What Is the Cooking Time for Turkey Crown?

A turkey crown is a whole turkey with the legs and wings removed, leaving a joint of white breast meat on the bone. A turkey crown should be treated as a regular turkey with cooking times adjusted to the weight of the crown.

As with every type of cooked turkey, a turkey crown should be weighed before cooking. It is also important to ensure that the oven is preheated before you begin to cook. The general temperature at which a turkey crown should be roasted is 375 degrees. Placed upside down in a roasting pan and covered with foil, a joint of turkey should be cooked for 10 minutes per pound with an additional 90 minutes added on to the end of the cooking time to ensure the crown is cooked thoroughly. If you want to stuff the turkey with any herbs and spices, always weigh the turkey before roasting and adjust the cooking times accordingly.

Again, ensure the oven is preheated thoroughly; usually this means allowing at least 10 minutes for preheating. To poach the turkey crown, preheat the oven to 390 degrees. To poach a turkey crown weighing around 9 lbs., blend a poaching liquid and bring it to a boil. A good poaching liquid almost always contains chicken stock; other ingredients can be added, such as butter, tarragon and black pepper. Bring the ingredients to a boil in a large pan, remove it from the heat and blend it with a hand blender until it is smooth. Bring it back to a boil, lower it to a simmer and then place the uncooked turkey crown into the large pan containing the liquid. Cover the pan with foil or a lid and place it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the turkey is tender. Poaching a turkey crown allows it to cook in its own juices while absorbing the flavors added to the liquid, keeping the turkey moist. The advantage of this method of cooking is that while turkey juices can be lost in the roasting method and result in a dry bird, poaching offers a way of ensuring that the juices are not lost and creates a rich sauce for your meal.

After the turkey crown has cooked thoroughly always allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes before attempting to carve. This will ensure that all the juices lost during cooking have reabsorbed into the meat and it will also allow for easier carving.