This Slow Cooker Turkey Breast is without a doubt, this is the easiest, safest and tastiest way to cook turkey breast without brining. It’s moist and juicy, takes 3 minutes to prepare, then just leave it to cook in your slow cooker (crock pot). Then use the juices to make a killer gravy!
Even if you’re a first timer, you can have confidence in this turkey breast recipe. It’s a 5 star reader favourite with over a thousand glowing reviews!
Slow cooker turkey breast
Turkey breast is notoriously lean so the only way to guarantee it comes out juicy if you roast it in the oven is to brine it. If you don’t brine it, then even if you use a meat thermometer, it is extremely difficult to roast the turkey breast perfectly.
I created this Slow Cooker Turkey Breast after trying a handful of recipes for turkey breast and being disappointed by the bland looking skin, dry meat and mediocre gravy. So I tossed out everything I’d read and decided to come up with my own version using a slow cooker. This is by far the juiciest turkey breast I’ve ever had – without brining. And my friends agreed!
It’s almost magical how a recipe this simple can yield such extraordinary results. Moist turkey with incredible flavour and a gravy that’s off the charts!
How long to cook turkey breast in the slow cooker
A 2 kg / 4 l2b turkey breast will take 5 to 6 hours on LOW in a slow cooker. Check the internal temperature at 5 hours. See recipe notes for cook times for other sizes.
How to make slow cooker turkey breast
I promised you easy – and easy it is! Here’s how it goes down:
Slather turkey with a simple magical rub;
Place in a slow cooker on a bed of onion and garlic (these flavour the juices that comes out of the turkey and forms the basis for the gravy + keeps turkey elevated out of liquid while slow cooking);
Slow cook for 5 to 6 hours;
Briefly broil/grill or bake to crisp the skin; then
Use slow cooker juices to make a killer gravy. It’s incredible because it’s essentially made with the best homemade stock – the turkey juices!
PS That’s a multi function cooker you see. I use the slow cooker function for this recipe.
⚖️ Automatic recipe scaler ⚖️
Click or tap on Servings on the recipe. Then slide until the turkey reaches the weight of your turkey. It will change all the ingredient quantities for you! Then refer to the recipe notes for the right cook time for your turkey.
Slow cooker turkey breast tips!
Type of turkey breast – bone in or boneless turkey breast is fine. Skin on is recommended because the fat under the skin melts while the turkey is cooking and it bastes the turkey (helps with flavour and moisture). Also skin is required to get that lovely browned seasoned crust you see in the photos.
Single or double breast? Either is fine. These photos show a single turkey breast. See here for what a double turkey breast looks like (on the bone, also called a turkey buffe or turkey crown)
What size? Turkey breast differ drastically in size – they can range from 1.5/3lb to over 5kg/10lb! The beauty of this recipe is that it will work for any turkey breast size – as long as it fits in your slow cooker! Note the different cook times in the recipe.
A great rub goes a long way with turkey breast! It not only adds flavour, it seasons the broth and it gives the turkey breast great colour!
How long to cook turkey breast in the slow cooker – A 2 kg / 4 lb turkey breast will take about 5 to 6 hours on LOW in a slow cooker. See recipe notes for cook times for other sizes.
How to tell when turkey breast is done – When the internal temperature is 165F / 75C. That’s optimum perfectly-cooked juiciness, allowing for a slight temperature increase while the turkey rests.
Elevate the turkey breast with a halved garlic and onion to ensure even cooking because otherwise the breast will be half submerged and poaching in liquid (you will be amazed how much liquid the breast leeches while cooking)
Crisp the skin under the broiler. The extra flavour you get is worth it – and it only takes a few minutes
Use slow cooker juices for GRAVY – the turkey juices are loaded with flavour and are the best broth ever to make an absolute killer gravy!
Slow Cooking is FORGIVING! Because of the low temperature, there’s far less risk of drying out the turkey from overcooking. So even if the turkey is in the slow cooker for 1 or 2 hours longer than necessary, it will still be lovely. Plus – speaking really frankly – that gravy can save anything. ANYTHING!
Prefer ROASTED turkey breast? Use this Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Turkey Breast.
What to serve with turkey
Turkey breast is more often than not a centrepiece for holiday feasting in many households around the world. So with this in mind, here are some side dish suggestions for Thanksgiving and Christmas menus!
