Turkey Dinner Game Changers

I’ve always enjoyed cooking full turkey dinners, but I will maybe do one per year.  During the holiday seasons, we typically go our family member’s homes for the big dinners, but this past year has been very different, for obvious reasons.   Due to lockdowns and it being just the two of us, I decided to change things up a bit with our turkey dinners.   Typically, I get a whole turkey, fresh or frozen (if frozen, I make sure to defrost it prior to cooking), stuff it with my mom’s traditional stuffing recipe and make delicious gravy with the drippings from the bird.   I’ve never cooked a turkey from frozen, or used a pre-flavoured or stuffed turkey.

Easter 2020 – Butterball Frozen Whole Turkey

Ok no experimenting here – traditional turkey dinner.  Defrosted prior to cooking, stuffed whole turkey with all the fixing.   Doesn’t matter, it was still delicious!

Thanksgiving 2020 – Pinty’s Heritage Recipe Whole Turkey

Christmas 2020 – Pinty’s Bourbon & Butter Flavoured Whole Turkey

Since we really enjoyed the Pinty’s Heritage Recipe Turkey, we decided to do it again for Christmas, making sure we got the Bourbon & Butter Flavoured turkey.  Cooking was the same process as the Heritage Recipe.  I will admit that I did not get as much bourbon flavour as I would have liked.  Perhaps pairing it with a bourbon gravy would have enhanced the flavour profile I was looking for.  Out of the two we’ve tried, the Heritage Recipe was my favourite.  I have seen on the Pinty’s website there is a maple flavoured and sweet & smoked flavoured.  If I see those in store, I’ll will definitely give them a go. 

Easter 2021 – Butterball Boneless Stuffed Turkey Breast

I saw this frozen stuffed turkey breast and was intrigued, so instead of cooking a whole turkey for Easter this year, we opted for a frozen stuffed turkey breast.   I must say, this was so easy! Cook from frozen, in the oven for 3.5 – 4 hours, and the main event is done. As much as I love a whole turkey, this turkey breast was easy to slice and there’s no need to worry about deboning after your meal. The stuffing was your traditional stuffing, which tasted good, the meat was juicy, and could easily feed 4 – 5 people. The only thing you miss from a whole turkey is the lack of juices for the gravy. Since it’s the breast meat, you don’t get any drippings for gravy, but you can make your own with pre-made broth or store bought gravy. Overall, this was a huge winner and I may just purchase another one next time at the store keep in the freezer for a weekend meal.

Thanksgiving 2021 – Pinty’s Turkey Breast Roast Heritage Recipe

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In light of American Thanksgiving and all the festivities plastered all over social media and tv, I had a craving for turkey dinner. Seeing we live in Canada and we have already celebrated Thanksgiving in October, I didn’t want to do a full turkey. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Pinty’s now has boneless turkey breast roast, similar to Butterball, but with its original flavouring, Maple flavour and their Heritage recipe. I bought one of each to try them both. Since we really enjoyed the Pinty’s Heritage Recipe Whole Turkey, we started with that one.

This is also a cook from frozen turkey roast, it took about 2.5 hours to fully cook. The size is smaller than the Butterball Boneless Stuffed Turkey Breast, but can easily feed three people especially if you have all the fixings. The Heritage Recipe really comes through, just like the whole turkey and it wasn’t dry. Since it’s only the breast meat, there is no drippings for gravy, but it comes with two small sage gravy packets. In all honestly, the packets don’t provide a lot of gravy, so I mixed it with Clubhouse Turkey Gravy. Overall, it’s a perfect meal for 2-3 people when you want turkey with lots of flavour.