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📋 What's New In This Post (11/14/25) - Added instructions on how to make a gravy from the drippings and cooking liquid.
The Thanksgiving "Shortcut" I Approve
Thanksgiving is not a time for easy shortcuts.
Let me repeat that. Thanksgiving is NOT a time for easy shortcuts.
What do I mean? Well I believe Thanksgiving should be about homemade, from scratch food that you lovely share with your friends and family. It's the time where you take the extra effort to make a pie crust, not buy a store bought one. It's the time where you cook fresh veggies and not frozen. It's not taking those kinds of shortcuts.
Yet, time is a factor on Thanksgiving day, just as is oven space. So I am not opposed to well thought, calculated shortcuts.
For example, cooking the turkey in an Instant Pot. Well at least a turkey breast, you can't fit an entire turkey in the Instant Pot unless you cut it up.
The Instant Pot is known for being a time saver, you'll need that time on Thanksgiving day, trust me.
What I don't want you to do is just save time at the expense of the star of the meal.
That is why I am writing this post today. To teach you first, that you can cook a turkey in an Instant Pot, but more importantly how to do it well.
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🦃 What Size Turkey?
The smallest whole turkey I can think of will not fit into the largest Instant Pot I can think of. Even if I butterfly or spatchcock the turkey I don't think I can squeeze into an Instant Pot. For sure not mine.
However, a turkey breast is another story. It can fit into an Instant Pot. I am confident of this as I have already cooked a ham that was the similar size to a turkey breast in my 6qt Instant Pot.
🛒 Shopping List
Here is what you will need to make this recipe.
- Turkey breast - Choose a bone-in turkey breast. You can pick either fresh or frozen. The frozen you will need to thaw first
- Dried herbs - You can go with a single herb or use a combination of herbs. The herbs I recommend include rosemary, sage, and thyme.
- Spices - I love using ground coriander for poultry as it has a delightful citrus like flavor. Cured sumac adds that as well but it a lot less common.
- Garlic & onions - You add these when you are cooking the turkey and then you will filter them out. Feel free to use garlic and onions that may not be at their peak of freshness.
- Salt - You will use salt for your dry bine. I prefer to be using Redmond Real Salt or Diamond Crystal Kosher salt.
I would plan to have a total of ½ cup of your brine mix, depending on the exact size of your turkey.
In the past I have been sent different brine mixes to try. The people at Boston Spice were kind enough to send me a sample of their new dry brine mix - Plymouth Rocks the Brine. It's a flavorful mix indeed that includes kosher salt, orange peel, onion powder, garlic powder, maple sugar, rosemary, sage, thyme, all natural rice powder. I was very pleased with the results as were my wife and oldest daughter - she couldn't stop talking about it. And the gravy I made from the turkey drippings, was the best.
🧂 Dry Brine
I am looking to create a flavorful turkey breast in the Instant Pot. I don't want a lot of liquid, it's not about boiling the turkey. I need to apply flavor to the meat directly. What I recommend is a dry brine. This is the idea of brining without adding liquid. The salt will draw out liquid from the turkey, which will then re-enter the turkey thus it is brined with its own juices.
The key thing now is that the process does take time. What you do is allow for the turkey breast to sit in the fridge, uncovered for at least 48 hours and up to 4 days. I found that when I did it for the full 4 days, my turkey breast came out more flavorful and juicy than with the shorter time.
This process I have been practicing this for years with a whole turkey. I make Alton Brown's Dried Brined Butterflied Turkey every Thanksgiving.
🔪 Top Tips
Once your turkey has spent it's time hanging out with the dry brine. It's cooking time.
I start by placing onions and garlic in the bottom of the Instant Pot. I put the trivet on top of the onions and garlic, then add just 1 cup of water. You could use chicken or turkey stock but I tested just using water and the flavor of the liquid that you will use to make the gravy is still incredibly flavorful. So save the stock for something else.
What is better to use than the trivet that comes with the Instant Pot is a silicone sling It A sling makes it easier to remove the turkey breast from the Instant Pot.
Turkey goes in and Instant Pot gets set to 35 minutes. Seal her up and let it go. My turkey breast weighed around 7 pounds. You may need to adjust for a larger or smaller one. I honestly think I could have gotten away with doing mine for a little less but I feel safe that 35 minutes will get you to a safe temperature.
The turkey breast needs to be cooked until the internal temperature using a meat thermometer registers at least 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the breast. Unlike with roasting if you go beyond that temperature your turkey breast will still stay moist, so there is a larger margin for error.
