Butterball boneless white and dark turkey roast recipes

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A tender juicy boneless white breast Turkey Roast crusted with fresh herbs and olive oil and roasted to perfection! The perfect Holiday Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for two!

As our nest is becoming smaller and smaller, and kids go here and there for the Holidays, dividing their celebrations between families, it occurred to me that others may be in the same boat we are. A smaller gathering for the Holidays.

No one wants to make a huge Turkey dinner when there won’t be a crowd to help devour that big ol’ bird (Sorry to all the children now suffering with visions of that big yellow bird being roasted!). However, just because you don’t want to make a huge Turkey dinner and eat leftovers for the next two weeks…it doesn’t mean you can’t have all the flavors, smells, and taste of the Holidays!

Butterball makes a delicious little 3 pound Turkey Roast. There are several types… from an all White meat Turkey Breast Roast, which I used to make this recipe, to a mixed roast with both dark and white meat! I found mine at Wal-mart…but I’m sure your local grocery store carries them as well.

It’s a quick and easy turkey roast recipe loaded with flavor. Perfect for a small gathering.

I used fresh herbs and garlic to flavor this roast. It cooks in about an hour and half.  I’m super excited to share this recipe with y’all! It’s so good!

How To Make An Easy Holiday Meal For Two

Begin by preheating your oven to 325° and placing the rack in the center of the oven.

A turkey roast comes wrapped in netting and ready to roast. We’re just going to make a few adjustments to kick it up with flavor.

Like I mentioned above, I used  a breast meat roast, but you can use which ever type of Turkey Roast you prefer. One with dark meat will be juicer and more flavorful, it may also require a slightly longer cook time since it has dark meat, which takes longer to cook. Be sure to check the cook times on the back of the package.

Rinse the roast and pat dry with paper towels. Do NOT remove the netting. The netting holds the Turkey Roast together during cooking. It will be removed after the roast has been cooked.

Using a sharp kitchen knife, carefully make deep 1 inch cuts between the netting, over the top of the Turkey Roast. About 6-8 cuts. 

Place cloves of garlic into the slits and push down until they are even with the flesh of the roast.

TIP: If your cloves of garlic are large, you can cut them in half. 

Drizzle 2 1/2 Tablespoons  of olive oil over the top of the roast. Rub the olive oil over the entire roast.

Salt and Pepper the top of the roast to taste. I used about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper.  Strip the leaves off a sprig of Rosemary and sprinkle over the top of the roast. Top off with 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh sage! 

Drizzle with the remaining 1/2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil. Place the roast into a small roasting pan on a roasting rack. Pour 1/2 cup Apple Juice and 1/2 cup water into the bottom of a roasting pan. 

TIP: If you don’t have fresh herbs you can add 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon dried sage, and any additional herbs directly into the olive oil and then brush them over the top of the roast.

Cover the pan with foil. Place the roast into preheated 325° oven. Bake for 1 hour and remove the foil. Bake for an additional 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and an meat thermometer reads 175°. 

Remove roast from the oven. Place roast on foil and drizzle with the drippings from the bottom of the pan. Those apple cider dripping are loaded with flavor!

Wrap the roast in foil and allow it to rest 10 minutes. (You’re gonna need the rest too…but you have to make the gravy! Sorry!)

While the roast is resting, it’s the perfect time to make the gravy packet that comes with the roast. This is optional, but it does add to the meal.  What’s Thanksgiving without gravy?!

TIP: A little gravy tip…instead of adding the 1 1/2 cups of water called for on the packet…add 3/4 cup of chicken broth and 1/4 cup white wine. I also recommend adding about 1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning to kick it up a bit.

Removing the netting and carve the Turkey Roast into 1/4 inch slices. This roast carves easily and beautifully. It’s tender and juicy. So tender it cuts with a fork. Honestly I didn’t even need a knife to cut my slices at the dinner table.

Place the sliced roast on a serving platter. I used a small 11 x 14 size platter I found while shopping a few years ago. It worked beautifully for this dish.

I snuggled this delicious and tasty roast between roasted butternut squash with fresh apples and cranberries…and on the other side stuffing. (I think that roast actually smiled at me! It was in good company!)  I used stove top stuffing for convenience…but you can certainly make fresh stuffing.

This is the perfect Turkey Holiday Dinner for two!

As this dinner was cooking my husband said “It smells like Christmas in here!”. I don’t what more you could ask for…other than it all tasting wonderful…and it does! We made little piggy’s of ourselves. It’s so good and perfect for a small gathering.

This simple dinner full of all the flavors of Fall and the Holidays only needs some dinner rolls. What’s a Thanksgiving meal without the dinner rolls? (Every child will tell you “nothing”!) 

I recommend my wonderful “Homemade Pan dinner rolls” to go along with this meal. They can be made ahead of time and reheated making this an even easier Full Turkey Dinner option!

Honestly what I L.O.V.E. about this meal is…you don’t feel like you’ve been drug through a knothole when the meal is over. It’s so simple to prepare.

I can’t wait to share the easy and mouth-watering recipe for the Roast Butternut and Apple medley with y’all! It’s the perfect rustic side to go with this roast! You’re gonna swoon over it!

Here are a few Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes

• Savory Herbed Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
• Caramel Pecan Cheesecake Pie
• Cranberry Jello Salad
• Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
• Green Bean Casserole
• Southern Style Green Beans from Soulfully Made

As always…Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting with me today! I hope this wonderful dish will grace your Holiday table this season. We may all have smaller groups than usual this year, and this is a great recipe that fills that purpose! There’s no reason not to celebrate with this fantastic economical option available to you!

Enjoy and…Happy Nesting!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Additional Time 10 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 - 3lb Butterball Turkey Roast
• 5-6 cloves fresh garlic
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped sage
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
• 1/2 cup Apple Juice
• 1/2 cup water

Gravy

• Gravy Packet
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup white wine

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°
2. Remove roast from packaging; rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Leave string netting on the roast.
3. Using a sharp knife make five to six, 1 inch deep slits in-between the netting. Carefully push a garlic clove into each slit.
4. Drizzle roast with 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil. Rub olive oil all over the roast. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the top with rosemary leaves and chopped sage. Drizzle with additional olive oil. Place roast in small roasting pan on a roasting rack. Add apple juice and water to the bottom of the pan.
5. Cover pan with aluminum foil and place in preheated oven. Bake for one hour. Remove foil and continue baking for an additional 30-40 minutes, or until a meat thermometer, placed in the center of the roast, reads 175°.
6. Remove roast from the pan, spoon pan juices over the roast, cover in foil. Allow to rest for 10 minutes, before carving remove string netting.
7. Carve roast into 1/4 inch slices and serve.

Notes

If you don't have fresh herbs you can mix 1/2 teaspoon rosemary and 1/2 teaspoon sage into olive oil and rub into roast.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: