It’s still very possible to cook during the holidays with a budget in mind. I recently published my favorite Roasted Turkey Breast Recipe, but if you’re looking for something a bit more unique, this Cider Roasted Split Turkey Breast is a tried a true recipe that is just bursting with flavor. Your Thanksgiving guests will thank you!
Want more holiday goodness? Check out our Holiday Recipes category!
See this recipe in my Easy Thanksgiving Dinner for Beginners meal plan.
But what’s the “real” reason I made this Cider Roasted Turkey Breast? I hate cooking whole birds. It’s such an ordeal, it’s intimidating, and it just makes waaaaay too much food for my small household. So if any of those things are true for you, you’re going to love this super simple Cider Roasted Turkey Breast. It really couldn’t be more simple and the flavors are ✨magic✨.
What Type of Turkey Should I Use?
This recipe is written for a “split” turkey breast, which is just one side of a full turkey breast, and has the bones and skin still intact. Unfortunately using a boneless breast will require different cooking instructions, which I have not tested.
I have also successfully doubled this recipe, using one 4 lb. full turkey breast (both sides of the breast, bone-in, skin-on) and two turkey drumsticks, in order to feed about six people. If doubling the recipe, you’ll need to use a much larger baking dish and add about an additional 30 minutes of roasting time (use a meat thermometer to make sure).
No Cider, No Problem!
If you don’t like cider or just don’t want to buy any to use just 1/2 cup for a recipe (I get it), you can sub chicken broth in its place. I did a plain herb roasted version of this that way and it was still delish, just not cider flavored. Just keep in mind that any leftover cider that you buy can be used to make cider mimosas on Thanksgiving day. ;)
No Gravy??
You can totally make a gravy from the drippings if you prefer, but I found that the apples and onions kind of absorbed a lot of the fat and juices, leaving not a lot to work with for a gravy. Instead, I just spooned the drippings over the meat directly and was very happy. Whatever you do, don’t toss the drippings. They’re liquid gold.
How Much Will This Feed?
That’s the million-dollar question! Most guides online suggest buying one pound raw turkey per person for Thanksgiving, but after slicing up this beauty, it looked like far too much for just two people. I think this would serve more like four people once you have all your Thanksgiving sides, but that’s just my opinion. Therefore, I’m not going to put a number of servings on this one. I think that needs to be a personal call.
Cider Roasted Turkey Breast
Servings 3 to 4Ingredients
- 2.5 lb. Split turkey breast (bone-in, skin on) ($14.98)
- 4 Tbsp butter, room temperature ($0.38)
- 1 tsp dried sage ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried thyme ($0.10)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1 large apple* ($1.22)
- 1 onion ($0.32)
- 1/2 cup apple cider ($0.25)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place the butter, sage, rosemary, thyme, and salt in a small bowl and mix them together until they form a paste.
- Pat the split turkey breast dry with a paper towel, then use your hand to separate the skin from the breast meat, leaving it intact on the sides, and creating a pocket to fill with the herb butter. Spread about 1/3 of the butter herb mixture under the skin. Spread the remaining herb butter on top of the skin and all over the exterior of the turkey breast.
- Slice the apple and onion into wedges. Sprinkle the apple and onion wedges in the bottom of a casserole dish, then place the seasoned turkey breast on top. Pour 1/2 cup apple cider into the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Transfer the casserole dish to the oven and roast the turkey for about 1.5 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF. Begin to check the turkey after 1 hour. If the top begins to brown too much before the internal temperature reaches its mark, cover the turkey with foil as it bakes (I did not need to do this). Make sure to test the temperature in the thickest part of the breast, without touching bone.
- Let the turkey breast rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Serve the roasted apples and onions along with the sliced breast and spoon the drippings over top.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Cider Roasted Turkey Breast – Step by Step Photos
First, begin to preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a small bowl, mix together 4 Tbsp room temperature butter, 1 tsp dried sage, 1 tsp dried rosemary, 1 tsp dried thyme, and 3/4 tsp salt.
This is what a “split” turkey breast looks like. It is one side of the whole breast. Pat it dry with a paper towel, then use your hands to separate the skin from the breast, leaving it intact around the edges. You just want to create a pocket to spread to spread the herb butter between.
Spread about 1/3 of the herb butter under the skin, on top of the breast meat. Spread the rest of the herb butter on top of the skin and all around the outside of the turkey breast.
