While cooking turkey breast in a slow cooker is fine for Thanksgiving, sometimes you want to do something fancy with the leftovers. To that end, consider this recipe that puts an air fryer to work. You may be wondering just how well turkey breast can work with an air fryer and the answer is that it works fine so long as you can find a breast small enough to fit in your device. Most quality devices can handle up to a 4 pound breast with the bones included. The most important thing to remember is to keep the meat below the basket’s top. After everything is done, you should have a moist, juicy amount of turkey baring a skin that is quintessentially golden brown and delicious.
Ingredients
- Turkey breast, with bones and skin but remove the ribs, 4 lbs
- Oil, olive, 1 tbsp
- Salt, kosher, 2 tsp
- Seasoning for poultry or turkey specifically, 1/2 tbsp
Directions
Rub a half tablespoon of oil over the entirety of the turkey breast.
Season both sides of the bird with salt and seasoning, then rub the rest of the olive oil over the skin.
Preheat your air fryer to 350°F.
Cook the bird, skin-side down for 20 minutes.
Turn the breast over and continue to cook until such time that its internal temperature reaches 160°F. Use a digital instant-read thermometer to discern the internal temperature. This particular step should take somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes, depending on the size of your particular turkey breast.
Carefully transfer the turkey breast from the air fryer to a carving board.
Cover the turkey breast with a sheath of aluminum foil and allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes. The foil will help return the latent heat escaping from the bird back toward the bird.
Advice on carving turkey breast
Let the meat rest first, this will allow all of that volatile activity from cooking it and all of its precious juices settle down and redistribute within the meat.
Use a sharp knife and run it along the side of the breast bone with lengthy measured strokes. Note that in the event you are using a serrated edge, you ahould carve the meat using a sawing motion instead, this will maximize the “grip” that serration gives a blade.
Follow the line of the breast bone all the way to the bottom of the cutting board.
Bring your blade to the front and connect your incision from the first pass from the top of the breast bone.
Cut down the ribs and follow the cut around the bottom of the breast until it sncs up with the bottom of your first cut.
Pull the meat off of the bone and slice away.
Repeat the previous step for the other side of the breast.
