This boneless stuffed turkey breast is an excellent alternative to a traditional holiday turkey or for a fancy weeknight dinner with a Latin-inspired twist.
The best part, no oven is required, and it's cooked in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
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It's a fantastic main dish for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner this year. Check out this Latin Flavors Thanksgiving Menu if you like more flavorful ideas.
This stuffed turkey breast roast with chorizo and cheese made in the instant pot was the star of my Mother's Day lunch.
My family came, so there were 4 mouths to feed. The whole family kept asking for more after they finished their first bite. By the end of the meal, they asked if they could have some to take home.
Even the little one enjoyed it. These days most kids are picky eaters, so for me, this is a kid-friendly dish.
It's a low-carb, gluten-free alternative if you are on a low-carb or keto diet.
Once you try this, you won’t need to turn on an oven in your house for holidays or special occasions!
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⭐️ Why This Recipe Works
Cooked in the instant pot result in a juicy and moist turkey breast. Most of the cooking is hands-off. Plus, you can make gravy in the same pot.
Ready in less than an hour, and you won't need to turn on your oven.
The stuffing combination gives the turkey a burst of flavor.
It's perfect for Thanksgiving dinner for two, and you’ll have a few slices for breakfast as leftovers.
📋 Ingredients You'll Need
To make this recipe, you'll need the following ingredients:
- Boneless turkey breast: thaw your frozen turkey breast for a few days in the refrigerator.
- Pork chorizos: If you are in Panama, get the Panamanian ones. You can even get it at the Riba Smith supermarket frozen. If not, you can get Mexican chorizo in the grocery store with a similar flavor profile or try Spanish or vegan chorizo.
- Fresh cheese (queso fresco prensado): Mozzarella will work great.
- Culantro leaves: use Italian parsley or regular parsley.
- Olive oil: I used olive oil, but any mild-flavored oil can work, like avocado oil or canola oil.
- For seasonings: salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. You can use anything that makes you happy. Use any of your pantry options, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, or thyme.
- Butter
- Garlic
- Onion
- Low-sodium chicken stock: use water or vegetable stock.
As for utensils and equipment, you will need a chopping board and knife, a meat mallet, a small bowl, and a 6 Quart electric pressure cooker.
📝 How To Make Instant Pot Stuffed Turkey Breast
Chorizo and Cheese Stuffing
Step 1 - Select "Saute" mode on your pressure cooker and heat the olive oil. Add the chopped onions and garlic and saute for 2 minutes or until the onions are a little translucent.
Add the crumbled pork chorizo, and continue cooking for five minutes.
Step 2 - Once the chorizo has cooked, remove it from the heat, and add it to a bowl. Crumble the cheese (queso fresco), add the chopped cilantro, and mix. Set aside to cool for about 7 minutes.
Stuffing the Turkey Breast
Step 3 - Mix all the seasonings in a small bowl (salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano) and set aside.
Step 4 - Pat dry the thawed boneless turkey breast with a paper towel. Place it on the chopping board, remove the net, and set it aside. If you prefer, discard it and then use new twine to wrap around the roll (photo 3).
The one I bought brought a turkey gravy concentrate. We would use it to make our gravy at the end. If yours don’t have, I’ll also guide you on how to make it.
Step 5 - To butterfly the turkey breast, place it flat on the chopping board. Place your knife parallel to the surface and start cutting from the thickest side, from top to bottom.
Cut until you have reached 3/4 of the way in, and you can open it like a book. Try to avoid cutting all the way through. This cut will reduce the thickness.
Place the breast skin side down, cover it with plastic wrap, and flatten it with a meat mallet, pounding softly. This process will make it easier to roll once you stuff it. The thickness should be around a 1/2 inch (photos 4 and 5).
💡Tip: Don't have a plastic wrap. Use a gallon Ziploc bag cut by the sides. This is for an easy mallet clean-up.
Step 6 - Season with half of the spices on the inside, and add the stuffing to the breast. Spread along with the whole breast, leaving a couple of inches from the border.
Step 7 - Start rolling from one side of the breast to the other until you reach the end. Use the twine net we removed previously to wrap around the turkey breast again, be careful not to leave any filling out.
Step 8 - Once you have finished putting on the string back, add olive oil to the turkey breast and sprinkle the remaining seasoning on top, so it sticks to it.
Cooking the Turkey Breast
Step 9 - Select the "Saute" mode on the Instant Pot again, and heat some oil. Sear for 3 minutes on each side of the breast. Browning will give a depth of flavor (photo 8).
Step 10 - Once browned on all sides, remove from the pressure cooker and deglaze the pot with 1 cup of water or low-sodium chicken stock. Put in the trivet, and on top, put the seared turkey breast (photo 8).
Step 11 - Cover the pot and move the knob to the "Sealing" position. Select "Manual" and set the timer for 25 minutes (High Pressure).
It would take around 10 minutes to reach pressure. Let it release pressure naturally for at least 10 minutes when the time ends.
Cooking turkey in the pressure cooker will provide juicy and tender poultry.
💡Tip: Always use a thermometer to check your meat's internal temperature. The safe temperature for Turkey is 165º F.
Remove the net and place it on your serving dish. Wait 10 minutes before cutting into it so the juicy goodness doesn’t leave your turkey.
How to Make Turkey Gravy?
Now, let's make the turkey gravy using the same Pot where the turkey drippings are. On saute mode, heat the liquid, add the turkey concentrate, and let it boil for 5 minutes. It should thicken itself (photos 11 and 12).