Slice one large apple (I used a Fuji apple) and one yellow onion into wedges. Place the wedges in the bottom of a casserole dish. Place the seasoned turkey breast on top, then pour 1/2 cup apple cider in the bottom of the dish.
Roast the turkey breast in the preheated 350ºF oven for about 1.5 hours (depending on the size), or until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF. Begin checking the turkey at 1 hour. If the top begins to brown too much before the internal temperature reachest its mark, cover with foil. Make sure that you test the temperature in the thickest part of the turkey breast and do not let the thermometer hit bone. I use this instant read thermometer and love it. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Let the turkey breast rest for at least ten minutes before slicing and serving.
Serve the Cider Roasted Turkey Breast with the roasted apples and onion and don’t forget to spoon the drippings over top for extra flavor!
I’m making 3 of these for a crowd and would like to do some prep in advance… do you think I could put the butter under the skin the day before, and simply let them come to room temperature before roasting the next day? Or would the salt draw moisture out of the meat overnight? Thanks!
This was so easy and tasty! I also saw that another commenter suggested blending the apples/ onions/ drippings as a gravy – DO IT. This was a great idea.
My family calls this part the “schmutz”… it’s so delicious served alongside and even better on the turkey sandwiches the next day.
This was turkey recipe not intimidating in the slightest! I tackled cooking it and my husband and son enjoyed eating it for Thanksgiving while I DEVOURED it. (I’m the bigger turkey fan out of all of us.) So juicy and the cooked apples and onions gave it a nice zing. Mine was a bit smaller and so I used my instant thermometer to make sure it didn’t over cook – good call on that end!
A wonderful turkey recipe for a smaller audience!
I’ve never successfully cooked a turkey but this looked like something I might be able to pull off. Tender, moist, delicious! I’m very excited I am able to finally cook turkey for my loved ones and not have to struggle with an entire bird. Thank you so much.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I did this last year–I bought a frozen whole bone in turkey breast for $1.69 per lb., about 6 lbs. I thawed it, and cut it in 2, saving the backbone for broth annd coming in well below Beth’s cost estimate. I used a roasting pan instead of a Dutch oven. This recipe was spectacularly tender and deliciously flavored. It fed 7 people with leftovers. I haven’t seen a whole breast yet this year for under $1.99, but still hope for a bargain.
Did this recipe with two 3-lb boneless turkey breasts. Everyone said it was the juiciest turkey they’d ever had, and it has already been requested for Xmas dinner! I fileted the breasts and they took about 1.5 hours. Only hard part of the recipe was getting the herb butter to stick to the turkey—the turkey was cold, so the butter didn’t spread and glued itself to my hands instead. Next time I’ll warm the butter more than room temp, and I’ll make sure the turkey is room temp instead of fresh out of the fridge.
Used this recipe for a whole turkey breast. Doubled it. Turkey was moist and delicious. The apples and onions were also a nice treat.
I made this recipe for the first time this year and I will make it every year. I used a whole breast that I cut into two splits, followed the recipe but baked in two separate dishes using hard apple cider vinegar. The turkey is moist and flavorful in a game changing way.
Following LMSCSM’s idea, I used a food processor to mix half of the drippings, onion, apples into a sauce that I added to a simple gravy made with butter, flour, onion powder, water, vegetable and chicken bouillons (BTB). The result was fire.
Best of all, cooking was stress free.
I make this about every 6 weeks. Trader Joe’s sells split turkey breasts, year round. It’s a perfect Sunday dinner. Rather than make a gravy, I just use an immersion blender to blend the roasted onions and apples into a sauce which is DIVINE. Also, I use significantly more cider (or apple juice) – probably about 2-3 cups, perhaps because I make this in my huge 13 quart Le Creuset dutch oven.
This sounds like it would work well in an Instant Pot has anyone tried that? How long do you think it would need to cook? Might need to “brown” it a bit after NR for about 10–15 min.
Super flavorful. Super easy. This recipe is a winner all the way around. Apples and onions as a side dish were super yummy. After straining the apple/onion mix, I added some cornstarch to the ‘drippings’ which made a great gravy as opposed to juice. If you are a new to cooking, YOU CAN DO THIS. YOU SHOULD DO THIS.
Beth do you think this would work if I used bone-in turkey thighs?
With skin
I think that would probably work great! You may need to adjust the cook time if they are smaller pieces, though. :)
Just saw this and it looks amazing! Too late for Thanksgiving- I used the other turkey breast recipe and it great- but I’m going to try this asap with whatever bird I get. I’m going to try this with hard cider too! More expensive, but I used to get brats cooked in hard cider at a local Irish restaurant and that was one of my all time favorite meals!
