Smoked turkey breast is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 12 recipes to get you started.

What is smoked turkey breast?

Smoked turkey breast is turkey breast that has been cured and slow-smoked, then sold fully cooked and ready to eat. It comes two ways: thin deli slices for sandwiches, and whole or half breasts you slice yourself.

Either way the work is done, so it is a flavor ingredient more than something you cook.

The smoking gives it a deep, savory edge that plain roast turkey lacks, along with a firmer, sliceable texture and a rosy tint near the surface from the cure.

How to Use It

At its simplest it is sandwich meat, and a good one. Pile it onto a Cheddar Apple Smoked Turkey Sandwich or fold it into a wrap with crisp lettuce and a sharp mustard.

It also earns its keep as a flavoring. Diced or shredded, it brings smoke and salt to a pot of beans or greens the way a ham hock would.

It folds into pasta and grain salads like Rotelle with Smoked Turkey, Broccoli & Peppers or a Smoked Turkey Salad without any extra cooking.

When you do heat it, go gentle. It is already cooked, so all you are doing is warming it, and high heat or long cooking dries this lean, cured meat out fast.

Substitutes and Storage

Smoked ham or Canadian bacon swaps in when you want that cured, smoky note with a different meat. Plain roast turkey works if you only need the protein, but you lose the smoke; add a pinch of smoked paprika to bridge the gap.

Since it is already cooked, storage is about freshness. A sealed deli package or whole breast keeps to its date unopened; once opened, use it within 3 to 5 days.

It freezes for 1 to 2 months, though sliced meat dries faster, so freeze it in a single piece when you can.

Quick facts

In Chinese

烟熏火鸡胸肉

British (UK) term

Smoked turkey breast

en français

poitrine de dinde fumée

en español

pechuga de pavo ahumado

Recipes using smoked turkey breast

There are 12 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 12 recipes