And you might also find these helpful: Thanksgiving recipe index and Easy Thanksgiving Menu suggestions
Traditional Thanksgiving sides for turkey
Christmas side suggestions
A safe recipe – even for first timers
I know it can be nerve racking, trying a new recipe – especially you’re new to cooking, and it’s a centrepiece for Thanksgiving or Christmas!
But you can have Confidence in this Slow Cooker Turkey Breast recipe. It’s been viewed over 8 million times since I first published, there’s over a thousand fantastic reviews, it’s a simple recipe and there’s a recipe video below to guide you through it step by step.
Slow cookers are an extremely forgiving way to cook lean proteins because they use such a low heat so there’s a much bigger window in which the turkey is perfectly cooked (as in, 2 hours or so) compared to the oven (less than 20 minutes from perfect to overcooked-dry).
And in all honesty – worst case? Your turkey goes a bit over and it’s not quite as juicy as you hoped. Of course, I’m doing everything in my power to help avoid this – including sending over virtual positive vibes.😂
But if it does – don’t fret! That Turkey Gravy is so insanely good, it will totally make up for it! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
SLOW COOKER: Many people have said that my slow cooker looks like a pressure cooker. They are actually correct, it is a slow cooker and pressure cooker in one (but no, it is not an Instant Pot). It is called a Breville Fast-Slow Cooker (it’s an Australian product). I use the slow cooker function for this recipe.
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Juicy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- 2 kg / 4 lb turkey breast, skin on, bone in or boneless (if using frozen, thaw it) (Note 1)
- 1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
- 1 onion (brown, yellow or white), unpeeled, cut in half
- 5 sprigs of thyme (or 2 tsp dried thyme leaves)
Rub
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 grinds of black pepper
- 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp olive oil
Gravy
- Chicken stock/broth (or water), for topping up liquid (see Gravy step 1)
- 4 tbsp / 50g butter
- 1/4 cup / 35g flour
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place Rub ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine, it should be a wet paste.
- Pat the turkey dry all over with paper towels. Slather with the Rub, using most for the side and top.
- Place the garlic, onion and thyme face down in the slow cooker. Place the turkey breast on top so it is elevated.
- Slow Cook on LOW for 6 hours (do not use high) or until internal temperature reads 165F/75C when thermometer is inserted into the middle. Check internal temperature at 5 hours if you can. (To roast, follow this recipe).
- Remove turkey from the slow cooker (do not leave in slow cooker on Warm setting) and let it rest for 20 minutes before crisping the skin.
Crisp the Skin
- Preheat gril/broiler to high.
- Place an oven shelf 30cm / 1 foot from the heat source.
- Remove turkey breast from the slow cooker into a heatproof serving dish.
- Place on the oven shelf and broil for 3 to 5 minutes until the skin is crispy. Keep an eye on it – it browns very quickly!
- Serve immediately with gravy on the side.
Gravy
- Strain the liquid into a measuring jug, squishing the garlic etc to extract all the flavour. If you are short of 2 cups, top up with chicken broth (I usually get 2 cups of liquid from a 4 lb / 2 kg turkey breast).
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and mix to combine. Pour about 1/2 cup of liquid into the flour mixture and mix until it forms a paste. Slowly add remaining liquid, stirring as your go. Use a whisk if required to make the gravy smooth. Simmer until thickened – take it off before it is as thick as you want because it will continue to thicken.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with turkey.
Recipe Notes:
- 1 kg / 2 lb: 4 – 5 hours on low
- 2 – 3 kg / 4 – 6 lb: 5 – 6 hours on low
- 4 kg / 8 lb: 6 – 7 hours on low (see 8 June ’17 report from reader Tony)
- 5 kg / 10 lb: 8 – 9 hours on low
Nutrition Information:
Originally published November 2016. Updated for some housekeeping November 2019 – no change to recipe.
Life of Dozer
This is what a turkey coma looks like.
Made this recipe and just added 1 tbsp brown sugar + 1/4 tsp smoked paprika to the rub. I also added chopped celery midway through cooking to the slow cooker. It was very tasty and I have never had such tender turkey. Thank you for this recipe. Will def be making it again. So easy too!
