There’s nothing better than leftover turkey after the big day!!! I love to make turkey sandwiches on home-made rolls with home-made cranberry sauce. I also love turkey roll-ups! They have always been one of my favorite things to eat, but I rarely make them because it’s like making two meals just to get one . . . unless you already have leftover turkey from Thanksgiving!

Last year for my birthday, my kids gave me an Instant Pot. I’m not going to lie, the ill-fated stories of my childhood about pressure cookers blowing up and killing entire families cured me from EVER wanting one, let alone wanting to learn how to cook something in one! So I bowed my head in shame and took the Instant Pot still in the box down to the basement and hid it on a shelf that I don’t have to look at very often so I wouldn’t feel the guilt of not using the gift.

Fast forward a year. We usually have all the kids over the third Sunday of every month. But since I was scheduled for some major oral surgery on the 15th, the kids wanted to move our Sunday dinner to the second Sunday so that I could enjoy one Last Supper before my fate of eating popsicles, baby food, pudding, jello, and mashed potatoes for a few months. I had already decided before I found out I needed the surgery that I would do turkey roll-ups for this meal. This year is the in-law year for our kids to go to Thanksgiving dinner, and so I wanted to enjoy a turkey dinner with them anyway.

White meat is my favorite, and I have a friend who only cooks turkey breasts for Thanksgiving instead of the whole bird. I also discovered that there are not many smaller poundage birds this year, these gobblers are HUGE!!! But I found a nice frozen 6 ¾ pound turkey breast with the bone still in and bought that. I am known to wait too long to pull the turkey out of the freezer to put it in the fridge to thaw. I HAVE learned my lesson on a whole bird, and I put it in the fridge at least 5-6 days before I’m ready to brine it. But I didn’t think it would take more than a couple days to thaw this 6 ¾ pound turkey breast. I had given some brief thought on how I would cook it, since the final product was to be turkey roll-ups. So the cooking part of it, didn’t need to be fancy. On Saturday, it was still frozen solid in the middle but was thawing on the outsides, and I was in a pickle. I discussed this issue with another friend and she told me to just cook it in my Instant Pot. My anxiety kicked in . . . not the dreaded home wrecking Instant Pot?!!! She cooks whole chickens in hers and it only takes about thirty minutes. Thirty minutes? How could that be?!!! She sent me her recipe for cooking a turkey breast in the Instant Pot, and I decided I would put my badge of courage on, dust off the box in the basement, and take one for the team if the whole thing blew up. The only change I would make, is that I would use two Granny Smith apples instead of the lemons. Apples give a lot of flavor to a cooked turkey. You just throw them away after you pull the turkey out of the pot.

Saturday night I was stressing out about how I was going to get the turkey cooked, make the home-made dough for the rolls, and then make the turkey filling once the turkey was cooked. Can you tell I don’t do well when cooking for other people, and especially when I have to learn new things. My anxiety was at an all-time high. Ron said, why don’t you just simplify and make the turkey breast like the recipe, make some mashed potatoes, and call it good. He’s the calm one, and is great at talking me down off cliffs when I’ve bit off more than I can chew! ☺ That took my anxiety down a notch, but deep down inside, I REALLY wanted turkey roll-ups!!! After all, IT was to be my Last Supper for a very long time. So I went to bed, choosing NOT to brine the turkey, but hoping it would be fully thawed by morning.

Sunday morning came, we did church via Zoom, and my courage had returned. So I did all the prep work to use the Instant Pot for the first time. While that was going, I made the roll-dough and set it aside to raise. Then I pulled the turkey breast out of the fridge – and it was thawed! It barely fit in my Instant Pot with all the carrots, onions, lemon wedges and chicken stock. Ron helped me figure out that based on the weight, it would take 40 minutes to cook. I seriously doubted how an almost seven pound turkey breast could be fully cooked in that much time, but I moved forward with the rest of the meal prep as I watched the time count down on the Instant Pot timer.

As it cooked, I prepared the ingredients for the filling and peeled the potatoes. We had originally thought we would cook them the old-fashioned way on the stove in a pan. But when we saw how quickly the turkey would be done, we decided to cook them in the Instant Pot as well! This Instant Pot thing was beginning to grow on me, maybe I COULD use a pressure cooker without blowing the house up!!! And I’m all about saving time!!!

We pulled the turkey out, let it sit under a tin foil tent for ten minutes, and then Ron shredded it for me, and I mixed it in with the rest of the ingredients for the turkey roll-ups. I wasn’t sure if I would need to double the roll-up recipe or not, but after he got done shredding half of the breast, I knew I would need to double the other ingredients to use the entire turkey breast.

