Garlic Herb Butter Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

Slow cooking is without question the safest and easiest way to cook turkey breast without brining or marinating. The flesh is juicy, it’s completely hands off, and it’s a forgiving recipe. And it’s ideal to prep ahead!

Slow Cooker turkey breast

This is the slow cooker version of last years’ Roasted Garlic Herb Butter Turkey Breast. The slow cooker option was in such high demand, I ended up creating it and cramming the recipe in the notes, putting it in the running for the world’s longest recipe directions. And as Christmas and Thanksgiving approaches for another year, I finally got my butt into gear and filmed the slow cooker version properly so I could share it with you. So it’s here. Garlic Herb SLOW COOKER Turkey Breast. Just 12 months after it was originally requested!!😂

This is what you get with this recipe

✅ Easy, forgiving recipe made in the slow cooker, freeing up your oven for other things; ✅ Juicy flesh – no dry turkey breast around here! Proof -> see reader feedback on the classic Juicy Slow Cooker Turkey Breast, there’s plenty! This Garlic Herb Turkey Breast uses the same cooking technique; ✅ Garlic-Herb-Butter flavour – all that flavour slathered under the skin so it drips down and bastes the turkey while it’s cooking….. ✅ Crispy skin – you are going to be BLOWN AWAY how crispy the skin is! It’s way crispier than traditional roasted turkey – and it stays crispy. It takes mere minutes under the grill/broiler just before serving! ✅ Garlic Butter Gravy – As if all that’s not enough, we’re topping all that off with the most incredible gravy… The favour in that gravy is outrageous. OUTRAGEOUS! It’s buttery, garlicky, a bit herby, but mostly it’s the turkey juices. You will be amazed how much juice comes out of the turkey!

Garlic Herb Butter for Slow Cooker turkey breast

The garlic-butter slather is the key flavour base for this recipe. Lots of butter, lots of garlic, plus herbs of choice – fresh or dried. Fresh herbs are extra great so try to get at least one if not two fresh herbs if you can. I’ve used thyme, sage, parsley and rosemary – the dried version of all of these are great too.

Slather everywhere!

Get that butter all over the turkey, in all the crevices and folds, but most of all, get it under the skin. This is where you get the most mileage out of the butter because it’s trapped between the skin and the flesh so while some drips down the turkey while it cooks, some of it also stays under the skin. Just imagine all the good things happening during all those hours while it slow cooks!! You’re going to cop a great eyeful of my unmistakable hands in the recipe video doing all the slathering action. No cheeky comments! 😂

Cooking turkey breast in slow cooker (crockpot)

I like to place the turkey breast on top of a halved onion and head of garlic. This serves two purposes:

Elevates the turkey breast so it doesn’t braise in its own juices (cooks faster, can dry it out); and
Infuses the liquid from the turkey with extra flavour which is used to make the amazing garlic butter gravy. Slow cook for 6 hours on LOW, but to be on the safe side, check the internal temperature at 5 hours. Variables such as how chilled the centre of your turkey is, the strength of your slow cooker, thickness of the breast can all affect how long it takes. A MEAT THERMOMETER IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Even a cheap one from Ebay or Kmart. It’s a very worthwhile investment – and will take the guesswork out of cooking. It’s especially important for things like turkey breast which are lean and prone to drying out when overcooked.

Crisp the skin – don’t skip this!

This is an essential step and it’s the crowning glory of this Slow Cooker Turkey Breast. Just pop the turkey under the grill/broiler for a mere 5 minutes, and watch with amazement how the pale, unappetising looking skin transforms into a deeply bronzed, ultra crispy skin… DOESN’T THIS LOOK AMAZING??!! And don’t forget there’s GARLIC-HERB-BUTTER UNDER THE SKIN!! Sorry for shouting, just overly excited

I know I said the crispy skin is the crowning glory, but I forgot – there’s another one:

The turkey garlic butter gravy

All those flavours from the Garlic-Herb-Butter we slathered on the turkey, mingling with the juices from the turkey with the added flavour from the onion and garlic on the base of the slow cooker…. It’s a gravy unlike any other!!

What to serve with turkey

Turkey breast is more often than not a centrepiece for holiday feasting such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here are some traditional and some of my personal favourite side dish suggestions!

Thanksgiving sides for turkey

Christmas sides for turkey

DON’T STRESS. This is a forgiving recipe!

Turkey breast has a reputation for being notoriously difficult to cook because it’s so lean, so it can go from perfectly juicy to dry in a flash in the oven. You don’t need to stress about precise timing in this recipe because slow cookers are far more forgiving than ovens because they cook at such a low temp – PLUS we’re adding (plenty!) of fat into this recipe with the butter. One or two hours over, and the turkey breast will still be juicy. But if you do accidentally overcook it slightly, don’t fret. Slice the turkey thinly and pass around plenty of that fabulous Garlic Butter Gravy, and I bet no one even notices!!! ~ Nagi x PS For neatly categorised Thanksgiving recipes, head here!