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Air fryer boneless turkey breast roast with stuffing is perfect if you want to make a small no-fuss Thanksgiving dinner or are cooking your holiday meal in an air fryer instead of an oven. The perfectly-seasoned turkey is golden, tender, and juicy, and it cooks on top of a quick homemade stuffing that’s packed with savory flavor for a built-in easy holiday side dish.
Like many holidays, Thanksgiving centers around food, family, and friends. But what if you don’t have an oven to cook your turkey dinner in? If you have an air fryer, you’re good to go, and I’m going to walk you through the entire process, step-by-step.
Turkey might be the star of the show, but it’s only the start. We’re also going to make stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and even cranberry sauce in the air fryer. (I will be sharing recipes for each of these throughout the week and adding links once they’re live.) And as a bonus, how about classic apple crisp in the air fryer for your holiday dessert?
This easy air fryer Thanksgiving dinner was designed with everyone who doesn’t have a fully functioning kitchen in mind because:
- We don’t use the oven or the stovetop!
- Everything is cooked in the air fryer, which is great for people who: 1) live in a college dorm, 2) are staying in an Airbnb, 3) are renovating their kitchen, or 4) just want the ease of using an air fryer to make their holiday meal.
- This entire meal requires minimal chopping. The only things that really need chopping are the fresh herbs and the bread for the stuffing. And if need be, you can use dried herbs instead of fresh. Also, you can buy dry bread cubes at the grocery store. When developing this recipe, it was important to me to keep chopping to a minimum to ensure this meal is easy to make even if someone doesn’t have access to a fully stocked kitchen with knives, cutting boards, etc.
Why This Recipe Works
- It’s meant to serve a much smaller crowd. If you’re just making dinner for yourself, you and your sweetie, or a family of four, a boneless turkey breast roast is the perfect choice.
- For those of you who want to cook your Thanksgiving dinner – turkey and all – in an air fryer, this recipe shows you exactly how to do it! And it’s easy and delicious.
- Boneless turkey breast roast comes out tender, juicy, and flavorful in the air fryer. Every single time! Here we make a quick compound butter (which is just butter mixed with herbs and spices) to coat the turkey. It’s an easy, no-fuss way to ensure the meat is juicy and flavorful!
Tip: To Make Just the Turkey or Stuffing
If you don’t want to make the turkey and stuffing together, you can make either of them alone in an air fryer. A 3-pound boneless turkey breast roast cooks in the air fryer at 400F for 45 to 60 minutes (around 7 to 10 minutes per pound). And if you just want to make the homemade stuffing, air fry it at 350F covered for 15 minutes and uncovered until browned, about 5 to 10 minutes more.
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
Air Fryer Stuffing Ingredients
- Stale bread – You can use any type of bread you want and cut it into 1/4-inch cubes. Make sure it’s stale to the point of being hard, or you can dry it out in the oven.
- Chicken stock – Chicken or turkey stock will add rich flavor to this stuffing recipe. You can also use chicken or turkey broth.
- Minced dried onion – Here we use minced dried onion instead of fresh onion to keep chopping to a minimum. This ingredient adds a ton of savory onion flavor without all the chopping and without the crying that goes along with chopping onion!
- Fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage – This combination of herbs is a classic pairing with turkey, and fresh herbs really do make a big difference here. Rosemary adds woodsy, piney notes, thyme contributes bright citrusy, peppery notes, and sage brings earthy, eucalyptus-like notes. For this recipe, if need be, you can use 1/2 tablespoon of each herb (dried and crushed) instead of 1 1/2 tablespoons of each minced fresh herb.
- Garlic powder – Garlic powder adds mild garlic undertones without having to peel and mince fresh garlic.
- Salt and black pepper – These pantry-staple seasonings make sure the stuffing isn’t bland.
- Unsalted butter – Butter is the not-so-secret secret ingredient that makes our air fryer stuffing special, adding just the right amount of richness.
Air Fryer Boneless Turkey Breast Ingredients
- 3-pound boneless turkey breast roast – I use a Butterball 3-pound turkey breast roast for a couple of reasons. I find that it comes out tender and juicy every time without having to brine it. This type of roast comes with netting holding it together. This means I don’t have to look for my twine and spend time wrapping it. Another handy feature is that it comes with a Butterball gravy packet for serving. If you’re pressed for time, you don’t have to make gravy.
