Leave the same old Corned Beef behind for this Corned Turkey and Cabbage Dinner made with all the same pickling spices and roasted vegetables.
Corned Turkey and Cabbage Dinner
A perfect festive dish for the upcoming St Patrick’s Day holiday. There are some amazing corned beef recipes here on the blog including Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage (or stove top version) and Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup which use the classic beef brisket in them. Another festive dinner dish is my lightened up Shepherd’s Pie.
Hi everyone its Sabrina again from Cooking with Points, a recipe blog dedicated to Weight Watchers friendly recipes!
Corned Beef is a delicious traditional springtime favorite recipe we all love. But, it’s also made using brisket which is higher in points than most people can manage.
We’re changing things up a bit and instead of using brisket today, we use turkey breast in this recipe using all the same pickling ingredients. And instead of boiling the vegetables along with the beef we are roasting them with the turkey to get the best and more bold flavors out of all our ingredients.
The results are nothing short of DELICIOUS. Yes, nothing will fully replace the flavors of corned beef, but you can still feel like you’re taking part in all the fun with this delicious recipe.
OR, if you want an even more fun way of roasting off the potatoes in this recipe you can try including my Rotisserie Roasted Potatoes which taste like that delicious rotisserie chicken skin but on potatoes and without the added fat of chicken skin. They’re one of our favorite side dishes!
Plus, since we are using turkey we only have to count the points in the potatoes, oil and small spoonful of brown sugar. So, you can still enjoy the classic flavors without stressing the points!
Corned Beef Pickling Ingredients:
Corned beef gets it’s flavors from a salty brine and a handful of pickling ingredients. This includes allspice, mustard seeds, coriander, cloves, peppercorns, cardamom and cinnamon.
In this recipe we use the ground versions of these spices with just a hint of brown sugar to recreate the flavors. Roasted at a high temperature allows for us to brown the outside of the turkey while maintaining a juicy interior.
For our purposes since we aren’t brining and we are using the spices directly on the turkey, we also add a small amount of brown sugar to temper all the spices. Don’t worry the corned turkey won’t taste sweet, just balanced.
How to Roast a Juicy Turkey Breast:
We chose a boneless turkey breast with the skin on. Since we aren’t eating the skin, we don’t want to waste it by crisping it on top. We want the turkey breast to get some good browning. So, instead it will be flipped skin side down onto the baking sheet.
By keeping the skin on the bottom, it creates a layer of fat to keep the turkey breast from drying out while the top browns. Once cooked, just discard the skin and enjoy the turkey with the browned top.
This method also lets us roast at a higher temperature than we normally would. This allows the top for a better chance to brown with just a bit of olive oil sprayed on top.
And, if you’re worried about the pan you can line it with parchment paper or a silicone mat first. I was able to wash the pan easily, but this baking sheet is from Williams-Sonoma and it’s the best.
How to season a turkey breast:
We created a pickling spice dry rub and rubbed it on the top of our turkey as well as between the skin and the bottom of the turkey. Even though we are discarding the skin, the turkey benefits from being seasoned on all sides.
More Irish Food Inspired for St Patrick’s Day:
- Irish Oatmeal Leek Soup
- Creamy Cauliflower Mash with Kale (Colcannon)
- Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread
- Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
- Sweet Potato Irish Nachos
Corned Turkey and Cabbage Dinner
Ingredients
Turkey
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf, crumbled very finely
- Olive oil spray
- 3 1/2 lbs turkey breast, boneless and skin on,
Vegetables
- 1 head cabbage, cut into 8 wedges
- 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch coins
- 1 pound yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix all the spices (including the brown sugar) together.
- Pull the skin up from the meat and rub half of the spices onto the turkey.
- Put the turkey skin side down onto your baking sheet and rub the rest of the spices onto the top of the turkey breast.
- Put the turkey into the oven to cook while you prepare the vegetables (turkey will cook a total of about 35 minutes).
- Toss the carrots and potatoes in the oil with the salt and pepper.
- Add them to the baking sheet.
- Add the cabbage wedges to the sheet and spray with a 1/2 second of olive oil spray.
- Add the vegetables to the oven and continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
- Remove when turkey is cooked through and vegetables have just started to brown.
- Discard skin and serve.
