Mostly because instead of a whole turkey, you simply use a 3 pound turkey breast.
The incredible flavor comes from an savory herb butter rub that also incorporates the tang and freshness of lemon, mustard as well as garlic. Really, a perfect combination of flavors for a buttery, juicy turkey.
Are you getting hungry yet?
Ingredients for Turkey with Herb Butter
- Fennel: A subtlety sweet licorice flavored herb
- Sage: An earthy tasting herb that was absolutely made for poultry
- Rosemary: This herb has a slight mint taste with a hint of pepper
- Dry mustard: Ground from the seeds of the mustard plant, it adds tang
- Sea salt: Prefer Himalayan Pink Sea Salt, because a little goes a long way
- Pepper: Freshly Ground is best in this recipe
- Garlic: Just 1 clove, minced, to add a pungent flavor
- Lemon zest: For lemony freshness
- Butter: To add richness
- Turkey Breast: The Star of the Show
How to Make Roast Turkey with Herb Butter
First preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and adjust your oven rack to the lowest position.
Next, the rub begins with fennel, sage and rosemary – my favorite combination of spices.
Then to make it more complex add dry mustard, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, minced garlic, the zest of a lemon and finally the butter. Blend it well and set it aside.
Then remove the turkey from the packaging, rinse it under running water, pat it dry with paper towels and with kitchen shears remove the outer netting. Why? Because you will hate to remove it after it’s been cooked. Trust me, it’s a mess. And yes, the turkey will still hold it’s shape while roasting.
The lightly spray a roasting rack with oil…you’ll thank me later when clean up time comes. Also line a baking pan with foil for the same reason. Then place the rack on top of the foil lined pan and add the turkey.
Next, with perfectly clean hands, rub the herb butter mixture over the turkey roast on all sides.
Add the turkey to the oven and roast it for 2 – 2 1/2 hours until beautifully browned and a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees.
At this point remove it from the oven, cover it with foil and let it rest 15 minutes before you carve it. This helps the juices to come into the meat.
A Note on the Ingredients
I earlier mentioned that fennel, sage and rosemary was my favorite combination of spices. If you’ve been following my blog, you might remember why this blend is special to me.
I was at the Culinary Institute of America at a Food Writers Conference and the chefs from Alice Waters’ restaurant, Chez Panisse, were catering lunch. They served the most incredible Pork Tenderloin I had ever eaten. So I asked one of the chefs how it was prepared and he was kind enough to tell me.
You can find my version of their recipe that I simply call Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary, Fennel and Sage.
Then I decided to get more adventurous and add Dijon mustard and came up with my Mustard and Herb Pork Tenderloin.
Definitely different from each other, but that same great combination of rosemary, fennel and sage are in both versions.
Roast Turkey with Herb Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 Tsp Fennel Dried
- 1/2 Tsp Sage Dried
- 1/2 Tsp Rosemary Dried
- 1/2 Tsp Dry Mustard
- 1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
- 1/4 Tsp Pepper
- 1 Clove Garlic Minced
- 1 Tbsp Butter Softened
- 1 Lemon Zested, about 1 Tsp
- 1 3 lb Boneless turkey breast If frozen, thaw it 1-2 days in the refrigerator
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Move rack to lowest position.
- In a small bowl combine fennel, sage, rosemary, dry mustard, sea salt, pepper, minced garlic, lemon zest and butter.
- Remove turkey from packaging. Rinse under running water and pat dry with paper towels. Remove outer netting with kitchen shears.
- Add turkey to baking pan on an elevated rack. Rub the butter mixture on all sides.
- Place in oven and roast for 2- 21/2 hours until turkey is browned and meat thermometer registers 165 degrees.
- Remove from oven, cover with foil and let rest 15 minutes.
- Carve and serve.
Nutrition
If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below and be sure to pin this on Pinterest!
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