Good Golly - Miss Molli's Crock Pot Turkey!

[Chefzhat]

Tried it. Loved it. Entered it in the monthly menu rotation!

This was the easiest thing ever! Now, Miss Molli, I've got lots of left over meat and broth - what to do?

I thought maybe thickening it, adding onion and sweet potatoes and leftover meat, serving over pasta, and sprinkled with walnuts.

What do you think? What can you come up with!!

Debie

[Molli526]

Debie-

I am so glad you liked it.

Your idea sounds good for the leftovers- good enough for me to try. I am funny about leftovers, I only like them once and then I am bored with them :rolleyes: I know, bad. Luckliy, DH doesn't have the aversion. He has had it for lunch the past couple of days, me, just on Wednesday :p

[Molli526]

Debie-

I just now saw a review for spicy turkey & sweet potato gumbo. I think I may do that, which from the recipe is pretty close to what you mentioned.

http://www.cookinglight.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18005&highlight=turkey+AND+sweet+potato

[keeganm]

Is this the crockpot turkey recipe with onion soup mix and cranberry sauce?

[Peggy C.]

keeganm, I think it is.

But I'm still so confused, maybe this is so easy I'm trying to read into it. Tell me what you did, I want to try this as well as the potroast someone mentioned on the other thread.

Did you 1. put the frozen breast in the crock pot?
2. smear the cranberry over the breast?
3. sprinkle the soup?

Really I'm not dumb (atleast not all the time) but I didn't grasp what order you put things in or doesn't it matter?
Signed,
Useless in euclid

[Chefzhat]

Dear euclid - you're not dumb! It really was that easy!

1. Frozen turkey breast in crock pot
2. Dump in Onion soup mix.
3. Open cranberry sauce and dump in.
4. Install crock pot lid
5. Turn on low
6. Cook 10 hours


This was so good and so easy I couldn't believe it!

Debie

[Molli526]

Peggy-

It is so easy and so good. The meat is so tender and juicy! I couldn't believe it was that easy but it is. The hardest part, IMHO, is getting the wrapper off the frozen breast :p

[dmcgreevey]

This is going on my menu for next week. Sounds awesome!

[lanie]

This sounds so amazing - one 'silly' question - did you use whole or jellied cranberry sauce - or does it not matter???????:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Molli526]

I used the jellied sauce, but I don't think it matters.

[dcornelius]

You girls must have some pretty big crock pots to fit a whole turkey in!!! Do you spose you could do this as successfully with a chicken?

[Molli526]

Oh! I used a 4.5 lb turkey breast! I was thinking of trying a chicken but I like white meat so, why waste the rest of the meat?My crockpot is a 6Q.

[Ms. Chevious]

Would there be a way to do this without a crockpot, in the oven perhaps? Was it a boneless breast or a whole breast?

[Molli526]

I used a whole breast but will maybe use a boneless breast next time.

I don't know how the conversion from crockpot to oven would be. Hmmmm:confused:

[dcornelius]

My DH and DD made Christmas dinner this year because I was working and my DH bought a boneless turkey breast and I have to tell you I was dissaticfied. I ended up not even using the left overs. I will probably never use one again. I will however see if I can find a bone in breast, I don't know if that will make a difference but the boneless was just to "processed" for me. I am interested in trying this recipie and see how it tastes. :)

[Peggy C.]

Dear Gourmet Guru in Grand Rapids, (Chefzhat)

I will give it a try, hopefully this weekend. Thanks for the tips.

Signed
Not so useless anymore.


Molli thanks for sharing the recipe.

[jpap]

Mollie, I could not find a small turkey breast, bought a six pound for sunday dinner, How long should I cook it? Can I cook on high for an hour and all be well? Please help! janet

[jpap]

Mollie, Sorry, I just reread the recipe. I was at the store and remembered the recipe as calling for 3-4 lb. turkey breast. I did not want it to be dinner time and I'm looking in my crockpot saying, okay 2 more hours! That has happened a time or two and we end up eating at 9. Thanks, I'll give my reveiws tomorrow. janet

[Molli526]

You can use between a 4-6 pound turkey/ turkey breast. Mine was about 4.25 and I cooked it for 10 hours so if it is bigger, it may take a little longer.

