Trader Joe’s Brined Bone-In Half Turkey Breast

Last Updated on November 14, 2023

Thanksgiving turkeys just arrived at Trader Joe’s for the season. Aldi’s cousin sells several types of turkeys:

• All Natural Antibiotic Free Brined Fresh Young Turkeys for $2.49 per lb.
• All Natural Glatt Kosher Fresh Young Turkeys for $3.49 per lb.
• Organic Young Turkeys for $3.99 per lb.
• Trader Joe’s Brined Bone-In Half Turkey Breast for $9.99 per lb.

Last year, I tried one of TJ’s All Natural Brined Young Turkeys, and it was good. This year, I decided to go with something smaller that would be less work in the kitchen but hopefully just as delicious. I went with the brined bone-in half turkey breast. I’ve purchased a bone-in turkey breast from Aldi a few times and had good results, so I was curious to see how the Trader Joe’s version compared.

Trader Joe’s Brined Bone-In Half Turkey Breast with Garlic Herb Butter cost $9.99 per pound at the time of publication. I bought a 3.48-pound package that cost a total of $34.77.

This served my family of four with a decent amount left over, so I’d say you might get five servings out of this, possibly six if people don’t eat a lot. That comes out to nearly $6 or so per serving. This is on the more expensive side for a turkey dinner, as you can buy a whole turkey for a lot less, especially if you get it from Aldi. I don’t have pricing for this year’s Aldi Kirkwood bone-in turkey breast, but when I reviewed it a few years ago, it was less than $1.50 per pound.

With this TJ’s bone-in half turkey breast, though, you’re actually paying for someone else to do the cooking. That’s right. This hunk of turkey is sold fully cooked.

The Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer states:

For every person who loves the lengthy and involved process of choosing, preparing, and roasting a fresh, Trader Joe’s Turkey, there’s another person who would prefer it’s done by somebody else. Well, we can’t do it all for you—but we come pretty close with Trader Joe’s Brined Bone-In Half Turkey Breast!

 

Perfectly portioned for a smaller Turkey Day gathering (or a weeknight family meal), this fully-cooked entrée option takes less than an hour to reheat in the oven. Our trusted Midwest supplier marinates bone-in Breasts in a flavorful brine of salt, sugar, black pepper, and garlic herb butter. After brining, they sear each Half Breast to a golden brown and then cook it low and slow using the sous-vide method. This yields delicious Turkey with crispy skin and tender, succulent white meat full of rich, slow-roasted flavor.

This is a product of the U.S. When it’s in stock at Trader Joe’s, you’ll find it in the refrigerator case with the rest of the holiday turkeys. It’s sold in a bag and didn’t look quite like what I was expecting, so it took me a minute to find it in the fresh meat case at the store.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk.

Ingredients are turkey breast, water, garlic herb butter (butter [cream {milk}, salt], minced garlic, sea salt, parsley), sugar, sea salt, and black pepper.

One serving size is about three ounces, with the number of servings per package varying. One serving has 100 calories, 2.5 grams of total fat (3% DV), 1 gram of saturated fat (5% DV), 45 mg of cholesterol (15% DV), 390 mg of sodium (17% DV), 1 gram of total carbohydrates (0% DV), no dietary fiber, less than 1 gram of total sugars, less than 1 gram of added sugars, and 17 grams of protein.

Nutrition information, ingredients, and heating directions. (Click to enlarge.)

The package has simple directions for heating this in either a conventional oven (recommended) or in a microwave.

To heat in the oven, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the turkey and all juices from the bag into a roasting pan. Cover tightly with foil and heat on the center rack in the oven for 25 minutes. Then remove the foil; baste and continue heating until the skin is golden brown and the turkey is warm; baste occasionally for an additional 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven, baste again, and then remove the turkey from the pan. Cover tightly with foil and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing to serve.

To microwave, make a 1-inch slit in the plastic bag near the wing, and place the bag on a microwave-safe dish, skin side up. Microwave on high for 10-14 minutes or until heated through. Allow to rest 5 minutes before carefully removing the turkey from the bag to slice and serve. Save the juices in the dish for basting or to make gravy.

The back of the bag also has a recipe for a simple stovetop pan gravy that requires just a bit of olive oil and white flour. (I’ve included the gravy recipe toward the end of this post.)

My half turkey breast ready to get covered with foil and go in the oven.

I heated my turkey in the oven on a busy weeknight, and it made a good hearty dinner, especially when I paired it with some other easy Thanksgiving sides from Trader Joe’s, including refrigerated ready-made cornbread stuffing and ready-made cranberry sauce. This turkey was plenty warm after a total of about 40 minutes in the oven. There were plenty of juices in the bag, which I used after heating the turkey to make a very good gravy.

After about 40 minutes in the oven.

The skin did not get crispy on this turkey, but that wasn’t a big deal, as there wasn’t a lot of skin anyway. There were a few fatty chunks, but I’ve never cooked any turkey that didn’t have some fat in certain spots. There was plenty of meat on this turkey half breast. I was able to get quite a few good-sized slices off the breast, along with smaller chunks of meat from off the bone.

A mini TJ’s Thanksgiving dinner.

As for flavor, this was as good as any turkey I’ve cooked myself. It was tender and moist. We couldn’t really taste the garlic herb butter marinade. It just tastes like regular turkey.

We really liked the easy pan gravy recipe that’s included on the package for this turkey. I had to cook it for about 10-15 minutes to thicken it, rather than the advertised 3-4 minutes, but it was the perfect savory complement to the turkey.

This pre-cooked TJ’s turkey breast is too expensive to buy often, but it did make for a good dinner, and my family readily ate it.

Simple Pan Gravy:

Ingredients — 

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pan drippings
• 1 cup water, room temperature

Directions — 

1. While the turkey is resting, heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add flour; stir to texture of wet sand with a medium brown color, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Deglaze the roasting pan with water. Add skillet back to low heat; add deglazed pan drippings, raise heat to medium, and cook until gravy thickens, about 3-4 minutes or to desired thickness.
3. If you feel the gravy is too lumpy or you want a more elegant finish, use a strainer to remove lumps.

The Verdict:

Trader Joe’s Brined Bone-In Half Turkey Breast is sold fully cooked so all you have to do is reheat it in the oven, which takes about 40 minutes. Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t get much easier than this, but you do pay a higher price for the convenience. This turkey is marinated in a mild garlic herb butter and tastes great, and we made an excellent pan gravy with the drippings. If you want a holiday dinner that isn’t a lot of work, or if you’re not feeding a crowd, this might be a good choice.