By this time, the dough was ready to go, so I dumped it out on my Silicone Silpat Mat, and started filling the roll-ups with the turkey filling. Errin’s family got here, and Brynnlee wanted to help so I had her help me form the pieces of dough into flat round circles and then I filled them with the filling. We got fifteen rolls per jelly roll pan, and we made two pans. Thirty roll-ups!!! Then we brushed them with butter, sprinkled them with the bread crumb/sage mixture, and put them in the oven. Some people don’t like mushrooms, but others love them, so I tucked some fresh sliced mushrooms into a few of them before I closed them up. I left one peeking out a little on each one so we would know which ones had mushrooms in them.

While Brynnlee and I were filling the roll-ups, Ron got the potatoes in the Instant Pot and go them started. They only took ten minutes, and they were amazing!!! We just put the potatoes in with a cup and a half of water, and turned them on. We mashed them with an entire cube of butter, a tiny bit of milk, and they were sheer perfection!!! Yum!!!

I saved the drippings from the turkey, mixed them with the gravy packet that came with the turkey breast, added a little chicken bouillon for more flavor, and thickened it with a flour and cold water mixture. Bring the drippings to a boil, add the flour/water mixture slowly while stirring constantly.

My roll-up recipe says to use store bought roll dough, but I prefer them with my homemade roll dough that I learned how to do from yet another friend years ago.

I’ll share the recipes for all this below. The moral of the story? Get an Instant Pot!!! Don’t put it on a shelf in your basement for a year! Open it up and use it the day you get it! If you follow the instructions, you won’t blow your house up!

Good food, and good company is the perfect combination to share LIGHT!!! We had a fun time learning how to use our new kitchen appliance. And we look forward to making many more things in our Instant Pot . . . as soon as I graduate from baby food after my mouth is healed! Happy Thanksgiving, look for the blessings and you will find the LIGHT!

This is how I cooked the turkey breast from the recipe I got from my friend Liz.

How to Cook the Juiciest Instant Pot Turkey Breast Ever

LAUREN HABERMEHL FOR TASTE OF HOME

Ingredients

1 pound carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 medium onions, cut into wedges
3 celery ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 whole lemon, sliced
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1 bone-in turkey breast (6 pounds), fully thawed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
6-8 sage leaves

Editor’s Note: You may substitute fresh herbs for dried herbs in the following amounts: 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon rubbed sage.

Tools You’ll Need

For cooking a large turkey breast in an Instant Pot, you’ll want to invest in at least a 6 to 8 quart Instant Pot. We especially love the 8-Quart Instant Pot Duo Nova for its larger size and easy-read LED display.

Directions

Step 1: Prep turkey and veggies

Place the carrots, onions, celery, sliced lemons and broth in a 6 to 8-quart electric pressure cooker. Brush the turkey breast with olive oil and rub the skin with the salt and pepper.

Place the turkey breast over the vegetables. Then tuck the fresh herbs into the broth around the turkey.

Editor’s Note: If using dried herbs, rub these directly onto the skin of the turkey, on all sides, with the salt and pepper.

Step 2: Cook on high

Lock the lid and close the pressure-release valve. Set your Instant Pot to ‘pressure cook’ on high for 36 minutes for a 6-pound turkey. When time is up, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and then safely quick-release any remaining pressure. Carefully remove the turkey from the pressure cooker.

Step 3: Broil

For crispy skin, transfer the turkey breast to a broiler pan and place the turkey under a preheated broiler, skin-side-up, until the skin turns golden brown; about 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 4: Rest and carve

Tent the breast with foil and let it stand 10 minutes before slicing using an electric carving knife. Serve warm.

Need to go back to the basics? See how this method compares to the traditional method for cooking a turkey.

Turkey Cook Times

Cooking a turkey breast that’s larger or smaller than 6 to 7 pounds? Here’s an Instant Pot cook time guide for fully thawed, bone-in turkey breasts. A general rule of thumb is to allow 5-6 minutes per pound of cooking time in the Instant Pot on high pressure plus a 10-minute natural pressure release.

Turkey Weight : Time

3 Pounds 18 minutes

4 Pounds 24 minutes

5 Pounds 30 minutes

6 Pounds 36 minutes

7 Pounds 42 minutes

8 Pounds 48 minutes

9 Pounds 54 minutes

Helpful Tips and FAQs for Making Instant Pot Turkey

Can you cook Instant Pot turkey breast from frozen?

