Turkey Breast with Sweet Potatoes & Onions

I used a delicious spice rub on a boneless skinless turkey breast. roasted it with sweet potatoes & onions… a perfect dinner for us!!

The spice rub I used was a mixture of ingredients I had in my spice drawer & combined they made a very flavourful coating for the turkey breast. I used a boneless skinless breast which can be quite tasteless. There are many recipes for this on the internet & in books.. I just wanted to come up with something easy so I am really pleased with this recipe.

I mixed up the spices, rubbed them on the turkey breast, put some cut up sweet potatoes & onions in the pan. Some oil over everything & into the oven. I find one important thing about roasting any poultry is to baste if often with the pan juice. Since a boneless skinless turkey breast is very lean, I added some water to the bottom of the pan so I would have a bit of juice to baste it all with.

Of course you can leave out the sweet potatoes if you want and replace them with white potatoes. It is really up to you ! Also you can use any turkey…bone-in breast, thighs .. you just will have to adjust cooking times depending on which piece or how much turkey you use. It is a good idea to have a meat thermometer, an instant one is great. You can use them for all types of meats ….then you can tell when your food is cooked properly. Turkey should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165f in the thickest part of the meat. I you do not have a thermometer then the juices should run clear when you poke it with a fork in the thickest part of the breast or cut into it.. any pink at all you have to continue cooking it until it is completely and safely cooked. You do not want to eat undercooked turkey!!

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

Spice Rub

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp sage1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper1/4 tsp dry parsley

1 kg boneless skinless turkey breast , mine was cut into 2 pieces

olive oil. approx 1/4 cup if you don’t have olive oil, use any oil

1 onion

1 or 2 sweet potatoes .. scrub & dry the potato

1 cup of water. if needed during the early part of the cooking process

Method

1. Mix together the spices in a small bowl & set aside
2. Put your turkey breast into a roasting pan that is big enough for the potatoes as well
3. Cut the onion in half then into fairly thin slices
4. Cut the sweet potato into half then slices about 1/2 inch thick
5. Sprinkle the seasoning evenly over the turkey
6. Pour some oil, about 1/4 cup into a small bowl, but you don’t have to measure really. Just don’t pour too much oil as you will not be able to re-use it for anything other than this recipe so it will have to discarded if you have lots of oil left. Using a pasty brush, brush the oil over the turkey breast using to oil to spread the seasoning all over in an even way. I like to oil the sides of the breast as well as the top/ Set aside any leftover oil as you can put it on the potatoes & onions before cooking. Then remember to discard any left over oil immediately so it is not reused for anything.
7. Put the onions & sweet potatoes into the baking dish
8. Season the onion & potatoes with a bit of salt then if you have leftover oil from the turkey you can pour this over the onion & potato. If not then pour some fresh oil over them. Give them a toss to spread the oil over all of the pieces. Spread them out for even roasting
9. Add about 1/2 cup of water to the pan, pouring evenly along the edges of the pan without pouring over the food as it will wash off the spices. Adding the water will give you something to baste the food with.
10. NOTE during the cooking time, use a spoon or a basting utensil to baste the food including the potatoes & onions with the pan juices. Also, periodically, open the oven and move the potatoes around a bit so they do not stick to the pan & cook evenly
11. Put the pan into a 325f oven & roast for approximately 1 1/2 hours… testing for doneness at an hour. The length of time it takes to cook depends on the thickness of the turkey. Read above the recipe to find out how to tell if the turkey is cooked.
12. Let the breast sit for a few minutes before slicing

We like to eat our turkey with canned cranberry sauce… the whole berry type!

Enjoy!