I know this is a little last minute, but has anyone tried this recipe with a boneless turkey breast before? Whole Foods screwed up my turkey order and I only have boneless turkey breast now, and I’m a little worried about cooking it. I made this recipe with a bone-in breast last year (and combined it with the Easy Turkey and Stuffing Casserole recipe for a great combo!) and wanted to make this again, but I’m unsure if it will be the same with a boneless breast. Just less time to get to 165, I hope? Does it still produce enough juices to keep the stuffing moistened? If anyone’s got any tips or advice I’d really appreciate it!
Hi Matt! THat’s such a bummer!! Does the boneless breast still have the skin? If it has the skin you should be able to still do it the same way, just less time. I don’t know how much time, but I suggest Googling “boneless turkey breast bake time” to see if you can get a frame of reference. And also check the package. A lot of times they will include that info on there, just in really small text. :P Most of the juices will come out of the meat, rather than the bones, so you should be good there! I hope it turns out well for you!
I’m making this again this year but we are having two people over. You mentioned we could double this recipe with a 4lb breast and legs…what if I still used just one split breast and two turkey legs? Do you think 1.5 hours would suffice or closer to two?
I would think that it would probably be about the same as the breast on its own, but you definitely want to use a meat thermometer to be sure! Usually, the cook time changes based on the size of the piece of meat, not the number of pieces, as long as they’re not super crowded together. It’s all about the surface area exposed to the heat and how quickly that heat can get to the center of the meat. :)
I was wondering if you could do the same concept only with chicken breast as these type of breasts are hard to come by after the holidays. I know that the cooking times will be different.
Yes, definitely. Here is a recipe for oven-roasted chicken breast (bone-in, skin-on) that you can use as a guide for cooking time and temperature. :)
This was my thanksgiving turkey this year. I’m not a meat eater, but the turkey was a hit with the family. “Best homemade turkey!” Doubled the recipe, cooked for about 1.5 hours, using a thermometer every 10 minutes after the 1 hour mark to keep turkey from over cooking. Bravo budget bytes! My favorite recipe website!
Fantastic turkey breast. I made this on Saturday an it was perfect. I made this an utilized the meat an bone for several other meals for freezing. Like soup an turkey tetrazzini.
Could only find a whole bone-in turkey breast (about 7 pounds) so I doubled all of the ingredients here and followed the roasting instructions from the package (happened to be about 2 hours at 325F). It turned out SO GOOD! Juicy meat with herb-y flavor without any complicated instructions – just spread the compound butter on and throw it in the oven until it’s done.
This was the first turkey I’d ever cooked and it came out PERFECTLY! Very moist, delicious, ideally sized for 3 people. Loved the apples and onions with it too. Thank you for brightening our thanksgiving this year!
This worked really well for our Thanksgiving For Two. It ended up just a smidge drier than I would have liked, but I think that was my own fault – I don’t think the turkey was dry enough when I started adding the butter mixture, it didn’t really want to stick to the meat. I’ve never cooked turkey before and this way more manageable and way less intimidating. And my SO said this was better than his mom’s Thanksgiving turkey so I call that a win!
I can’t seem to find a good size casserole dish at home for my turkey because it’s about 5lbs. Do you think a dutch oven would suffice? Or would it cook differently being deeper than a casserole dish?
I think that should work fine. :)
This might be a dumb question, and I see that you’ve maybe already answered it, bu there we go:
I made this turkey (my first time attempting any bird and hosting Thanksgiving) last year and it was fantastic! An absolute hit, even with non-turkey lovers, I was truly amazed.
I have been on a hunt for split turkey breasts in my area and the SMALLEST thing I could find was an 8lb “turkey breast”. Do you think the same alterations apply to doubling the recipe and simply letting it cook longer as you did with your 4lb turkey breast? I do have a meat thermometer, but wanted to make sure I shouldn’t try to cleave the thing in half or anything.
Thanks for all that you do, and teaching me to cook for the past four years. :)
That’s what I would do, yes, just cook it longer. I would Google to see if there are recommended cooking times for turkey of that size and use that as my approximate guide. :)
This turned out so well for my first ever attempt at a practice Thanksgiving feast! Moist, kid-approved & smells fantastic! Thanks for making it seem manageable!