I allowed the Instant Pot to natural pressure release, which didn't take too long since I didn't have a ton of liquid to start with. It took no more than 15 minutes.
🔥 Browning
So here is the biggest issue with cooking the turkey breast in the Instant Pot - it's not brown. How can you serve up a turkey on Thanksgiving or any day that is not golden brown? Your guests may rebel against you. Especially if they love that crispy skin
Don't worry. You can easily prevent a rebellion, uprising, or mutiny with your trusty oven.
The best way to brown the bird is to use your oven's broiler. All you need to do is turn your broiler on, make sure the turkey isn't touching the element and allow it to brown. Don't leave the area unless you want blackened turkey. It will only take a few minutes.
The skin won't be as crispy as I have done with other methods of cooking a turkey but you can still get some of that flavor.
How to Make Gravy
I made the gravy by making a simple roux of flour, butter, and the cooking liquid. How much liquid did I have?
I started with 1 cup of water in the pot and then ended up with just a bit over 2 cups of total liquid.
I strain the liquid out of the pot first. Then you set the pot to sauté, then melt butter in the pot, added in some flour, stirred that up, and then added the liquid back in. Bring it to a simmer and the liquid will thicken into a gravy. You can add some fresh herbs to the gravy if you want, I chopped up some rosemary from my garden.
🚫 Boneless Turkey Breast
This technique is meant for a bone-in turkey breast, but what if you have a boneless breast. You could still apply the brine like I did but you will have to change the cooking time. I would say you will need to reduce the timing for sure because of the lack of bone, which decreases the mass of the turkey.
I have not tested this myself so I can't say for sure. Cut 10 minutes off the cooking time and see how it does.
🥕 Side Dishes
Here is a list of our favorite sides to serve with this turkey.
- Swirled Mashed Potatoes
- Buttery Carrots
- Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes
- Creamed Corn with Chiles
- Microwave Asparagus
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce
🥣 Leftovers
If you end up with any leftover turkey breast, try one of these recipes if you are tired of leftover turkey sandwiches.
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Dry Brined Instant Pot Turkey Breast with Gravy
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 6-7 pound bone-in whole turkey breast thawed
- 1 cup water
- 4 cloves garlic whole
- ¼ large sweet or yellow onion or ½ small onion
Brine mix
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 4 tbsp any combo of dried rosemary, dried sage, and/or dried thyme
- 2 tbsp any combo of garlic powder and/or onion powder
- 1 tbsp freshly cracked black peppercorns
- 2 tbsp any combo of coriander and/or cured sumac optional
For the gravy
- leftover cooking liquid
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh herbs like rosemary or sage optional
Instructions
- Remove the turkey from the packaging. Place on a baking dish.
- Combine all the seasonings together in a bowl. Pat the turkey breast dry and rub the seasoning mixture all over the turkey breast.
- Place into your fridge, uncovered for at least 2 days, 4 days would be even better.
- Add the onion, garlic, and 1 cup of water to your Instant Pot. Place the trivet into the pot.
- Remove the turkey breast from the fridge and place it into the Instant Pot on the trivet or silicone sling.
- Set to high pressure for 35 minutes. Set to sealing.
- Allow for natural release. It should take about 15 minutes.
- With a thermometer make sure the turkey is at least 165 degrees. Remove the turkey from the Instant Pot and place it onto a sheet pan.
- Turn on the broiler of your oven. Place the turkey inside so that it doesn't touch the heating element.
- Cook until the skin is brown and crispy, rotating the pan to brown evenly. Don't not leave the area while doing this.
- Allow 20 minutes for the turkey breast to rest before carving.
How to make the gravy
- Strain all the liquid out of the Instant Pot and into a bowl.
- Hit the sauté button. Add the butter.
- When the butter has melted, stir in the flour.
- Then add back in the cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer and cook until the liquid thickens into a gravy.
- Test to see if it needs salt before adding. You could add in some fresh herbs chopped herbs like rosemary or sage.
Nancy
Hi, how much brine mix will I need. Thank. You.
Eric Samuelson
Somewhere between 1/4-1/2 cup would be good. I like to have plenty to make sure I got every bite of that turkey surface covered.
Paul
If I inject a turkey do I still need to brine my turkey.
Eric Samuelson
No that would not be necessary. I choose brining over injecting though. I think it distributes the flavor throughout the meat better.