Meals · Roasts, ribs & slow cooker

Slow cooker turkey breast

Name: Slow cooker turkey breast
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 300 min
Total time: 315 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 kg turkey breast, bone-in; 1 onion yellow onions, thickly sliced; 3 carrots mature carrots, in chunks; 3 stalks celery, in chunks; 4 cloves garlic, smashed; 1 cup chicken broth; 2 tbsp butter, softened; 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme; 1 tsp dried sage; 2 tsp paprika; 1 1/4 tsp salt; 1 tsp black pepper

A turkey breast cooked slowly over vegetables until it slices without argument. It made 2025's most-searched list as meal prep rather than a holiday dish, and that is the right way to think about it: turkey breast is about as much protein per calorie as whole food offers.

Time: 315 min (15 prep + 300 cook)
Servings: 8
Per serving: 275 kcal
Protein: 46 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

1.5 kg turkey breast, bone-in1500 g
1 onion yellow onions, thickly sliced150 g
3 carrots mature carrots, in chunks200 g
3 stalks celery, in chunks150 g
4 cloves garlic, smashed12 g
1 cup chicken broth250 g

Rub

2 tbsp butter, softened30 g
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme3 g
1 tsp dried sage2 g
2 tsp paprika4 g
1 1/4 tsp salt6 g
1 tsp black pepper2 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Mash the butter with the thyme, sage, paprika, salt and pepper and work it all over the turkey, pushing it under the skin where you can reach.
Lay the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the slow cooker and pour in the broth. Set the turkey on top — it should sit above the liquid, not in it, so it roasts rather than boils.
Cook on low 5–6 hours, until a thermometer in the thickest part reads 74°C (165°F). Turkey breast goes from juicy to dry quickly, so check at 5 hours.
Rest 15 minutes before slicing. For crisp skin, put it under a hot grill for 5 minutes first. The vegetables and juices make a good gravy base.

Why not cook it in the liquid?

Submerged turkey poaches, and poached breast meat goes stringy. Sitting it on the vegetables lets steam do the work while the top stays dry enough to brown.

Why this score

exceptionally filling

Protein plus low energy density — the two strongest fullness levers.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

69% of kcal

75% water

7 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

Nothing here converges the way engineered food does — no sugar, no savoury and no alcohol penalty.

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 2198 kcal goes into the pot, 2309 g of ingredients comes out as ~1900 g of food → 116 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 116
Protein: (69%); 19 g
Fat: (22%); 3 g
Carbohydrates: (9%); 3 g
of which sugar: 1 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sodium: 260 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

More meals

Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.