- Butter – Like roasting a chicken, butter smeared on the outside of turkey when you roast it not only adds richness and flavor, but it helps lock in the juices.
- Salt and black pepper – To make sure the turkey isn’t bland.
- Poultry seasoning – Poultry seasoning is a dried herb mix that typically contains: sage, thyme, marjoram, sometimes parsley and/or rosemary, black pepper and/or white pepper, and nutmeg. Roast turkey (aka Thanksgiving dinner) is the main reason I have poultry seasoning in my house!
- Sweet paprika – The main reason we use sweet paprika in this recipe is for the gorgeous golden color it turns the outside of our turkey breast.
- Garlic powder – Adds mild savory garlic flavor.
How to Make Air Fryer Boneless Turkey Breast Roast with Stuffing
- For the stuffing, add all ingredients (except the butter) to a large bowl and toss to mix.
- Fold in the butter.
- For the turkey, add the butter, salt, poultry seasoning, paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper to a small bowl. Stir until well-combined.
- If your boneless turkey breast roast came with twine around the outside, leave it on. Otherwise, wrap the outside in twine so it’s a compact bundle. Rub the butter mixture on all sides of the turkey breast roast.
- Grease an 8 by 8-inch oven-safe dish with butter. Add the stuffing to the prepared dish, spreading it out evenly. Create a well in the center where you’ll place the turkey. Place the buttered turkey breast roast in the center of the dish with the stuffing and cover with foil.
- Preheat an air fryer to 400F. Add the covered stuffing/turkey to the air fryer, and air fry for 40 minutes. Turn the air fryer down to 350F. Continue air frying for 25 minutes. Check the turkey for doneness (see the Notes in the recipe card below). If you want additional browning on the turkey and stuffing, remove the foil and air fry for 5 minutes or until browned.
Storage
Store leftover turkey and stuffing covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Tips For Success
- The bread should be stale and hard for this stuffing recipe. You can also buy dry bread cubes for stuffing at the grocery store. Look for it in the bakery area or the aisle with the boxed stuffing mixes. Alternatively, you can cut fresh bread into 1/4-inch cubes. To do so, spread them out onto a baking tray, and bake at 350F until dry, tossing occasionally.
- Let your turkey breast roast thaw in the fridge for 2 days before you want to roast it. Make sure you put it on a rimmed baking tray or in a large bowl to catch any juices that are released so it doesn’t make a mess in your fridge.
- If you want to serve gravy with your turkey dinner, you have a couple options. And you don’t need turkey drippings for either of them! If you buy a Butterball turkey breast roast, it comes with a gravy packet. I empty the gravy packet into a saucepan, bring it to a boil on the stovetop, and let it boil vigorously for three minutes before serving (you can add a splash of water if the gravy gets too thick). If you want to heat the gravy in the air fryer, put the gravy in an oven-safe dish, cover it with foil, and air fry at 350F until the gravy boils. Another option is to make a 5-minute gravy without drippings (aka velouté sauce).
Frequently Asked Questions
According to Butterball Foodservice, in a conventional oven at 350F, it takes about 4 hours to roast a 3-pound turkey breast roast. In a convection oven at 325F, it takes about 3 hours or 15 minutes per pound.
And Butterball says to cook a boneless turkey breast in an air fryer uncovered at 400F for 45 to 60 minutes, or about 7 to 10 minutes per pound.
In this recipe, we cook the turkey breast roast on top of the homemade stuffing covered in the air fryer for 40 minutes at 400F, and then we turn the heat down to 350F and cook for an additional 25 minutes. After that, we check the turkey for doneness. If you want to brown the turkey and stuffing, remove the foil and air fry for 5 minutes more (or until browned). Cooking the turkey breast roast and stuffing with the foil on makes sure the turkey doesn’t dry out, and it ensures the stuffing doesn’t burn.
As per the USDA, turkey is done when it reaches 165F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part. I like to pull it out at 160F because carry over cooking will bring the temperature up to 165F, but that’s completely up to you.
