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The Best Instant Pot Roasted Turkey Breast Recipe – juicy, tender turkey breast roasted in an instant pot for a perfect easy dinner!
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Roasted Turkey Breast in the Instant Pot
My secret to a stress-free Thanksgiving – or turkey dinner – without having to worry about the bird taking up all the oven space?
My Instant Pot!
This little countertop appliance does so many things – its a pressure cooker and extra stovetop surface, all in one – and it is my secret to a perfect, juicy, tender turkey that won’t dry out!
And hello… it doesn’t take up ANY space in the oven!
If you’re hosting Thanksgiving for a small crowd – or just don’t want to hassle with a big bird – this tender, juicy, never dry Instant Pot turkey breast will be your favorite new recipe!
I have cooks of all levels of experience on my site, and I get a lot of questions and requests for additional information on my recipes.
If you’d rather skip over all that click to the information you need in the table of contents below, click the “skip to recipe” button in the top left corner, or scroll to the bottom of the page.
How To Cook Turkey in Instant Pot
While I LOVE more traditional recipes for Thanksgiving like my Easy Smoked Turkey or Brown Bag Turkey – or even my Orange Glazed Ham or Bourbon Molasses Glazed ham – sometimes we have smaller celebrations and I don’t want to go through with the hassle of a giant main course we will be eating for leftovers for the next weeks – and opt for a smaller turkey breast.
Turkey breasts are incredibly easy to cook in an instant pot – its really just season, cook, and serve – but the tips below will help you get perfect never-dry turkey breast from your instant pot, every time you make it.
Add can lifter to bottom of the Instant Pot to easily place your turkey breast in your instant pot, and for effortless removal.
How Long to Cook Turkey Breast in the Instant Pot.
Cook with high pressure for 5 minutes per pound, about 35 minutes for a standard 7 pound turkey breast.
This will NOT take into account any time needed to bring the Instant Pot to pressure – OR the time it takes to naturally release pressure/resting time after cooking – so count on about an hour twenty minutes total time when planning your meal around the turkey.
Tips To Perfect Instant Pot Turkey Breast & FAQs
These tips and tricks will get you perfect, juicy turkey breast, every time!
How to brown turkey in an Instant Pot. The Instant Pot doesn’t brown food well – my only big complaint with it.When using an Instant Pot with the regular lid, it just doesn’t crisp up – but that is no matter for this recipe. I am providing two ways to crisp your turkey breast skin below – one that involves an accessory for the Instant Pot, and one that involves a few minutes under a broiler.
Crisp Turkey Skin in Instant Pot With Crisp Lid. There are crisp lids you can find to help actually crisp the skin of the meat you’re roasting in the Instant Pot – making this an easy one-step recipe. A crisp lid helps direct heat to crisp the skin of turkey and is a breeze to work with! To order an Instant Pot crisp lid, click my Amazon affiliate link here.
Crisp Skin In Instant Pot Without Crisp Lid. Since turkey skin is even better when crisp, it’s necessary to broil for just a few minutes to crisp your turkey skin after cooking in the instant pot if you want perfect crispy skin. If you’d like to get an extra browned, crispy turkey breast – please pop under the broiler after cooking for 5-10 minutes to crisp skin!
Make it a Slow Cooker Turkey Breast. If you’re looking for a delicious, knockout, absolutely no-fail turkey breast to cook in a slow cooker, instead of an Instant Pot, please check out my turkey breast in gravy slow cooker recipe below. Get my Slow Cooker Turkey Breast in Gravy Recipe Here.
Make an easy turkey brine. While this recipe doesn’t need a brine, I’m adding my recipe for an easy turkey brine in case you don’t mind the extra step – while not necessary, brining your turkey will always come out with the most flavor and tenderness. You can also check out my knockout recipe for a Dry Turkey Brine!
Easy Turkey Brine Ingredients:
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 gallon vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
- 1 1/2 teaspoons rosemary
- 2 teaspoons savory
- 1 gallon ice cubes
Easy Turkey Brine Instructions:
- Bring all ingredients, except ice to a boil.