Oh my. Perfect turkey breast. Honestly, it felt a bit blasphemous cooking a turkey roast in a slow cooker. But I’m converted! My Thanksgiving dinner company agrees… Fantastic recipe.Thx, Nagi!
OMG the best turkey recipe I have cooked, not dry and gravy delicious too with plenty of leftover meat for sandwiches. Yay slow cooker triumph.
Not bad at all! I was somewhat sceptical because where I live you can only get turkey breasts without skin and I was afraid the meat might be too dry. It wasn’t and everyone loved it! I would only add more salt to the rub, I also added a swish of water to the bottom of the slow cooker to get it started, the bottom of the slow cooker seemed completely dry at first.
Have made this turkey twice now and it comes out tender and delicious. I don’t do the broil step because I’m afraid of overcooking. Thanks so much!
This was incredible! For my first time making turkey, this turned out better than I could have imagined. Incredible easy and the Turkey just fell apart and was so juicy. Served this with rolls, roasted carrots and of course the gravy. Saving this for years to come!
Hello Nagi
Huge thank you for this amazing recipe, on my second time around now, 😁
love this recipe,
Wow was this excellent! I followed recipe exactly, well I did add a few celery stalks to onions on bottom of crockpot, so darn delicious! Who knew you could cook a turkey breast in the crockpot, well I didn’t, lol but will from now on. I did double the gravy because 1 meal was hot turkey gravy sandwich, yum! Going to make pot pie with the rest. Thank you for sharing! I will be checking out your other recipes too.
Absolutely delightful. Great recipe. I struggle with turkey but this was so moist and had a wonderful favor. The gravy was amazing.
The turkey recipe I followed the whole recipe it turned out amazing so juicy! Thank you Nagi
We generally do not like turkey breast because it is so dry. I cook a whole turkey breast-side down to keep it from drying too much. However, I was in Walmart a few weeks ago and saw turkey breasts on clearance for 50 cents a pound–a price too good to pass up–so I bought two, with some trepidation. Last week I googled “juicy turkey breast recipes” and found this one. Oh my goodness! It’s good–and the leftover meat makes moist and tasty sandwiches!
My local grocery had a sale on turkey breast so I picked one up. Followed the recipe (used a bit of white wine instead of broth and added a couple oats of butter under the skin) and it turned out wonderful. I did throw in some fingerling potatoes for our side – can’t let that gravy go to waste. 4.8 lbs took about 5 hours in my slow cooker on low.
Hubby loved it.
I decided to try this recipe as we headed into a severe cold snap and I wanted to make something we could turn into hot meals for a few days. I cooked a 6lb bone-in breast in my 20-year-old slow cooker. It was done in four hours, very flavorful and moist. Tonight is turkey pot pie, and maybe turkey wild rice soup in a day or two. I’ll be using this for Thanksgiving in the fall!
Amazingly easy and so tender! The gravy came together like a dream, however because I’m gluten sensitive, I thickened the drippings with a corn starch slurry. It was delicious. Only change I made was to cut the added salt in half. We do low salt cooking so we didn’t miss it. Thanks! This is going on the rotation!
Made this for Christmas Eve and it was absolute perfection and still juicy as leftovers. I didn’t have fresh thyme so I used my fresh rosemary instead. My cousin called the gravy “heaven.” I will be making this every year. This was my first year making turkey and I didn’t want to start with the whole bird. I chose this recipe based off of the reviews and I’m glad I did. Perfection.
Everyone raved about how juicy and tender this turkey was! I used a bone-in, 8 lb. double breast. Had to squish it down a bit to get the lid on, but it was fine. Even my sister, a picky cook, said she would make hers this way next year!
Have never made Turkey before ad made this for my family for Christmas. Everyone loved it, was a MASSIVE hit.
Thanks Nagi! This worked out really well and was heaps easier than my previous efforts with a whole turkey. I used a double breast on the bone. It made plenty of gravy!
Thank you Nagi. Followed your slow cooker turkey crown recipeto the letter. Beautiful tender turkey breast and killer gravy. Your website and books have totally transformed my cooking this past year. Thank you so much.
I never comment to recipies but this. I’ve made this for christmas dinner yesterday and oh my god. Even my picky son loved it. I used no bone no skin turkey and still it worked. Thank you