Take some of the gravy on the spoon and, with a finger, make a streak over the spoon. If the sauce does not join back together, it's ready to be enjoyed.
Easy right?
Easy Gravy Without Concentrate
In case you don't have the concentrate. You will need some additional ingredients: butter, cornstarch, and more chicken stock (optional).
Make a slurry with water and cornstarch. Then add the butter and slurry to the turkey drippings in Saute mode. Whisk until it has thickened. Add additional chicken stock to thin it out if needed.
Turkey Stuffing Variations
You can use spinach and cream cheese. This is a stuffing winner, you can check it out in this recipe.
You can also use bread or even rice-based stuffing.
Just veggies. If you plan to give it to kids, I recommend finely chopping the vegetables, so they don't ask what it has 😆. You can use carrots, onion, celery, broccoli, and everything finely chopped with some cheese that would work as a binder.
🔖 Recipe Tips
- Make sure that your turkey breast fits your pressure cooker.
- For cooking a turkey breast in the Instant Pot, the guide time is 6 minutes per pound of turkey breast.
- Always use natural release when cooking meats. This help it doesn't dry out and become juicy.
- Use a meat thermometer to verify the internal temperature of meats to ensure they are fully cooked. For turkey, it's 165º Fahrenheit.
- Preparing in advance: You can cook the stuffing the day before cooking and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to stuff the turkey breast.
If the turkey hasn't reached its 165ºF safe temperature. Cover the Instant Pot, and move the value to the "Sealing" position. Select the "Manual" option, set the timer for 5 minutes, and let it cook.
✅ Storing
Storing: You can store it in a glass container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Freezing: Add it to a freezer bag and freeze it for up to a month. You could also freeze it in smaller portions (4ounce per bag).
Reheating: I use a microwave for this. Add some gravy to the top, and heat it for a couple of minutes, depending on your microwave wattage.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Serve it with:
- Mashed potatoes or cassava mash, the gravy pairs great with it.
- A green salad, green beans, or sauteed broccoli florets.
- Panamanian rice side dish for the holidays.
🥘 More Latin-Flavored Recipes
If you have tried these Instant Pot stuffed turkey breast roast or any other recipe on Nashi Food, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I love to hear about your cooking experience.
Stuffed Turkey Breast with Chorizo (Instant Pot)
Ingredients
Stuffing
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- ½ onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
- 2 pork chorizos, removed from casing and crumbled
- 4 ounces pressed fresh cheese (queso fresco prensado)
- 3 culantro leaves, chopped
Turkey + Gravy
- 3 lb boneless turkey breast, thawed with gravy concentrate (see recipe notes for more information)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
Instructions
Stuffing Cooking
- Set Saute mode on your pressure cooker, melt the butter. Add half of the oil. Add the chopped onions, next add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes once the onions are a little translucent. Add the crumbled pork chorizo, and continue cooking for five more minutes.
- Once the chorizo has cooked, remove from the heat, and add to a bowl. Crumble the queso fresco. Add the chopped culantro and mix. Set aside to cool—approximately 7 minutes.
Turkey + Gravy Cooking
- Mix all the spices and set aside.
- Pat dry the turkey breast with some paper towel. Place it on the chopping board, remove the twine, and set it aside. Keep it so we can reuse it after we stuff the turkey breast. If you prefer, you can discard it and then use new twine to wrap around.
- Butterfly the turkey breast. Put a plastic wrap on top and flatten the breast skin side down with a mallet, pounding softly. This type of cut will reduce the thickness and make it easier to roll once you stuff it. We need it to be around a 1/2 inch thickness.
- Season with half of the spices, and add the Stuffing on to the breast. Spread along with the whole breast, leaving a couple of centimeters from the end. If you see that there is some stuffing not needed you can keep it for later.
- Start rolling from one side of the breast to the other until you reach the end. Use the twine we removed previously to wrap around the turkey breast again, being careful not to leave any filling out.
- Add the remaining half of olive oil to the turkey breast and pat the remaining seasoning so that it sticks to it.
- Set on Saute mode on your pressure cooker, heat some oil. Brown for 3 minutes on each side of the breast. Once browned on all sides, set aside.
- Deglaze the pot with 1 cup of low sodium chicken stock. Put in the trivet and on top put the seared turkey breast.
- Cover your pressure cooker and put the knob to sealing. Set to manual for 25 minutes (High Pressure). It would take around 10 minutes to reach pressure. When the time ends, let it natural release for 10 minutes. Internal temperature should reach 165º F. Remove and let it rest covered for 10 minutes, so the juices will redestribute back.
- In the instant pot, with the turkey drippings, set Saute mode again. Heat the liquid and add the turkey concentrate and let it boil for 5 minutes. It should thicken itself.
- Now that you have everything cooked. Cut into slices and serve with your preferred side dish and the gravy. Enjoy!
Notes
- Culantro - you can use Italian parsley or regular parsley.
- For the seasonings: you can use anything that makes you happy. Use up any of your pantry options, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, thyme.
- Queso Fresco: You can use any cheese you have on hand. Mozarella will work great as well.
- Oil - I used olive oil, but any mild-flavored oil can work avocado oil or canola oil.
- Chicken - You could use boneless and skinless chicken breasts for this recipe. I would make about 4 to 5 chicken breasts, brown as directed but cook for 5 minutes and 5 minutes of natural release.
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