How to Cook a Precooked Turkey Breast
If you are here to find out about precooked turkey breast, this article will help you. This article includes all relevant information about cooking with turkey breast and how to cook a precooked turkey breast.
To cook a precooked turkey breast, place your precooked turkey breast on a cutting board – Get a large pot and fill it with water until it is about 1 inch from the top of the pot. Next, place the precooked turkey breast into the pot by placing it in your hands or using tongs.
Next, fill up the pot with water until it is about 1 inch from being full. Turn on the stove to medium-high to bring the water to a boil. Allow your precooked turkey breast to simmer for 11 to 13 minutes, depending on how well done you want your turkey.
However, place it at the bottom of your roasting pan for a white skinless turkey breast. Add one cup of broth and place in a 350-degree oven for approximately one hour (for all pre-cooked turkeys, always refer to the instructions with your turkey).
How to Cook a Precooked Turkey Breast
Precooked turkey breast is a great choice to save time and money on Thanksgiving dinner. You can buy your cooked turkey breast, heat it in the oven and serve it with your favorite sides.
Here is a guide to cooking precooked turkey breast.
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
While heating the oven, remove your turkey from the packaging and pat it dry with paper towels.
Then, put it in a pan on top of a rack (if you don’t have one handy, you can use two metal baking racks placed together).
Roast for about 12-15 minutes per pound of meat, checking every ten minutes after an hour has passed. When a thermometer reads 170 degrees Fahrenheit, then it’s done.
Optional: If you want to brown the skin, crank up the heat at this point and broil until browned (about 2 minutes). You should let the turkey rest before carving 5-10 minutes will do.
However, check the temperature with a meat thermometer: it should read 165° f when inserted in the thickest part of the meat. Cover loosely with foil if the turkey is not completely thawed and begins to brown too quickly. If desired, occasionally baste with pan juices during the last hour of cooking time.
How to Cook a Precooked Smoked Turkey Breast
To cook a precooked smoked turkey breast, you’ll need to follow these easy steps.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Step 2: Prepare the turkey by removing all packaging, then place the turkey breast side up in a shallow roasting pan.
Step 3: Roast for about 20 minutes per pound (about 2 1/2 hours for a 13-pound breast). If you’re cooking two breasts, add 5 minutes per pound to the total time. If you want to baste the turkey, add 15 minutes to the cooking time.
Step 4: Roast until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit—then it’s ready to eat.
Meanwhile, Cooking times vary according to the size of your turkey breast.
For example, a 5-pound breast will take about 4 hours to cook, while a 10-pounder will take closer to 6 hours. Either way, you can tell when the turkey is done when its internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When this happens, remove it from the oven, and let it rest for 15 minutes.
How Long to Cook a Precooked Turkey
To cook a precooked turkey, you’re going to need an oven. And a lot of willpower. And if you’ve already thawed your turkey, it’ll take about 50 minutes to cook in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. It will take about an hour and ten minutes if it’s still frozen.
Either way, be sure to make sure the temperature of the meat is 165 degrees Fahrenheit before eating.
Furthermore, if your turkey was never frozen, you just need to heat it thoroughly before serving. The USDA recommends that you cook a whole turkey until it reaches an internal temperature of 165° F in the breast and, at the same time, 180° F in the thigh.
And if you’re using a thermometer, the thickest part of the breast is the best place to take temperature readings from.
It can take between 2-6 hours (or more) for a pre-cooked turkey to reach 165° F depending on how large it is; if your meat thermometer isn’t registering that high yet and the skin is already starting to burn, cover the top with aluminum foil until finished heating through.
Here’s a handy chart:
- 4 – 6 lbs: 2 – 3 hours at 325°F
- 6 – 8 lbs: 3 – 4 hours at 325°F
- 8 – 10 lbs: 4 – 5 hours at 325°F
- 10 – 12 lbs: 5 – 6 hours at 325°F
- 12 – 14 lbs: 6 – 7 hours at 325°F
How to Smoke a Precooked Turkey Breast
Smoked turkeys are delicious, but it can seem impossible if you don’t have a smoker or the time to cook a turkey from scratch. Luckily, there is a way to smoke a pre-cooked turkey breast and get the same delicious results without all the effort.
Follow these steps:
1. Take your turkey breast out of the packaging and dry it with a paper towel. It will make sure that your seasoning sticks to it better.
2. Cut open the turkey’s skin, careful not to pierce through it. It will allow your seasoning to penetrate deeper into the meat.
3. Coat your turkey in olive oil and seasonings of your choice. I recommend salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and rosemary for an extra flavor boost.
4. Smear butter under the skin of your turkey breast so that it melts and bastes as it cooks in its juices while smoking on low heat (150 degrees Fahrenheit) for two hours and with an internal temperature reaching 165 degrees Fahrenheit before serving immediately with mashed potatoes and gravy or green beans almondine.
However, If there aren’t any instructions on your packaging about how long to cook your turkey breast and for what temperature, then make sure you use an accurate meat thermometer when checking that it’s cooked long enough (and not overcooked).
How to Cook a Precooked Turkey Breast in a Crockpot
Your Thanksgiving will be easy this year if you already have a precooked turkey breast in the freezer. All you can do here is stick it in the pot, wait a little bit, and eat.
What You’ll Need:
- Turkey Breast
- Your favorite herbs and spices
- A Crockpot or Slow Cooker
Instructions:
1. If your turkey breast is frozen, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Rub your favorite herbs and spices onto the skin of the turkey breast so that it will be nice and flavorful when it comes out of the pot.