Butterball pre-brines a lot of their products, including their boneless turkey breast roasts. That makes our job easier; the beauty of this recipe is that the turkey is juicy and flavorful without us having to brine it!
According to the USDA, “Wash your hands, but not the turkey! Many consumers think that washing their turkey will remove bacteria and make it safer. However, it’s virtually impossible to wash bacteria off the bird. Instead, juices that splash during washing can transfer bacteria onto the surfaces of your kitchen, other foods and utensils. This is called cross-contamination, which can make you and your guests very sick. Washing your hands before and after handling your turkey and its packaging is crucial to avoid spreading harmful bacteria.”
According to AllRecipes, the only time you should rinse a turkey before cooking is when you brine it. Butterball turkeys are pre-brined, so I just pat the outside dry with paper towels and then rub the butter mixture on the outside.
A 3-pound turkey breast roast will feed two to six people; to be safe, figure it’ll feed around four people without leftovers or second helpings. If you want to make enough for each person to have a second helping (or to have leftovers), a 3-pound turkey breast roast will feed two people. Note that during the cooking process, you can expect the roast to shrink by about 25%.
More Easy Thanksgiving Recipes
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Air Fryer Boneless Turkey Breast Roast with Stuffing
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Ingredients
Air Fryer Boneless Turkey Breast Roast with Stuffing:
- 6 cups diced stale bread see Notes
- 2 1/4 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced dried onion
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter chilled and diced (plus more for greasing the dish)
Air Fryer Boneless Turkey Breast Roast:
- 3 pound boneless turkey breast roast patted dry
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Prep the Stuffing:
- For the stuffing, add all ingredients (except the butter) to a large bowl and toss to mix. Fold in the butter.
- Grease an 8 by 8-inch oven-safe dish with butter. Add the stuffing to the prepared dish, spreading it out evenly and then creating a well in the center where you’ll place the turkey.
Prep the Turkey Breast:
- If your boneless turkey breast roast came with twine around the outside, leave it on. Otherwise, wrap the outside in twine so it’s a compact bundle.
- Add the butter, salt, poultry seasoning, paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper to a small bowl. Stir until well-combined. Rub the butter mixture on all sides of the turkey breast roast.
- Place the buttered turkey breast roast in the center of the dish with the stuffing and cover with foil.
Cook Time 1 (400F, 40 Minutes):
- Preheat an air fryer to 400F. Add the covered stuffing/turkey to the air fryer, and air fry for 40 minutes.
Cook Time 2 (350F, 25 Minutes):
- Turn the air fryer down to 350F. Continue air frying for 25 minutes.
Cook Time 3 (Browning):
- Check the turkey for doneness (see Notes). If you want additional browning on the turkey and stuffing, remove the foil and air fry for 5 minutes or until browned.
Notes
- Diced Stale Bread: The bread should be stale and hard for this stuffing recipe. You can also buy dry bread cubes for stuffing at the grocery store (look for it in the bakery area or the aisle with the boxed stuffing mixes). Alternatively, you can cut fresh bread into 1/4-inch cubes, spread the cubes out onto a baking tray, and bake at 350F until dry, tossing occasionally.
- Turkey Temperature: As per the USDA, turkey is done when it reaches 165F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part. I like to pull it out at 160F because carry over cooking will bring the temperature up to 165F, but that’s completely up to you.
- Recipe Yield and Nutritional Information: A 3-pound boneless turkey breast roast will feed 2 to 6 people. To be safe, figure it’ll make 4 servings without second helpings and without leftovers. This amount of stuffing will serve 4 to 6 people. The nutritional information for this recipe was calculated based on this recipe making 4 servings.
- To Make Either the Turkey or the Stuffing Alone: If you don’t want to make the turkey and stuffing together, you can make either of them alone in an air fryer. A 3-pound boneless turkey breast roast cooks in the air fryer at 400F for 45 to 60 minutes (around 7 to 10 minutes per pound). And if you just want to make the homemade stuffing, air fry it at 350F covered for 15 minutes and uncovered until browned, about 5 to 10 minutes more.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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