Slow Cooker Bone-In Turkey Breast — Six Quarts of Stock and a Full Freezer

We drove to Idaho Falls on Thursday morning — four and a half hours in the van with five children, a pan of funeral potatoes wedged between the cooler and Noah's car seat, and a pumpkin pie on my lap because there was nowhere else to put it and I was not going to let Denise Cooper's pie crust get crushed by a suitcase. Brandon drove. I held the pie. Lily sang "Let It Go" for approximately ninety of the two hundred and seventy minutes. Mason slept with his hard hat on. Ethan read a book. Olivia counted out-of-state license plates. Noah threw Cheerios at the back of Mason's head with the accuracy of a very small, very dedicated sniper.

Last Thanksgiving, Grace was two months old. I held her at Linda's table while Brandon carved the turkey and she slept against my chest, warm and impossibly light, and I remember thinking: next year she'll be in a high chair, grabbing at the mashed potatoes. There is no high chair. There are no mashed potatoes in small fists. There is a table with a space where a high chair should be, and I sat in my seat and felt the space like a phantom limb — present, painful, invisible to everyone who wasn't looking for it.

Linda's potato casserole was fine. My funeral potatoes were better. I will never say this out loud. Brandon knows. Brandon always knows.

Friday morning, while the kids ran wild in Linda's backyard, I pulled out Linda's roasting pan and stripped the leftover turkey off the bone. I portioned it into freezer bags right there in her kitchen — two cups per bag, twelve bags total, enough shredded turkey for soups and casseroles and enchiladas through January. Linda watched me label each bag with a Sharpie and said, "You're very organized," in a tone I chose to interpret as admiration. I also made a pot of turkey stock from the carcass — four hours on the stove, strained, cooled, poured into quart bags. Six quarts of stock from one turkey carcass. Free. The best price is free.

On the drive home Saturday, Noah fell asleep ten minutes in and Lily fell asleep twenty minutes after that, and the van was quiet, and Brandon reached over and held my hand on top of the pumpkin pie dish, and neither of us said anything about the empty car seat space in the third row, the one we removed in March but can both still see. Some silences are the loudest conversation you'll ever have. The funeral potatoes were better. Grace was missing. Both things are true. I drove home with both.

I came home from that quiet drive carrying more than pumpkin pie dishes and frozen turkey bags—I carried the particular exhaustion of a holiday that holds grief in one hand and gratitude in the other. What I needed the next time around wasn’t a production, wasn’t an audience, wasn’t four hours of basting and checking and hoping; I needed something I could put together in fifteen minutes and then just—let go. This slow cooker turkey breast became my answer to all of that: low effort, deeply satisfying, and freeing enough that I could actually be present for whatever the day asked of me. Here’s how I make it.

Slow Cooker Bone-In Turkey Breast

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 7 hrs | Total Time: 7 hrs 15 min | Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in turkey breast (5–7 lbs), thawed and patted dry
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
• 3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken or turkey broth
• Fresh thyme sprigs, optional

Instructions

1. Make the herb butter. In a small bowl, mash together the softened butter, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, rosemary, sage, salt, and pepper until fully combined.
2. Build the base. Scatter the onion, celery, and smashed garlic across the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Pour the broth over the vegetables. Add fresh thyme sprigs if using.
3. Butter the turkey. Loosen the skin of the turkey breast with your fingers and spread half the herb butter directly onto the meat underneath the skin. Rub the remaining butter all over the outside of the skin.
4. Slow cook. Place the turkey breast skin-side up on top of the vegetables. Cover and cook on LOW for 6–8 hours, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 165°F.
5. Rest before carving. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and tent loosely with foil. Rest for 15 minutes. The skin will not be crispy — if you want color, slide it under the broiler for 3–4 minutes after resting.
6. Save everything. Pour the slow cooker drippings through a fine-mesh strainer into a jar and refrigerate. Skim the fat and use the liquid as gravy base or add it to your turkey stock. Do not pour it down the drain. That is flavor you earned.

For Leftover Turkey Freezer Bags

1. Once cooled, pull all remaining turkey off the bone in shreds or chunks. Portion into 2-cup servings in quart-sized zip-top freezer bags. Label each bag with the date and contents (e.g., “Turkey — Thanksgiving 2024”). Lay flat in the freezer. Use within 3 months for soups, enchiladas, casseroles, and pot pies.

For Turkey Carcass Stock

1. Place the stripped carcass in a large stockpot with 2 roughly chopped carrots, 2 stalks celery, 1 halved onion, a bay leaf, 10 peppercorns, and enough cold water to cover by 2 inches (about 12–14 cups).
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 3–4 hours, skimming foam as needed. The longer it simmers, the richer the stock.
3. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Cool completely. Pour into quart-sized zip-top bags, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Freeze flat. One carcass yields approximately 5–6 quarts. The best price is free.

Nutrition (per serving, turkey only)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 48g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 1g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 390mg