[jpap]

Hey everyone and Mollie, We enjoyed this tonight, it got great reveiws, but I do have leftovers. Any suggestions would be great! janet

[Molli526]

I was going to make this, then DH ate all the turkey before I could get to it :o

Spicy Turkey and Sweet Potato Gumbo

http://www.cookinglight.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18005&highlight=turkey+AND+sweet+potato

[jpap]

Sounds great Mollie, thanks again! Janet

[SusanL]

Molli, it was the best!! Very moist and flavorful!! I used a 3.4 unfrozen turkey and cooked it in the CP for 5 hours. Removed the sauce, added cornstarch mixture and was in heaven. dcornelius You must try this one in place of the one that was dry at Christmas. I have a tendency to undercook the turkey and then let it set a few minutes. Thanks again Molli, this will be in our rotation, also.
This also helps me with my turkey sausage dilemma= gumbo here I come:)

[carolyn.1]

I put a 6 lb half frozen turkey breast in my 6 qt crockpot with the simple onion soup and cranberry sauce--EXCELLENT .I cooked it allday Sunday. Very tasty. I too, don't really know what to do with the left overs--quite abit of meat left. I couldn't believe the amount of liquid after the bird was done.
Anyhow, thank you so much for the wonderful recipe Molli
Carolyn--

[Chefzhat]

I made the Spicy Turkey Gumbo from December with the leftover and the family raved and raved. Very good. And there's still some left for the freezer for a later meal.

Again, Molli, you are a star! What a winner recipe!

Debie

[Peggy C.]

I made this yesterday and it turned out very yummy! Molli you were right the hardest part is unwrapping the turkey! Especially if you are not very bright like me and you bought a breast that said "gravy packet included" that means it is actually frozen in the breast cavity, thank goodness I was assembling the night before and was just going to throw the whole crockpot liner in the fridge. It took me a while, but I was able to pry that bag O'gravy out!

Will definitely repeat this! DH= enjoyed it also!

Thanks Molli!

[pes]

I have this in the crockpot today for dinner tonite. I put the frozen turkey breast in the sink full of cold water this am before I took a shower and let it sit for 20 minutes while i got ready for work. No problems with the wrapper or the "bag of goo" as it's called at my house. I'm already looking forward to dinner tonite!

[dcornelius]

Ok, the turkey has been on since this am and I am dying to dig in, I am a very poor planner sometimes though and did not plan wht to make with it. Any suggestions? What have you guys made with it?

[Molli526]

Sweet Potato wedges (baked in oven) and some green beans. Not overly exciting, but yummy. I am making this again next week :eek:

[Peggy C.]

I made stuffing and steamed broccoli. I thickened the gravy/sauce with cornstarch and really liked it on the stuffing!

[ellielk]

I made a bunch of the Cranberries Jezebel (from Cooking Light 5-Star Cookbook) and have some left over. How do you all think that would work instead of the canned jellied sauce?

I'd like to try this tonight.

[Angela]

This was very good. I used a 6 lb. chicken. I cooked it on high for 6 hours and turned it on low for 3 hours. I strained the sauce and thickened some of it for gravy. I served it with steamed broccoli and carrots and poured the gravy over them.

[maizeyoats]

This what happened to me. I bought the turkey breast and the onion soup mix and the cranberry sauce. Finally decided to use my new slow cooker that's been sitting in the box for months.
THE TURKEY WAS TOO BIG
I ended up cooking everything in a stockpot for 10hours on top of the stove at the lowest setting. I added 2 cups of water because I was afraid it would burn. The turkey was good but way too much liquid in the pot and I think I defeated the whole purpose.

[jnelson]

I made it using a whole chicken last night. Everyone loved it. It is definately a repeat.

[sassafras]

THIS IS SO GOOD!! It's incredibly easy and everyone loved it.. Like Chefzhat, I'm adding it to the rotation!!