- After you reach a rolling boil, turn off heat and let cool.
- Combine cooled brine with ice inside a large bag in a beverage cooler, stock pot, or other large container with a tight fitting lid.
- Submerge turkey and seal container.
- Brine for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days – be sure to keep turkey cold with ice as it brines.
Make homemade turkey gravy. I am not adding the gravy in the Instant Pot Turkey Breast recipe below to make sure it is as easy as possible to follow. To get my knockout, super easy recipe for Turkey Gravy, please click here for my Easy Turkey Gravy Recipe.
Recipe FAQ’s
When your turkey is fully cooked, it should reach 165 degrees with a thermometer placed into the fattest part of the breast (be careful to not hit the bone, as it will make your turkey’s temperature reading inaccurate.)
Brining is optional but always gives more flavor and a better texture.
What To Serve With Turkey Breast
If you’re looking for perfect easy dishes to serve with this amazingly delicious instant pot turkey, check out some of my all time favorites below!
From classic sides like brussels sprouts, green beans, and fresh baked bread – to mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, and more!
Try these other favorite holiday sides:
- Easy No Knead Bread
- The Best Easy Baked Scalloped Corn Recipe
- Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Scallops Recipe
- The Best Easy Oven Roasted Asparagus Recipe
- The Best Easy Turkey Gravy Recipe
- The Best Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe
- Cranberry Apple Sangria and Virgin Sangria
- Sparkling Apple Cider Rum Punch Recipe
The Best Instant Pot Roasted Turkey Breast Recipe
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Best Instant Pot Roasted Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- 1 skin-on bone-in turkey breast
- 1 stick butter
- 1 tbsp Italian Herbs Blend
- 1 tsp pink sea salt
- 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth
Optional Aromatics:
- 1 medium onion chopped into large slices
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 sprigs Thyme
- 1 orange or lemon sliced thin
Instructions
- Pat turkey dry with paper towels.
- Generously rub turkey breast with softened butter – rub butter all around turkey, and carefully lift up skin to rub butter under turkey skin, too.
- Stuff turkey breast cavity with aromatics.
- Add chicken stock to the bottom of Instant Pot.
- Coat turkey breast with herbs and spices.
- Place on can lifter and lower into Instant Pot.
- Place lid on Instant Pot.
- Set valve the sealing.
- Press "manual", set timer to 35 minutes High Pressure.
- When the IP is done cooking, let pressure release naturally… don't manually release pressure.
- Remove turkey from Instant Pot (be sure to take care when opening pressure cooker, even if you think all pressure has been released, and always open away from your face) and place on a baking sheet.
- Tent with foil for at least 10 minutes before carving.
Tried this recipe on Thanksgiving for the first time, that was probably a mistake. I read your note saying we could go from frozen and do 50 minutes followed by natural release. I’m here to let you know that doesn’t work ? I popped my 7lb bone in turkey breast in the fridge in Wednesday morning, so come Tuesday afternoon it was still mostly frozen. Used these instructions and went with the 50 minutes followed by 40 minutes of natural release on the instant pot and it still was still only 120 in the center ?? not sure what I did wrong. Any advice is greatly appreciated, and hopefully this comment helps others trying to go from frozen learn from my mistake ????
I am sorry that didn’t work for you, I will have to re-test this recipe so I can provide the best instructions for cooking from frozen solid. Thank you for letting me know!
This recipe was perfection!! My family raves about how juicy and delicious the turkey was and made me promise to only cook it this way forever! Thank you!!
Does the turkey breast need to be thawed before cooking?
Amazing recipe. Cooking turkey this way is so easy. Thanks for your recipe.
Can you use a breat without a bone?
Yes! You’ll need to adjust the time since the bone adds to cooktime.
Such a fantastic way to cook turkey!! I LOVE this!!
This is such a great way to cook turkey!