Instant Pot Turkey Breast with Gravy

I think most will agree with me that Thanksgiving and Christmas in the year 2020 have sparked some major creativity. Dinners are smaller as family members stay home, and this is no different for us. The Instant Pot gets a lot of use in our Tiny Home and Thanksgiving was no different. This year, Dave made a delightful Instant Pot Turkey Breast with Gravy.

As you can imagine, fitting an ENTIRE turkey in the Instant Pot was going to be impossible. (Not for lack of LOTS of measuring by Dave). Enter the turkey breast solution! We did miss out on some beautiful turkey legs, but in the end a breast was the perfect amount of food for our little family of four. ANNNND the leftovers fit in our RV fridge.

Prepping for Instant Pot Turkey Breast

One of the best things about this recipe is we had almost everything available in our cabinet. Going into Thanksgiving, it was wonderful not to have to do spend an hour or more at the store. A turkey breast, some celery salt, and buttermilk. The shopping trip was in/out!

Turkey Breast and Gravy in the Instant Pot

A flavorful and moist bone in turkey breast with a flavorful onion and garlic turkey gravy made in your instant pot.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Gravy, Instant Pot, turkey breast

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Rest time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Calories: 532kcal

Author: David Wayne

Cost: $15

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker, Air Fryer or Broiler

Ingredients

• 7 lbs Bone in Turkey Breast
• 4 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 15 oz can Chicken Broth
• 1 Garlic Head cut in half side to side
• 1 Onion chopped medium
• 1/4 cup Buttermilk or Cream
• 3 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 4 Tbsp Water or cooking fluid

Rub

• 1/2 tsp Rubbed Sage
• 1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/2-1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Granulated Garlic or garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Celery Salt
• 1 Tbsp Paprika

Instructions

Turkey Preparation

• Mix all rub ingredients in a bowl
• Chop one onion
• Cut a head of garlic in half (side to side) use a head with a lot of skin to make sure all cloves stay together
• Remove the turkey breast from the wrapper and remove all parts from the chest cavity, they can be used in the gravy if you'd like more flavor)
• Pour olive oil over the turkey breast and rub the oil evenly around the breast, pull the skin up off the breast and oil there as well
• Dump the rub onto the turkey breast and rub evenly all over the breast as well as under the skin

Prepare the Cooking Fluid

• Press Sauté on your instant pot
• When the instant pot is 'HOT' add 2 Tbsp of olive oil and the chopped onion
• Stir the onions to mix with the oil and then let sauté for 1 and 1/2 minutes
• Stir well and let sit another minute
• Cancel Sauté and add chicken broth to the onions
• Place the garlic head halves into the broth cut side down

Pressure Cook

• Place turkey breast into the pot with the breasts facing up and the opening to the chest cavity down in the broth
• Put the lid on the instant pot and seal the pressure release valve
• Pressure cook for 6 minutes per pound of turkey breast plus 10 minute natural pressure release (I did 40 minutes with 10 minutes of natural pressure release)
• After the ten minutes of natural pressure release are over, release the pressure by opening the pressure release valve

Crisp the Skin

• Preheat your air fryer or broiler to 400°F for 5 minutes
• Spray the air fryer basket or broiler pan well with oil
• Using a wood spatula and long kitchen tongs, carefully move the turkey breast from the instant pot to the air fryer basket or broiler pan
• Spray the turkey breast with olive oil
• Air fry or broil the turkey breast at 400°F for 8-10 minutes (keep an eye on it to make sure nothing burns and add more time if needed to get the skin as crispy as you prefer)
• Move the turkey breast to a cutting board, tent with a piece of aluminum foil, and let rest for 10-15 minutes

Gravy Time

• Cancel pressure cook and press sauté on the Instant Pot
• Mix cornstarch and water well (use 4-5 Tbsp of cornstarch for a thick gravy and 2-3 Tbsp for a thin gravy)
• Whisk the cornstarch slurry into the gravy
• Let boil or simmer to thicken keeping an eye on how thick the boil gets
• Stir often and when the gravy looks velvety, it's ready (5 minutes)
• Cancel the Sauté function

Carve It

• Carve the turkey breast with a sharp knife cutting down the sternum using short strokes to help follow along the sternum and clavicle (wishbone)
• Slice thick slices cutting lengthwise against the grain of the turkey breast to have large pieces of the crispy skin with each slice
• Plate some turkey and cover liberally with gravy, enjoy!

Video

Notes

Feel free to bump up, add, or subtract any ingredients you’d like.  Enjoy your turkey dinner!

Nutrition

Calories: 532kcal

Ready to use that Instant Pot more?

The best resource we have is all of the amazing videos that Dave has posted on YouTube. I highly recommend subscribing to his channel. If you’ve got that Instant Pot sitting by, collecting dust — his videos will inspire you to get it out and go nuts! There are weeks that the ONLY thing we use is the Instant Pot. Tiny living aside, it’s a great way to cook your dinner up fast! It also can be used as a slower cooker (stay tuned, more recipes on this soon).

We also have some amazing resources and recipes on our blog. Have you ever had Instant Pot Million Dollar Spaghetti? We highly recommend it!