Buttermilk-Brined Turkey Breast

By Samin Nosrat

Published Nov. 11, 2020

Buttermilk-Brined Turkey Breast
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
Total Time
1 hour, plus 24 to 36 hours’ brining
Rating
4(4,153)
Comments
Read comments

The proven alchemy of a salt-and-buttermilk brine does wonders for the often-dry roast turkey breast. The recipe is so easy, the trickiest step will be pulling out your kitchen scale to weigh out the salt. But it's worth doing if you can in order to ensure a properly balanced brine. Emerging from the oven with a beautiful lacquered skin and an incredibly moist and tender texture within, this roast is ideal for a scaled-down Thanksgiving meal, a cozy family dinner or to generate a stack of unbelievably tasty sandwiches.

Featured in: The Buttermilk-Brined Turkey of Your Thanksgiving Dreams

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 2cups buttermilk
  • 33grams fine sea salt (2 tablespoons)
  • 1half turkey breast (about 2½ pounds), on or off the bone
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

300 calories; 13 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 40 grams protein; 629 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    One to two days before you plan to cook, place buttermilk and salt in a gallon-size resealable plastic bag and stir to dissolve salt. Place turkey breast in the bag and seal carefully, expelling the air. Squish the bag to distribute buttermilk all around the turkey, place on a rimmed plate, and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. If you’re so inclined, you can turn the bag periodically so every part of the turkey gets marinated, but that’s not essential.

  2. Step 2

    Two hours before you plan to start cooking, remove the turkey from the plastic bag and scrape off as much buttermilk as you can without being obsessive. Discard buttermilk, set the breast on a rimmed plate and bring it to room temperature.

  3. Step 3

    Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat to 425 degrees. Place breast skin-side up on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a wire rack or parchment paper.

  4. Step 4

    Place baking sheet on the prepared oven rack and roast the turkey until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breast without touching bone registers 150 degrees, about 40 minutes for a boneless breast or 50 minutes for a bone-in breast. (You may want to tent the breast with aluminum foil if it’s darkening too quickly.)

  5. Step 5

    Transfer turkey to a cutting board or platter and allow to rest at least 15 minutes before carving.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

4 out of 5
4,153 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Bonnie

Can you double this recipe using a whole breast?

Madeiro

I had the same question as others regarding doubling the recipe for a 5lb breast. On a whim, I messaged Samin on Instagram — and she responded! Here is what she wrote. “Yes! Double the salt and buttermilk for double the weight of meat! Happy cooking!” Mystery solved. Happy cooking indeed.

Juliet Jones

Could we please try to do this without using a plastic bag? Perhaps in a bowl or rectangular terrine-type container? Maybe we need to increase the amount of brine to ensure the turkey breast is covered. Or just turn frequently.

Marcia

Made this with a bone-in half turkey breast and was thrilled with the result. Easiest ever, as long as one allows plenty of marinating time. My only quibble would be that an electric oven with the heating element at the top, like mine, puts the turkey too close to the high heat. When I saw what was happening, I moved the rack to the middle for the rest of the time. It came out perfect thanks to my instant-read thermometer.

Snohomish Cook

Out of this world delicious. I brined the breast for about 2 days. Baked it at 425f for a while then lowered the temp to 350f. I cooked a whole breast so it took a little longer, and, the thinnest part of the breast was done first. Lesson learned - point the thick part of the breast towards the back, or hot spot of the oven. Wonderful way to cook a turkey breast.

Janet

I used Saco dehydrated buttermilk which I reconstituted at the recommended ratio of water to powder. I removed the backbone and then followed the rest of the recipe. I ended up brining for 24 hour. The brine was not as thick as using bottled buttermilk, but the outcome was still exceptional. This was a fabulous breast. Moist, nicely browned and excellent the following days sliced for sandwiches. You do need to monitor the browning and tent with foil. BTW: I reroasted the carcass and cooked 45 minutes in the pressure cooker to make stock. Excellent. Thank you for this great recipe!

Janet

BTW: I forgot to mention I used a 6.5 lb bone-in whole breast. I doubled the brine recipe. Removal of the backbone allowed the breast to flex and fit into a large kettle for brining.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.