Ok, I know I rail against fast and convenience food. However, there is a time and place for everything. This Christmas dinner we were already making rolls from scratch, Christmas pudding, salads, roast potatoes, gravy and dessert sauce. Also, there was only going to be four for dinner. I decided to give myself a break and try a Butterball Boneless Stuffed Turkey Breast.
One of the best things about this product is you cook it from frozen. Anyone who has started thawing a turkey days before cooking it to only find it is still frozen in the centre knows why.
You just take this product out of the box, remove the plastic covering, rub it with oil (I used olive oil) and put it in the oven for four hours. Now, I did check the internal temperature and the turkey was actually cooked in just over 3 1/2 hours. I think they give extra time just to be safe.
I took it out of the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes and removed the netting that came on the bird. You will notice a very dark piece of skin in the picture. If the stuffing is against the skin, it over browns the skin.
It is definitely easier to carve than a regular turkey.
It also gave a nice display on serving.
The Verdict
This made a tasty meal with little fuss.
The upsides are:
- It is very convenient. The cooking from frozen and boneless carving make preparation and serving a snap.
- The turkey was quite moist and very tasty.
- There is way less leftovers from cooking a big bird for a few people. There was just enough for a couple of days sandwiches. Perfect!
- It lets you spend more time with your guests.
The downsides are:
- You get hardly any drippings and I wouldn’t use what you get for gravy. This is not surprising. A breast is one of the leanest parts of the bird. You will have to used reduced stock or a gravy base to make your gravy.
- The dressing is good but not as spicy as I like it. However, I would not complain if it were served to me in a restaurant. It’s just that I could do better.
- There will be over browned spots of skin anywhere the stuffing directly contacts the skin.
- There is no carcass left to make stock out of. Or is this a good thing? I was being lazy after all.
Overall, I am really glad I did this. Everyone enjoyed the meal and the results of the turkey were more than good enough to make it a special meal. I will use this product again when I feel lazy but still want a turkey dinner.
The Old Fat Guy
33 Responses
Can you store leftover meat and stuffing together in Frig?
As long as both were prepared and cooked to the appropriate temperature and stored appropriately, it should be fine.
I used my meat thermometer and it was fully cooked at 3 hours – when I had previously cooked for 4 hours – it was overdone and dry – so three hours is enough
Thanks!
I thawed my Butterball Stuffed Turkey Breast before cooking. Has been in fridge for 3 days. Is this ok to cook and eat?
If you did not take it out of the fridge and kept it at fridge temperatures, it should be ok.
Hi what are your thoughts on slow cooking it in crockpot and its not stuffed its the white and dark meat one…thx
I would be a little wary on a couple of points. First, this is a commercial product that is seasoned and packaged to bake. I don’t know how the moist heat of a slow cooker would affect it. I note that it might give some off flavours to the the broth it is cooked in or it might not. But it would be a risk. Then there are the health issues. It is meant to be cooked from frozen. Meat that is between 10 F and 140 F is susceptible to bacterial growth. This is normally fine if it is not in that range for more than a couple of hours. I wonder if it would be in that range for an extended period being cooked from frozen. Although it would eventually get to a temperature high enough to kill the bacteria, some bacteria produce toxins that are not killed by heat if they are in the danger zone too long. My recommendation would be to call the Butterball help line (the number is on the package) and ask for their expert advice on how to do it in a slow cooker and if it would be safe.
Years ago I ended up cooking one in a crockpot and it turned out fine. Our electrical box blew during Thanksgiving weekend and landlords refused to send anybody until that Tuesday. We had just enough power to watch TV, run the microwave and plug in a crock pot. LOL Dinner certainly took longer than anticipated, but when we finally ate it was fine. We did one that was entirely meat though, no stuffing. I would assume that the stuffing could get soupy because of the moisture retained during cooking, but our meat was tender and moist and given the circumstances I’d do it again.
You add No water??
Nope. I just followed the package instructions. No water added.
Did not like the dressing, so bought the all brest, lots more meat for the money but meat was a bit tasteless. Was searching for how they actually manufacture this product but I guess no one wants to see how the ” sausage ” is made.
It isn’t as good as a homemade turkey but it is easy and I got a decent result.
Can you use the slow cooker to cook the stuff turkey!
Yes. There are lots of slow cooker stuffing recipes on line.
Can you thaw the frozen stuffed butterball turkey breast then cook it in a slow cooker
It should be the same as thawing any other turkey breast but I would suggest calling the Butterball hotline and asking them as they are the experts.
Dave: I also left my stuffed turkey roll in the fridge for three days. I was worried, but saw you post saying it would be OK to cook. But should I reduce the cooking time?
Yes, it will likely take less time to cook. Butterball has a turkey hot line. I would call them to ask how long.
Thanks so much for the great info. David. I was disappointed by how little stuffing there was. I agree that your own product is better, but that’s the whole point. We didn’t have the time or energy to do it all ourselves. The other thing is, that as of September 2020 the price has skyrocketed. I paid $22.99 (cdn) and that was supposed to be a sale price. I doubt if I would ever pay that again and if I ever do buy another one, will only do so if they are on sale. I made my own gravy as the stuff that oozed out of it while cooking was not appealing at all. What the heck is that?
I hear you. The product is fine for a lazy turkey dinner but the juices are not as flavourful and the stuffing is wanting. I would buy it again for when we have other plans but there is no replacing your own turkey meal.
Can you freeze the leftover turkey after it’s been cooked?
Yes!
Cut the breast off a butterball. Pull the bones out. Use the rest of the meat for turkey sausage.
I’m bout to cook me one of these puppies tomorrow. I have no thermometer but will use your 3.5 hour timeline as word. Don’t want no dried out turkey breast for sho.
It isn’t bad for a commercial roast!
can you freeze the leftover turkey from a stuffed butterball
Yes.
Can you freeze a leftover stuffed turkey breast (with stuffing) from butterball?
Yes
I got me another one of these birds. On sale for $17. Guess they need to sell old frozen stock from last Christmas. It’s a little dry so I gonna use leftover KFC gravy on it. Sodium levels be damned.
I usually put the turkey breast in a roast pan on a grill, Put about an inch of chicken or turkey broth in the pan and wrap the breast in bacon. Turns out delicious. The question I have is that I once removed the netting while still frozen and found there was a thin clear membrane under the netting. What is the membrane? It resembled some kind of plastic.
I would ask butterball.