3. Put your turkey breast into the crockpot or slow cooker, making sure not to overfill the pot—if it’s too big for your pot, cut off a chunk of it and put that part in first, so it can cook down and leave room for the rest of it to fit in there later.
4. Set your crockpot or slow cooker on low heat for about four hours if you start with thawed meat or about eight hours with frozen meat.
5. Let the turkey breast rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
How to Cook a Precooked Turkey Breast in the Air Fryer
Air fryer turkey breast can cook up in less than an hour, and it’s just as juicy and tender as the classic oven recipe.
Here’s how to make it:
Preheat your air fryer to 350 degrees F.
1. First, preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or 177 degrees Celsius
2. Put the pre-cooked turkey breast into the fryer basket, and bake it for 20 minutes per pound of turkey
3. When you remove the turkey, use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit
4. Remove the turkey from the air fryer and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
How Do You Cook a Precooked Boneless Turkey Breast?
You can cook your precooked boneless turkey breast in the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F before placing the turkey in a shallow roasting pan on a rack.
- Rub the turkey’s skin with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, then sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
- Cover the turkey using heavy-duty aluminum foil.
- Roast the turkey until it’s warm throughout (165°F). ioThis will take about 20 minutes per pound. Uncover the turkey for the last 15 to 30 minutes of cooking time so that the skin will become crisp.
Recommended Post: Can You Fry Chicken at 350?
How to Season a Precooked Turkey Breast
One of the best ways to roast a turkey breast is to buy a pre-cooked turkey breast from your local grocery store. First, you need to know how to season it properly. Otherwise, you may be left with bland-tasting meat.
The below steps will show you how to season a pre-cooked turkey breast in four easy steps to taste as delicious as if it came fresh from the oven.
1. Place the precooked turkey on an ovenproof baking dish and brush it with oil or butter. You can also use nonstick cooking spray if you want. Coat all the sides of the meat well enough, so they don’t burn during the cooking process.
2. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil leaves, and rosemary over the top evenly before putting into preheated 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for about 25 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit after using an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thigh (not touching bone).
3. Remove from heat after 20 minutes of roasting and cover loosely with foil while resting for 15 minutes before carving; juices inside muscles will redistribute throughout the bird’s entire body.
What to Do with a Precooked Turkey Breast
Precooked turkey breast is great because you can just pop it in the oven and forget about it while focusing on making other things. But if you want to make it a little fancier, here are some ideas:
1. Make a creamy gravy
- Peel the skin off your turkey breast, then chop it into small pieces.
- Cook the skin in a saucepan with some butter over medium heat until it’s crispy and golden.
- Remove the skin from the saucepan, but leave the butter/oil mixture behind. Add flour to this mixture and cook for about 30 seconds, constantly stirring, until paste forms.
- Slowly add milk and cook, often whisking, until the gravy thickens.
2. Stuff with sausage and spinach
Separate your turkey breast into layers to lie flat like book pages. Put sausage meat onto one layer of turkey, then an even layer of spinach, then another layer of turkey to close it up again.
Wrap it n plastic wrap and cook on low heat (about 200 °F) for about 6 hours or on high heat (about 300 °F) for about 4 hours, depending on the size of your roast.
Also, you can consider these other 5 easy recipes:
1. Turkey Club Sliders with Bacon, Avocado, and Cheddar
2. Turkey Enchiladas with Black Beans and Corn
3. Rotini with Turkey and Creamy Peanut Sauce
4. Avocado Chimichurri Turkey Sliders (pictured above)
5. Turkey Taco Salad
Can I Reheat a Whole Cooked Turkey?
Reheating a whole cooked turkey is not going to be possible. Any food being reheated must reach an internal temperature of 165°F (73.9°C). This temperature can only be reached by cooking foods over a long period; therefore, you won’t be able to achieve it while reheating a whole cooked turkey.
However, it’s possible to reheat individual pieces of turkey. But if you still want to reheat a whole-cooked turkey.
Here’s how:
1. preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Remove the plastic wrapper, and cut up the turkey into pieces (like legs, thighs, wings, and breasts) that are even in size. It will help them reheat more quickly and evenly. You can also remove the skin to make reheating faster.
3. Place the pieces on a sheet pan with a rack so air can circulate to each one. If you don’t have a rack, place the pieces on the sheet pan and cover them with aluminum foil for 15-20 minutes, then take off the foil for about 10-15 minutes to brown up a bit on top.
4. Place in the oven until heated (165 degrees F). Small pieces should only take 20 or 30 minutes; larger cuts may take longer (40-60 minutes). A meat thermometer is useful to test when your turkey is done heating.
How Do You Reheat a Precooked Turkey Without Drying It Out?
If you’re using a microwave for cooking your food, the best method is to place a few slices of turkey on a damp paper towel and microwave on high in 30-second intervals until the temperature is 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
For larger turkey pieces, like breasts or drumsticks, place them on top of a foil sheet with a bowl of water underneath so the steam will help keep them from drying out.
And if you’re reheating in an oven, make sure to wrap your meat in foil first before placing it into the oven preheated to 350 degrees for about ten minutes per pound of meat. Ensure your thermometer registers at least 165 degrees before taking it out.
If the skin begins to get too brown before the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees, simply cover the bird with foil and continue cooking until it reaches 165 degrees in the center.
Conclusion
After knowing how to cook a precooked turkey breast, a few things are still needed to ensure that the roast turns out well.
First, you must make sure that you choose a turkey breast that has not been frozen and thawed before, as this can affect the taste of the roast.
Wrapping the breast in aluminum foil will help it retain moisture while cooking and make it more tender with intact skin. To add flavor to the roast, you can sprinkle the meat with sea salt, pepper, and sage.