Super easy and super tasty approach to a holiday dinner (with leftovers) for one :) Definitely something I’ll make again!
Beth help! I can’t find a bone-in, skin-on turkey breast anywhere. I can get the legs and wings, but only boneless skinless breast (and then it’s too expensive). I really wanted to make this recipe for Christmas dinner, but I’m wondering if I should just attempt a smaller whole turkey instead? (I’m cooking for 6 adults and 3 toddlers)
Or should I do this recipe but with a split chicken, plus the turkey legs? It’s my first time hosting Christmas dinner and I’m really trying to keep it low-stress, which is why this recipe was so appealing.
You’ll do great Brandi! You could use a chicken, but we haven’t tried it that way either.
Hi Brandi! Yes they’re a bit hard to come by. However maybe call around to a few grocery stores and ask in the deli if they’ll cut one for you? However if you are cooking for 6 adults and 3 toddlers, I’d say you’d be safer to use a smaller turkey like a 10-12 lb. The guide is 1 1/2 pounds of turkey per person.
I made this recipe using a 5 lb chicken for Thanksgiving. I basically just doubled the recipe. It came our great! Thanks for the recipe! Will definitely make again!
That’s fantastic!
This was the star of our Thanksgiving dinner! The juiciest most flavorful turkey I have ever eaten.
We nestled the breast half on top of the stuffing nestled the apples and onion around it and it worked fine. The stuffing had a amazing flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
This makes us so happy to hear! Glad you enjoyed it!
Wanted to comment because I just made this for Thanksgiving and it came out perfect. I followed the recipe exactly except I substituted fresh herbs for dried (increased the amounts). I also doubled the recipe because I roasted two breasts. With no brining, the meat came out beautifully moist and flavorful. I also used this recipe to roast a meatless turkey loaf and it also came out fantastic. I will use this recipe again next year!
Oh that’s awesome Heather! Thank you for sharing!
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a while and finally made it to tonight for a tiny Thanksgiving for two. It turned out moist and delicious and was so easy, even for a beginner! My partner said it was the best Thanksgiving turkey ever. Thanks Beth for the consistently awesome recipes over the years, hope you enjoyed a great holiday today.
Oh this is fantastic! Thank you Sharon for sharing.
So, I’m going to be doing Thanksgiving dinner for the first time by myself, for just myself and my husband. I was wondering if you could nest this on top of stuffing in addition to the onions and apples, or is it best to do that in a separate pan? Also, would a Dutch oven work for this recipe, or are the sides too high?
I actually did something like that years ago. You can find the recipe here: Turkey and Stuffing Casserole :)
This looks delish, Beth! Do you think this would work for a 5-lb whole chicken?
You can certainly use this butter herb mixture on a whole chicken, but I don’t know the exact roasting times or temperatures for whole chickens. A quick Google should give you that info, though, and then you’ll be good to go. :)
I found turkey thighs shopping today, how would it change the cooking time?
Wouldnit be possible to do this in a slow cooker or instant pot instead? If so what would you suggest for setting/time.
Yep, you can definitely use the same process with thighs. The thighs are probably smaller than the breast, so my guess is that the cooking time will be shorter, but you’ll really need to use a thermometer to know for sure. Since I haven’t done thighs myself, I don’t know the exact cooking time. While you can cook this in a slow cooker or Instant pot, those are both moist cooking methods, so it will turn out more soupy and there will be no browning or crisping of the skin. I definitely think that the oven gives the best results. :)
Hi, Beth! Where do you stand on using a dried “poultry seasoning” blend in place of the individual herbs? My mom always used it, so that’s what I’ve always used…. Also, some pieces of celery would be good roasted with the onions and apples!
I think dried poultry seasoning would work great! But I would try to get the kind that is whole dried herbs instead of a ground powder.
I made this tonight and it was delicious. My only comment was I found it difficult to spread the herbed butter on the Turkey so I melted it in the microwave for 15 seconds and then poured it on the Turkey and rubbed it in place as it solidified on the cold Turkey.
Will be making this again. It was perfect!
So I don’t have to “brine” at all? I bought a 3 lb turkey breast, as my husband requested a mini turkey dinner for his birthday this week.
I did not brine my turkey breast.
Holy moly, this recipe is WINNER WINNER TURKEY DINNER!!! This is definitely the best turkey I’ve ever made, and may be the best turkey I’ve ever tasted. I don’t think I’ll ever make a whole turkey for a holiday dinner again. The flavor combination is wonderful, and oh the smell when it was roasting! I don’t think I’ve ever had turkey breast meat that moist. This year my hubby and I were alone for Christmas (a treat), and I made two of the bone-in breasts so we’d have plenty of leftovers for ourselves and to make up dinner plates to give away for those out in the cold the next day. Made a double portion of your Mushroom Herb Gravy to go with it, but next time I won’t bother because I liked the pureed apple/onion/and pan juices even better! This recipe is an absolute winner. Thank you, Beth!
So glad you liked it!! :)
If you’re a big gravy fan, you could just blend the apples, onions, and juice from this. It’ll turn out velvety and wonderful as a sauce!
Oooh, excellent idea!!
When we ate the meal, I left the apples and onions whole in the pan juices, but when I was putting away the leftovers, I blended them into a velvety puree (lucky enough to have a Blendtec that blends everything to velvet bliss), and it was DELICIOUS. Wanted to just eat it with a spoon out of the jar! Used it as a fancy puree chef-styley under the turkey slices the next day with leftovers, and as a spread for turkey sandwiches the day after. YUM!!!
Beth, I just polished off the last of the turkey from this recipe. It was INSANELY good! I even went to Whole Foods and bought a bone-in turkey breast! It was 5 pounds, so I just added an hour of cooking and then checked the internal temp. This recipe was delicious, easy to make (super easy!) and tasted amazing. I doubled the apple cider, apple and onions to make the larger turkey breast. But do you know what was an unexpected culinary joy? The gravy! I made gravy with the drippings (I had elderly relatives coming who would expect that gravy boat!) and the apple cider taste really came through in the gravy. Just ridiculously good. Thank you for making our Thanksgiving amazing with this recipe!
Would this work with split chicken breasts? It sounds amazing but I just don love turkey.
Yes, you could use the same technique with split chicken breast, just keep in mind that they are much smaller, so the cooking time will be shorter.
We tripled your recipe and used on 2 large turkey breasts in an electric roasting pan for Thanksgiving. They turned out great!! I did make gravy with the dripping and it was very very apple flavored which I didn’t like. I’d like to try it next year with the chicken broth instead of the cider and see how the gravy turns out. Thanks for the recipe!
recipe sounds delicious !!
really good recipe for TURKEY
thank….
I prepared this today for my family. 7 pound breast with skin, bone, and wings. It was amazing. Everyone is still raving about how moist is was.
Thank you
This was the best turkey I’ve ever made! It was the star of the show on Thanksgiving and Bonus: I got to use my new dutch oven. 💕💕💕
I made this today for dinner! I didn’t want to buy a whole jug of apple cider for this recipe, so I used chicken broth (made from Better than Bouillon), and it turned out great. I especially liked the apples – they were still firm and colorful and so flavorful. :)
Can I substitute olive oil for the butter?
You can, but it won’t taste as good.
This recipe sounds delicious – dealing with limited oven space that day – could this be cooked in a slower cooker?
I’m not sure, I’d really need to test it to see how that moist environment would change things compared to the dry oven. You definitely won’t get any browning action on the skin in a slow cooker, though.
Did you use hard cider or non-alcoholic cider?
non-alcoholic
I can only get about a five pound turkey breast. Should I double the recipe and cooking time?
Cooking time will definitely be longer, but it’s hard to say exactly how long it will be. You’ll need to use a thermometer and just keep checking. I would double the rest of the ingredients as well. Also, if you are cooking a whole breast (two breast lobes still connected by the back bone, it will look kind of heart shaped) it may turn out slightly differently. I used a split breast, which is just one side, or one lobe of the whole turkey breast.
Do you think it would still work with a full turkey? It sounds amazing but I have a 22lb bird to deal with! I might have to tweak the ratios a bit, but I’m willing to try!
You can definitely use the same sort of herb butter rub and place onions, apples, and cider in the bottom of your roasting pan, but I would find a guide for roasting time and temperature for a whole turkey elsewhere online. The size and shape of a whole bird will require different settings.
Oh man, this reminds me of a cider-braised chicken thighs recipe I tried off of Serious Eats like 5yrs ago that had nearly the same flavor profile (though I think it used hard cider instead of soft). It was seriously delicious, and I thought it would work well with turkey, but never got around to trying because it was also a labor intensive recipe. I think I made it maybe once more a few years later, hah. This looks like a lot lower fuss – going to have to try it!!!