Thanks Molli!
Sarah

[luckylori]

Add us to the list of satisfied families with this recipe! Even my youngest who doesn't like onions didn't say a word about the onion soup in this! I used a big hen for this and it did cook way too long by the time I got home from work. But the flavor (after adding some salt & pepper at the end) was really good! If I hadn't dumped in the can of cranberry sauce, I would never have guessed that that was in there!

[Jewel]

Well that answers my question! ;) I'm getting a bit turkey'd out, and was wondering if anyone had tried it on chicken! Wonder if it should be a whole chicken or bone-in pieces? Opinions anyone?

[wallycat]

off hand, can anyone tell me how many ounces are in an instant soup packet...i get the healthfood store version and not sure if I can sub.....
Thanks:D

[schuh]

This sounds great. I have to ask -- does the sauce have a sweet taste? My husband has an aversion to main dishes with a sweet taste to them.

One more thing -- here's a solution for anyone whose breast doesnt' fit into the crock pot. It doesn't produce a nice sauce but the meat is nice and moist.

SIMPLE BAKED TURKEY BREAST

5-6 pound whole frozen turkey breast
2-4 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap a frozen turkey breast. Place the turkey breast in the center of a large sheet of foil. Join the two top edges and fold down in small folds until the foil is touching the top of the turkey. Fold ends in the same way. Place in a baking pan. Bake for three hours. Remove from oven. Carefully open top of foil and fold back foil. Place margarine on top of breast and season with salt and pepper. Return turkey to oven for an additional 30 minutes to brown. Let sit for a few minutes before slicing. Serves 10 (or a smaller family, with plenty of leftovers).

[jnelson]

I used a whole chicken and it came out great.

[Aspen]

I checked my box of "Lipton Recipe Secrets" - Onion

It lists net weight as 2.0oz for 2 packages, so 1.0oz per package. Hope that helps, if not, I would be happy to measure the amount in a package...I plan to make the recipe this week.

[wallycat]

Aspen, thanks so much for checking!
No measuring needed; one ounce measure will let me know....
Thanks again...
Now if my stores would just sell Turkey breasts around here!!
(may try with chicken :D )
Thanks again so very much for checking.;)

[slknight]

I decided to try this out today since Tuesday is usually crockpot day. We were beginning to get sick of the Thai Pork Stew.

So I bought the smallest turkey breast I could find at the store (around 4.2). Stuffed it in the crockpot, and it barely fits. This one small part sticks out, so I mashed the lid on and taped it. Do you think it's going to be ok? I'm hoping once it cooks a bit and gets a little softer, I'll be able to smash it in there some more. I might need to get a bigger crockpot! Also, it wasn't completely frozen. It was in the "fresh" meat section and seemed to be about half frozen. I'm hoping 7 to 8 hours on low does the trick. It does have one of those things that pops up, so at least I'll have an idea.

[Peggy C.]

I agree it will probably settle into the crockpot once it heats up.

[Bailey]

Originally posted by slknight
I decided to try this out today since Tuesday is usually crockpot day. We were beginning to get sick of the Thai Pork Stew.

So I bought the smallest turkey breast I could find at the store (around 4.2). Stuffed it in the crockpot, and it barely fits. This one small part sticks out, so I mashed the lid on and taped it. Do you think it's going to be ok? I'm hoping once it cooks a bit and gets a little softer, I'll be able to smash it in there some more. I might need to get a bigger crockpot! Also, it wasn't completely frozen. It was in the "fresh" meat section and seemed to be about half frozen. I'm hoping 7 to 8 hours on low does the trick. It does have one of those things that pops up, so at least I'll have an idea.

It'll be fine. The same thing happened to me on Sunday. What I did was place a large sheet of foil over the turkey, overlapping the edge of the crockpot all around, and then place the lid over it. My hope was that the overlapping foil would provide a better seal than the lid by itself, which wouldn't go all the way down in some places. It worked fine, and within less than an hour the turkey breast had shrunk enough that the lid fit perfectly, so I then removed the foil.

[BarbaraL]

Has everyone made this with a bone-in turkey breast? Has anyone tried it with boneless? My crockpot is not huge -- I have visions of "mashing it down" as previously posted!

