Roast turkey crown with lemon and thyme
125 min · 55 g protein · 336 cals / serving
Christmas dinner without wrestling a whole bird: a turkey crown rubbed under the skin with lemon zest, thyme and garlic butter, roasted on a bed of onions and carrots, and carved into juicy slices with a quick gravy made from the sticky, lemony roasting tin.
Ingredients
- 1 turkey crown, about 2.5kg (1.8kg of meat) turkey breast, on the bone, at room temperature for 30 minutes
Lemon thyme butter
- 25g butter, softened
- zest of 1 lemon lemon zest
- 1 tbsp leaves fresh thyme, plus a few sprigs
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Gravy
- 600ml chicken broth, turkey or chicken stock
- 1 tbsp cornflour cornstarch
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
To serve
- a small handful fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Mash the butter with the lemon zest, thyme leaves, garlic, salt and pepper. Gently loosen the skin over each breast with your fingers and push most of the butter underneath, spreading it over the meat; rub the rest over the skin. Halve the zested lemon and push the halves and the thyme sprigs under the crown.
- Scatter the onion and carrots in a roasting tin, pour in 200ml of the stock and set the crown on top.
- Roast for about 1 1/2–1 3/4 hours for a 2.5kg crown, and start checking at 1 1/4 hours, basting twice and covering with foil if the skin browns too fast. It is done when the juices run clear and a thermometer in the thickest part reads 74C.
- Lift the crown onto a board, cover loosely with foil and leave it to rest for 30 minutes: it stays hot and gets juicier. Lift the vegetables onto a warm dish, squeezing the roasted lemon over them.
- Set the tin over a medium heat, pour in the rest of the stock and scrape up every sticky bit. Mix the cornflour with the lemon juice and 2 tbsp cold water, whisk it in and bubble for 2 minutes until glossy. Add any resting juices and taste for salt.
- Lift off the skin, carve the breasts away from the bone and slice them thickly. Serve with the carrots and onions, the gravy and a scatter of parsley.
Good to know
Should I eat the skin?
The skin keeps the meat moist while it roasts and holds the lemon thyme butter against it. The score counts the meat without it; a little crisp skin on each plate is part of Christmas, but most of a turkey's fat sits in it.
How big a crown do I need?
Allow about 300g of crown on the bone per person. A 2.5kg crown feeds eight with leftovers for Boxing Day sandwiches.
Can I butter it the day before?
Yes. Push the butter under the skin on Christmas Eve, cover and chill. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before roasting.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 112
- Protein
- (69%)
- 18 g
- Fat
- (19%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (12%)
- 4 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 333 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 2687 kcal goes into the pot and 3197 g of ingredients comes out as about 2400 g of food: 112 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.