The easiest roast turkey breast you'll ever make.

The title says it all. I thought my mother-in-law's recipe for roast chicken was easy, but this really tops it all. This turkey was easy, and was sooo good. My husband almost ate the entire thing in one sitting. And he kept saying, "I loove this sauce!". And the funny thing is, I didn't even have to make a sauce!

The key to this recipe is using a kosher turkey in my opinion. The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated and they suggest brining the turkey breast if it's not kosher, so just make your life easier and buy a kosher turkey. If you want to use non-kosher turkey, let me know and I'll post the instructions for brining (which is really just soaking it in salted water for a few hours).

Easy Roast Turkey Breast
from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened*
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tbsp)^
2 tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves^
1 tsp grated zest from 1 lemon^
1 whole bone-in, skin-on turkey breast, trimmed of excess fat and patted dry with paper towels
1 cup water

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425.
2. Mix butter, salt, and pepper (and garlic, thyme, zest if using) in small bowl with rubber spatula until thoroughly combined.
3. Using your hands, separate the skin on both sides of the breastbone from the meat. Spoon half of the butter mixture onto each side under the skin, massaging the skin until the butter is spread evenly.
4. Place the turkey in a large roasting pan with rack (spray rack with cooking spray) or just place it in a baking pan (my method). Pour the water into the pan.
5. Roast turkey for 30 min. Reduce temperature to 325, and continue to roast until thickest part of breast registers 160 on instant-read thermometer, about 1 more hour.
6. Let the turkey rest on a carving board on the counter for 20 min before carving.

Goes great with some mashed potatoes :)

*to soften butter, put it in the microwave for 10 seconds still wrapped in its paper wrapper.
^optional but recommended