Yes! Another benefit of cooking a turkey breast in an Instant Pot is that you can cook it from frozen if you forget to thaw the meat in time. Just know that the cooking time will need to increase to 60-70 minutes for a 6- to 7-pound turkey breast, or about 10 minutes per pound.

How do you know when a turkey is done?

The best way to determine if your turkey is done is to use an instant-read meat thermometer (we especially love the Thermapen meat thermometer). Upon removing your turkey breast from the Instant Pot, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. Your turkey is done when it reads 160°F.

This is my bread roll recipe from my friend Dallen, if I can make this bread, anyone can!

**Old-Fashioned**
**Home-Made Bread**

(Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees)

*1 Cup warm but not hot water

*2 Tbls. Yeast – I use SAF brand

*1 Tbls. Sugar

Put water and sugar in a 4 Cup liquid measuring bowl and sprinkle yeast on the top, let sit.

*2 Cups milk – I use Original Silk Soy Milk – be sure it’s not the vanilla flavor

*3 Tbls. butter or margarine – I use Smart Balance Original – be sure it’s not the olive oil flavor

Heat milk and butter for 3 1/2 minutes in microwave, (or until butter melts).

In your mixing bowl combine:

*1 egg

*1 heaping Tbls. Salt

*1/2 Cup sugar

Add to heated milk mixture.

Add *3 Cups flour, mix together.

(Adding the flour before the yeast mixture cools the hot milk down enough so that it doesn’t kill the yeast.)

Add yeast mixture

Add *3 more Cups of flour, mix together.

See how the dough feels, but don’t touch it too much, it makes it “tough”.

Add *2 more Cups of flour.

Add approximately *1 more Cup of flour until the dough is not

sticky and comes “clean” from the bowl. Be sure not to add too much!

(The amount of flour will be a little different each time you make bread. It depends on the temperature and humidity in the air.)

Let dough rise until it doubles in size. Pour out onto silicone Silpat Mat sprayed with PAM. If it gets too sticky, use more Pam. Don’t use flour, it makes your bread tough. Then separate into loaves. Put into loaf tins, let double in size and bake on 375 degrees for 20 - 22 minutes, or until golden brown on the top.

***(Small loaves of bread may only take 18 minutes to cook.)***

This recipe makes 3 regular size loaves of bread or about 2 dozen rolls. It’s also great for cinnamon rolls. Just roll it out after letting it raise, spread it with butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon, roll into a log shape. Cut the rolls with dental floss and bake on a cookie sheet for 18-22 minutes depending on thickness of rolls. Frost when cooled.

Here’s my chicken roll-up recipe. It’s been in my family for many years! You can also use turkey. If you are cooking the turkey or chicken in an Instant Pot, use the Instant Pot recipe for that instead of this one. But once the meat is cooked and shredded, follow this recipe after that step.

Chicken Roll-Ups

Salt and Pepper chicken breasts and place in roasting pan. Brown chicken breasts in roasting pan in the oven until the bottom of the pan is good and browned – but not black and burned. Add a little bit of water, about ½ inch and place lid on to finish cooking. Should take a total of about 45 minutes to an hour. Check it half way through to be sure the water hasn’t boiled away. If it has, refill it to ½” again. Remove chicken breasts and shred. Keep drippings in the pan and make gravy according to directions below. This recipe also works with left-over turkey from Thanksgiving dinner. I doubled this for my 6 ¾ pound turkey breast.

Mix Together:

5 Chicken Breasts Baked and chopped – save drippings from chicken and make gravy to put over the top of the roll-ups when they’re done.

Sliced Fresh Mushrooms – canned ones work too.

3 Tbls. Green Onions

1 – 8 oz. Cream Cheese

Spoon onto Crescent Rolls – I like to use my home-made bread recipe from Dallen.

Mix Together:

1 Cup Bread Crumbs

1 tsp. sage

1 Cup Crushed Walnuts or Pecans – these are optional and I don’t use them because they make my eyes swell shut.

Brush with one cube of melted butter and then sprinkle the top with the crumb mixture.

Place on baking sheet

Cook on 350 degrees until brown – probably about 20-25 minutes. Serve with gravy made from chicken/turkey drippings.

Gravy:

Bring chicken drippings to a boil – slowly add flour or corn starch thickened with cold water to desired constancy. Don’t add too much extra water or gravy won’t have any flavor. If you make a mistake and do this anyway, just add some chicken bouillon to bring back the flavor.

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Leftover Turkey Is The Bonus Meal After Thanksgiving!