Turkey Roulades (Don’t Be Chicken – Try Turkey!)

I love a cheeky advertising campaign, and the latest one from Turkey Farmers of Canada, launched just this month, certainly fits the bill. They’re asking Canadians to “think turkey” when it comes to your everyday protein. But, they’re doing it in a playful way with billboards, transit shelter ads, social media posts, and more. You may even catch one of these billboards asking you, “What’s your beef with turkey?”

Thinking about it, our family eats a protein every day at dinner with the most common one being chicken breast. When meal planning, I try and mix it up so that we’re not having the same protein two nights in a row, but to be honest I typically only think of turkey when making a juicy roast turkey for a family holiday. But, turkey is so much more versatile than that.

Turkey Farmers of Canada asked me if I’d be interested in challenge – by taking one of our family’s favorite recipes and cheating by using turkey instead. Since we use chicken breast in so many family recipes, I figured a chicken breast/turkey breast swap was the first step. Then, thinking about what recipes our family loves the most, I decided that swapping chicken roulades for turkey roulades was the way to go, especially when I realized this meant STUFFING was going to be a part of this recipe cheat.

Instead of flattening a butterflied chicken breast and rolling it around a mixture of red peppers, red onions and parmesan, we used a flattened butterflied turkey breast and rolled it around stuffing, celery and onions. Same process, completely different taste result AND a way to get the comfort food goodness of a delicious turkey dinner in a smaller, compact size meal that can easily be made for a regular weeknight family dinner!

The recipe is so easy, and once you try it I’m positive you’ll add it to your meal rotation of family favorites too!

Recipe: Turkey Roulades

Ingredients:

• 8 turkey breast portions (turkey roulades can be made with a 1 large turkey breast, flattened, or if you can’t find that, you can buy smaller sized turkey breasts in the grocery store that look like chicken breasts)
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 3 Tbsp butter, divided
• 2 cups poultry broth
• 2 packages boxed stuffing
• 1 package gravy mix
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking dish with some water just to cover the bottom, and a tablespoon or so of butter on the bottom.
2. Prepare your stuffing mix by melting 2 Tbsp of butter in a pan, then adding the celery and onion. Cook for 6-8 minutes until softened.
3. Add the stuffing mix and poultry broth. Stir until the bread is no longer dry. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
4. Place each turkey breast on a cutting board in between two pieces of parchment paper and pound with a meat mallet to about ¼” – ½” thick.
5. Spread the stuffing mixture in a thick layer, evenly over the turkey.
6. Roll each turkey breast with the stuffing, like a jelly roll.
7. Secure each turkey roulade with kitchen twine or a bamboo pick (which looks like an extra large toothpick) and place seam-side down in the baking dish.
8. Use a turkey baster or large spoon to cover each turkey roulade with the liquid/butter mixture from the bottom of the dish, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
9. Bake for 45 minutes, basting the roulades occasionally.
10. Remove from oven and remove enough liquid from the bottom of the dish to use in the gravy mixture in place of the water called for, then cover the dish and let rest for 5 minutes while you prepare the gravy according to package instructions, using the liquid in place of the water.

We find that because of the stuffing, a carb-filled side-dish isn’t necessary and we serve these turkey roulades with a garden salad or other veggie (steamed green beans are a good option) for a delicious, hearty, everyday meal. Gobble, gobble!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in partnership with Turkey Farmers of Canada. All opinions and commentary are, as always, my own.