Stuffed Turkey Breast with Gravy

This stuffed turkey breast with gravy is a great way serve a traditional-style meal for a smaller group. You get all of the flavors without too many leftovers and in a lot less time. 

Sometimes you might find yourself cooking dinner for two, three, or four on Thanksgiving, and baking a giant bird might be overkill. This dish gives you an opportunity to serve an easy but special Thanksgiving meal.

The key component to evoke the feeling of the Thanksgiving of your childhood, at least for me, is the stuffing. Our palates get more sophisticated, we appreciate new flavors, but there is something about the holidays that make us want to go back to what we know. My favorite is made with French bread, fresh herbs, butter, broth, and sauteed celery and onions. 

Rather than making a big pot of stuffing, just make a couple of cups of your easiest stuffing recipe and roll it up inside a turkey breast that has been flattened. 

This recipe makes enough turkey and stuffing for four people. Serve it with a few of your favorite holiday side dishes. My favorites include garlic mashed potatoes, creamed spinach gratin, green beans, dinner rolls,  gravy, and cranberry bars. 

Because you are not feeding a crown, don't make too many side dishes.

Ingredients:

Turkey: You will need a two pound boneless turkey breast. To prep it, pound it out to about 1/2 inch thick. You may also need to butterfly it as well. 

Salt and Pepper. 

Sliced Salt Pork or Bacon: For wrapping the turkey breast while it is roasting. This fatty pork will baste the turkey. 

Stuffing: Assemble the ingredients of about 1/4 recipe (enough to make 2 cups) of your favorite simple stuffing an mix them together but do not bake it. I used a combination of bread cubes, fresh herbs, chopped celery and onion, butter, and turkey broth, plus salt and pepper.  My mother's stuffing was very simple but so good. Never an egg. I'd never made stuffing with egg until very recently and I did it with much trepidation!

Gravy: For the gravy, you can make a make-ahead version, or simply make some with the drippings at the bottom of the roasting pan while the turkey is resting. 

Equipment You May Need:

Small Roasting Pan. 

Kitchen Twine. It should be food safe. You will need it for tying up the roulade. 

Instant Read Thermometer: To check the temperature of the turkey before removing it from the oven. I use mine both for meats and for baking, especially bread. 

Make-Ahead:

You can assemble the stuffing ingredients in advance and keep them in a bowl in the fridge. You can also prep the turkey breast to get it ready for stuffing. 

On the day you are serving it, you can stuff and roll up the breast a couple of hours in advance and keep it in the refrigerator. Make ahead gravy is also a good option if you have a recipe that you love and always make. 

Sunday Funday:

This week, the Sunday Funday group is sharing recipes for holiday main courses for a small gathering, maybe for two, three, or four. Our goal is to make something special even though you are not cooking for a crowd!

More Small Gathering Holiday Main Dishes You May Also Enjoy: 

• Bacon-Wrapped Sirloin Tip Roast from Palatable Pastime
• Confit Turkey Thighs from Food Lust People Love
• Dry Brined Roast Turkey Breast from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Milk-Braised Pork Loin with Carrot Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Nawabi Mutton Biryani with Burani Boondi Raita from Sneha's Recipe
• Roasted Lemon, Herb & Lavender Spatchcocked Chicken from Culinary Cam
• Stuffed Pork Loin Roast from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Stuffed Turkey Breast with Gravy from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Stuffed Turkey Breast for Four

Yield: 4

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 45 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 45 M

This stuffed turkey breast with gravy is a great way serve a traditional-style meal to a smaller group. You get all of the flavors without too many leftovers and in a lot less time. 

Ingredients

• Spray oil
• A 2 pound boneless turkey breast
• 6 to 8 slices salt pork or bacon
• Olive oil or butter
• Pepper
• Unbaked stuffing of your choice
• Gravy of your choice

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and spray a smaller roasting pan with spray oil.
2. Gently pound the turkey breast to 1/4 inch thick. If the breast is thick, try butterflying it first. Spread about two cups of unbaked stuffing about 1/2 inch thick over the inside of the breast. Tightly roll it up lengthwise, so it looks like a tenderloin. Tie the rolled breast with kitchen string, place it in a roasting pan, brush it with olive oil, and season with pepper to taste. Wrap the roll with the salt pork.
3. Roast at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and roast for 20-40 minutes more. The time varies quite a bit depending on your oven and the thickness of the roulade. The internal temperature should be 150 degrees F (the temperature will rise while the turkey is resting).
4. Remove it from the oven, tent with foil, and let it rest for 10 to 25 minutes.
5. While waiting, make some gravy from the drippings with your favorite gravy recipe.
6. Remove the salt pork from the turkey, slice, and serve with gravy and your favorite Thanksgiving sides.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

303

Fat (grams)

10 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

2 g

Carbs (grams)

4 g

Fiber (grams)

1 g

Net carbs

3 g

Sugar (grams)

1 g

Protein (grams)

49 g

Cholesterol (grams)

124 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2012/11/thanksgiving-for-two-my-favorite.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

turkey, stuffing, Thanksgiving,

dinner

American

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Happy intimate Thanksgiving!