Turkey – it’s not just for Christmas! You can cook this turkey in the slow cooker too!

This year I’ve bought a turkey breast joint from Aldi – it’s their standard product, most often found in the autumn and spring months – a frozen turkey breast joint that weighs 800 grams under the Oakhurst brand.

I had one of these last Christmas and couldn’t see a reason to try another brand. The price has decreased by 10p, costing £4.29 this year. There was a choice between a stuffed turkey breast, or a basted turkey breast… I chose the basted one simply because it gives me more actual turkey breast meat; I can find my own stuffing thank you very much 🙂

Cooking a Turkey Breast Joint in a Slow Cooker

It’s quite straight forward to cook this frozen turkey breast joint, but if you’re going to cook it in a slow cooker then it’s best to defrost it from the day before in the fridge. I’ll defrost mine in the fridge from the evening of 23 December.

• Having defrosted the turkey breast, remove the turkey breast joint from all the wrapping – including the foil tray it comes in (retain and wash this THOROUGHLY as it’s handy to pop it back into once cooked).*
• You can, optionally, rub it with anything, such as salt, oil, lemons, butter, spices – if you’ve a wish to do that, but it’s not necessary.
• At the bottom of the slow cooker place either some foil balls, or some raw root vegetables, or even half a lemon and an onion cut in half. What you’re trying to do is just to raise the turkey breast joint above the bottom of the slow cooker. This enables the juices to run away as it cooks; if you do just plonk the breast joint down on the bottom of the slow cooker then, as it cooks, it’ll be sitting in all that turkey fat, which (for most) isn’t ideal… but it’s not compulsory, it is perfectly acceptable to just plonk the breast down on the bottom of the slow cooker if that’s what you wish to do!
• Place the lid on the slow cooker, then turn the slow cooker onto HIGH for at least an hour… just get it all going until you can see/hear that it’s “bubbling”. Then turn the slow cooker down to low. Cook for a total of 5-6 hours.
• You can leave the turkey to rest, still inside the slow cooker, while you get other side dishes cooked! If you’re short of worktop space, or plugs, it can be put to one side, out of the way 🙂

Inside the Pack

If you’re wondering how large this is, inside the pack, here’s a photo, it’s pretty much as big as the packaging. It serves 5 people! The labelling states that it’s 86% breast meat, the rest comprising of turkey skin, water and a few other things such as salt, thickeners and stabilisers.

Formal Cooking Instructions:

The back of the pack says that, for best results this turkey breast is best cooked from frozen. To defrost, remove the outer (cardboard) packaging and place in the fridge for 24-36 hours, or until completely thawed.

To cook the turkey breast, remove the film lid. Place on a baking tray on the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven.

• From Frozen: To cook it takes 1 hour and 50 minutes in a fan oven at 180°C, an electric oven at 200°C or gas mark 6. Cover the turkey breast with foil for the first hour of cooking. After the first hour, remove the foil, so the breast browns.
• From Defrosted: No foil required, just place the exposed turkey breast in its foil dish (see through film removed), in the oven for 1 hour.

*Note

As this is a poultry product, there are all sorts of reminders and warnings 🙂

These include washing your hands and washing any worktop or utensils that touch the raw turkey.

If you are retaining the outer foil tray, make sure you wash it thoroughly, in really hot and soapy water. A quick rinse out is not sufficient.

Does a Turkey Breast Joint fit in a Slow Cooker?

My slow cooker is a 3.5 litre, oval shaped, slow cooker – this size of turkey breast joint, at 800g, fits easily:

Cost of Living Crisis 2022 Price Update

I will be buying a similar turkey breast joint for Christmas 2022, so have started looking around at who is selling them!

The Aldi Oakhurst Basted Turkey Breast Joint and the Oakhurst Stuffed Turkey Breast Joint are both currently selling for £5.29.

2023 Price Update

For 2023 I’ve just picked up the Aldi Oakhurst Cook from Frozen Turkey Breast Joint, 800g – this year it’s cost me £5.49. An increase of just 20p since last year, that’s not too bad!

This year I’ve decided to cook this on Sunday, Christmas Eve, then reheat it on Christmas Day in the microwave. It will be put in the fridge to defrost on the evening of Friday 22 December. This year I’m cooking everything ahead of time, to reheat on the day, so I can spend the day relaxing and not juggling food prep/cooking etc, which is how I felt I spent the day last year!