[Luika]

I made it with a boneless turkey breast last week and it turned out great. My 3# turkey breast was also thawed. I set the crockpot on low for about 10 hours and it was perfect. We've been eating leftovers all week. This recipe seems very adaptable!

[Jewel]

I'm making this tomorrow night but I'm making it with a whole chicken instead of a turkey! :) I just know we'd like the chicken better! I think there are quite a few things you could do with this! Since fruit-based sauces always seem to cry out for pork, you could probably even use a Pork Roast! :eek:

[slknight]

Well, I tried to mash it down a bit now that it's been cooking for a few hours, but it won't mush. The tape does seem to be holding the lid on o.k., so I'm not going to worry about it too much. I actually used some orange-cranberry cran-fruit instead of regular cranberry, so I'll let you know how it turns out. My only complaint is that my turkey set me back $11.83!!! I hope I get a lot of servings out of it. Anyone know how many WW points a serving of this would be?

[schuh]

Can anyone describe the taste of the sauce for me? Does it taste sweet or does it taste like gravy?
Thanks.

[luckylori]

It doesn't taste sweet at all. And not really like gravy, but more like gravy than sweet. Mine got brownish, but I think it's cause I
let it cook too long, although the troops liked it that way. I can tell you that I never would have guessed that it was cranberry sauce that was in it. You should try it. It's so easy! Don't forget to season it up with salt & pepper though, it needs it!

[Barrie]

I made this yesterday. I used a 5 pound bone-in breast and cooked it in the slow cooker for 10 hours. Mine was mostly frozen when I put it in. When I carved the breast, I found the meat to be pretty dry. The gravy/juices only came about 1/4 of the way (if that) up the sides of my crockpot so anything that wasn't cooked in the juice was dry. Here's what I did: after I carved the whole breast, I put all the sliced meat back into the crockpot to soak up some of the juices. I let it sit for about 20 minutes, and it came out just great. Yum! It's a keeper. What a great, easy way to make turkey. I'm making the spicy turkey and sweet potato gumbo with the leftovers for dinner tonight. Thanks Molli! :)

[YankeeWoman]

I have heard so much about this wonderful turkey dish that I put it on our menu for tomorrow. However, when grocery shopping today, I wasn't able to find a small enough frozen turkey breast. They only had 10-20 pound frozen turkeys and the smaller ones were unfrozen.

So, I bought a 6 pound UNfrozen turkey breast. I think it will still work, but I'll need to adjust the cooking time. What do you think? About how long do you think it should cook? Will I need to do anything differently?

[schuh]

Thanks for the response, LuckyLori. I'll definitely try it.

[SueK]

Barbara- You might be okay with yours for 10 hours on low, just as if it were a frozen, smaller bird. I got a frozen, 6.5 lb turkey breat (smallest one I could fine!) and cooked it on High for 10 hours on Sunday and it was just right.

I also liked the combo of the soup mix and the cranberry sauce. I was a bit leery at first, but everyone loved it, and I didn't have too many leftovers! Thanks again for the recipe Molli! :)

[claire797]

Yikes! I just put a 4 pound, frozen solid bone-in turkey in the crockpot along with the onion soup and cranberries. I should have read this thread first, because I completely forgot about the bag of giblets inside the turkey. Uh Oh.

I tried to pry them out, but they are frozen in pretty solid. The plan is to wait a few hours and pull them out later. Has anyone had to do this? If I were smart, I would have bought a boneless turkey breast, but I had it in my head that I needed a bone in :confused: .

Hope everyone's having a nice Christmas!

[claire797]

Well, it only took me a year to try this, but I'm glad I did. This turkey tastes just as good as roast chicken and has the added bonus of making it's own gravy. I will definitely put this into the rotation.

Notes: Taking the wrapper off the frozen turkey is a pain. Since I couldn't get the gravy packet out, I put the whole thing -- gravy and all -- in the crockpot. After about 2 hours, the turkey had warmed up enough so that I could pry out the gravy packet.

Also, my 4 pound frozen rock solid on-the-bone turkey breast only took 9 hours. So check your turkey! I'm glad I checked after 9 hours, because any longer cooking would have made it stringy.

Thanks for the recipe, Molly.