Name: Slow roasted Turkey Roulade
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 85 min
Ingredients: 1 whole turkey breast (2 turkey breast pieces, bone in and skin on); 15 - 20 sage leaves (loosely packed ½ cup of leaves); 4 sprigs of rosemary (leaves only); 6 - 8 cloves of garlic; 1 tbsp brown sugar; 2 tsp black peppercorns; 1 tsp kosher salt; ¼ cup vegetable oil; Extra oil (salt and pepper to brush on at the end); About 2 - 3 cups of turkey or chicken stock; 2 tbsp butter; 2 tbsp flour; Generous pinch of black pepper; More salt if needed

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This juicy, succulent, flavorful Sage and Rosemary Slow Roasted Turkey Roulade is a great alternative to a whole turkey for your Thanksgiving spread this year!

Wrapping the turkey breast with the skin and slow roasting ensures a perfectly cooked, moist turkey roulade.

Just as promised last week, I’m back with a fantastic Thanksgiving turkey recipe for you guys!

Last week, I shared this step by step tutorial on how to prep turkey breasts to make a great Thanksgiving turkey roulade (turkey roll) that will be a great alternative for a whole turkey for Thanksgiving this year. Today, I’m going to show you one way to cook this scrumptious turkey roulade (turkey roll) to perfection!

This Sage and Rosemary Slow Roasted Turkey Roulade (Turkey Roll) is incredibly juicy, succulent with caramelized skin on the outside, and is the perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece when you’d rather not worry about carving up a whole bird, and dealing with all the leftovers.

Sage, rosemary, garlic and spices are ground together to form a deeply fragrant, flavorful spice paste which is then spread on the butterflied turkey breast.

The turkey breasts are then tolled tightly into a roulade and wrapped with the turkey skin and slow roasted until perfectly cooked and juicy. I’m drooling just typing this.

There are two reasons why this Sage and Rosemary Turkey Roulade is super juicy and succulent inside.

Wrapping the turkey breast with the skin – the skin acts as a barrier to hinder the turkey breast from drying out while it’s cooking (it WILL still dry out if you overcook it though!).
Slow roasting – slow roasting is one of my favorite methods to cook a cut like turkey breast that can dry out quickly. The low oven temperature ensures that the turkey is cooked slowly, while the internal temperature of the meat is raised gradually. This way the turkey roulade (turkey roll) cooks more evenly than it would if you used high heat.

These two techniques together will make this recipe for slow roasted turkey roulade foolproof, and give you a perfectly cooked oven roasted turkey roulade to feature at your Thanksgiving spread this year.

Sage is easily my favorite herb to use with turkey and chicken. It perfectly complements poultry dishes like this one, and even pork for that matter. But the combination of sage and rosemary, really makes this oven roasted turkey roulade stand out. I’m a big fan of porchetta and decided to adapt those flavors for this slow roasted Thanksgiving turkey roll.

I won’t be going into details on HOW to prepare the turkey roulade in this post, because I shared a comprehensive, STEP BY STEP tutorial right here, where I talked about prepping the turkey roulade with a full turkey breast cut. I prefer to tie up the turkey roll with twine, and leave it in the fridge overnight.

To make the spice paste, you can use a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder. Mortar and pestle is the best option, because it releases more of the fragrant oils in the herbs in my experience, but I do tend to use the spice grinder most of the time. Faster and more convenient.

After the spice mix has been applied on the turkey breast, it’s rolled up, then wrapped with the skin, and tied with cotton twine. I recommend using cotton twine, because it’ll hold the shape of the turkey roulade better while being roasted.

How to prep the rolled up turkey roulade for slow roasting in the oven

Remove the turkey roulade from the fridge, then remove the plastic wrap, and pat dry the surface of the roulade using paper towels.
Then place the turkey roulade on a parchment paper lined sheet pan.
Brush the top and the sides of the turkey roulade with unflavored oil. Make sure there’s a little oil on the bottom as well.
Sprinkle salt all over the turkey before you start the cooking process.

I always prefer to use a meat thermometer to get the most accurate results. Checking the internal temperature of the turkey breast with a meat thermometer is really the best and most foolproof way of achieving a moist, succulent, perfectly cooked slow roasted turkey roulade. And it’s easy too. You set the temperature to 160°F on the thermometer, and let the oven do the rest of the work. Then finally, the roasted turkey roulade is quickly broiled (or pan fried) to get that delicious caramelization on the skin.

What I love about this simple slow roasted turkey roulade is that you can easily incorporate different flavor profiles into this dish. I’ve also made this with a lemon, herb and garlic blend, as well as a chili and honey spice mix as well. It’s versatile, and the results are amazing every time!

I also like to make a turkey gravy with the pan drippings from the roast as well. I usually get about 1/3 – 1/2 cup of pan drippings from this roast. This is then mixed with turkey broth (or chicken broth), and whisked in with a roux to make an incredibly flavorful turkey gravy that goes so well with the roulade!

Plus, the leftovers from this slow roasted turkey roulade are PERFECT in sandwiches and burgers the next day! 🙂

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