Garlic Herb Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast
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This bacon wrapped turkey breast is covered in a balsamic garlic herb rub then wrapped in a bacon weave for a flavorful, juicy turkey recipe.
It’s the last day of “Thanksgiving Week” on the blog and I’ve saved the big kahuna for last! That’s right, the turkey, the epicenter of the Thanksgiving table!
Since we have a small family, we started preparing a turkey breast a few years back instead of a whole turkey. It’s the perfect size for 4-6 people and if you want to try a couple of different turkey recipes, this is a great way to do it! 
We usually prepare a Cranberry Glazed Turkey Breast (my Mom’s favorite!) and an Herb Crusted Turkey Breast.
This year I decided we should throw in something new so I mimicked one of my most popular recipes, the Bacon Wrapped Rosemary Balsamic Pork Loin and created a new turkey breast recipe that’s coated in a delicious balsamic herb rub, then wrapped in crispy bacon goodness!
The turkey is tender and juicy, the bacon is perfectly crisp and the entire dish is phenomenally flavorful!
The great thing about this bacon wrapped turkey (besides the fact that it’s insanely delicious!) is that it only takes about 10 minutes of prep and an hour to roast in the oven.
A quick and simple main dish will leave you plenty of time to prep those sides, like Sage Pesto and Bacon Sweet Potato Skins (more bacon, yes please!), Portobello Mushroom and Brussels Sprout Casserole and Spicy Creamed Corn!
Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast Ingredients
- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 sprigs fresh rosemary (divided)
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme (divided)
- 2 tbsp steak seasoning
- 6 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 3-4 lb boneless turkey breast
- 10 slices bacon
Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Whisk the balsamic vinegar & olive oil together in a small bowl. Chop 4 sprigs of rosemary & 4 springs of thyme, add to the bowl with the steak seasoning & crushed garlic.
Brush this mixture over the turkey breast.
Place the two remaining sprigs of rosemary & thyme on top of the turkey.
Weave the bacon slices together over the turkey.
Tuck the bacon under the turkey. Make sure the ends of the rosemary and thyme sprigs slightly stick out at the end for easy removal after the turkey has baked.
Place the bacon wrapped turkey on top of a wire rack on a foil-lined baking sheet.
Brush any extra herb rub on top of the bacon.
Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour (or until the turkey breast reaches 165° inside).
Remove the sprigs of rosemary & thyme from under the bacon and slice the turkey.
O-M-G! For real, the best bacon I’ve ever eaten in my life!
Salty, garlic, herb, crispy, bacon goodness!
This recipe is also another great addition to my Gluten Free Thanksgiving menu!
Making this turkey for the holidays? Be sure to Instagram a picture, tag me (@whitneybond) and hashtag #WBRecipes! I can’t wait to see all of the WhitneyBond.com recipes come to life on your dining room tables!
Garlic Herb Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 sprigs fresh rosemary, divided
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme, divided
- 2 tbsp steak seasoning
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 lb boneless, skinless turkey breast
- 10 slices bacon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Whisk the balsamic vinegar & olive oil together in a small bowl.
- Chop 4 sprigs of rosemary & 4 springs of thyme, add to the bowl with the steak seasoning & crushed garlic.
- Brush this mixture over the turkey breast.
- Place the two remaining sprigs of rosemary & thyme on top of the turkey.
- Weave the bacon slices together over the turkey.
- Tuck the bacon under the turkey.
- Make sure the ends of the rosemary and thyme sprigs slightly stick out at the end for easy removal after the turkey has baked.
- Place the bacon wrapped turkey on top of a wire rack on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Brush any extra herb rub on top of the bacon.
- Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour (or until the turkey breast reaches 165° inside).
Video
Nutrition Facts
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52 Comments on “Garlic Herb Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast”
Can i make this with a bone in turkey breast? also whats the purpose of the wire rack can it be made on a baking dish on a bed of potatoes and shallots?
thansk! hosting a friendsgiving this weekend
Hi Chantalle, I don’t recommend making this with a bone-in turkey breast as it’s hard to carve around the bone and keep the bacon on the turkey.
The bacon wrapped turkey is placed on the wire rack so that the grease from the bacon drips under the wire rack onto the baking sheet and the the bacon gets crisp all the way around. I would recommend cooking the potatoes and shallots on another baking sheet.
Hope this helps! Happy Friendsgiving 🙂
Made this for dinner last night and it was really good.
So glad to hear that Kathryn!!
I made this today and it turned out great! The meat was moist and I usually always pick dark meat on a whole turkey but this breast meat was perfect. I loved the sauce and need to use it on everything! I made extra sauce for some roasted veggies and it was so good. Love the balsamic.
I did need to tent the breast after forty minutes because my bacon was getting too dark. I tented it for another hour and 20 minutes until it was cooked through. Thanks for the creative recipe!
Do you leave the elastic netting on the turkey or do you remove it before cooking?
Hi Karen, you remove and discard it before rubbing the turkey, wrapping it in the bacon, and cooking. Enjoy!
Do I cover the turkey while it’s cooking?
Hi Raymond, no, you don’t need to cover it while cooking.
Just wondering if I could prep the turkey breast / bacon wrap the day before and wrap in plastic wrap or would that be a bad idea?
Also, should I remove the skin or leave it on?
You can definitely prep it the day before. Leaving the skin on or removing it is a personal preference. I’ve made it both ways and either way it works!
HI! Does the bacon carve up easily or does it fall off the breast whwn you start to cut it?
Most of it will stay on the breast, a few pieces will fall off the sides when carving, but you can just place them on or around the turkey when serving.
Great recipe! I am doing a 3lb boneless turkey breast this year. Would it be possible to do this in a convection oven? My main oven will be busy with the typical 10lb whole turkey and desserts.
Hi Toni, I haven’t tried the recipe in a convection oven, but I’m sure it would work just fine!
What is steak seasoning? Is it like a salt and pepper blend? Do you have a brand you prefer?
Hi Cindy! It is a blend of different seasonings, you can find it with the salt and pepper at the grocery store. I usually use McCormick brand Montreal Steak Seasoning.
Looks delicious! What if I do a 7-10# turkey? Any suggestions?
Hi Michelle, I’ve never made this recipe with a whole turkey vs. a turkey breast. You’d definitely want to double up on the herb rub and add some more bacon. The only problem would be carving it without all of the bacon falling off, but you could always serve the bacon on the side. Your other option is to make two turkey breasts, that would get you at around 7-8 lbs of turkey!
Wht brand of steak seasoning do you recommend?
Hi Kim, I use McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning. Enjoy!
I made this for Thanksgiving 2016 and I’m making it again for Easter this Sunday. We’re a family of 3, so it’s perfect. And it’s SO dang good! Thank you for the recipe!
Yay! Thanks so much for sharing Melissa! It makes me so happy to hear that your family loves the recipe!
This might be a silly question, but I’ve never cooked a turkey before, so please excuse my ignorance. The turkey’s package says it can be cooked frozen, but I assume for this recipe that the turkey should be thawed. Is that a correct assumption?
Hi Shawna, I’m so sorry that I’m just seeing this. I would have thawed the turkey before cooking this recipe. Hope you enjoyed it and had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
the bacon doesnt burn or smoke cooking it for that long? (i dont mean good crispy bacon, more set off the fire alarm burn)
Hi Kim, I’ve made this recipe for several years now and never had a problem with the bacon burning or setting the fire alarm off 🙂 If you want your bacon less crispy, you can always cover it in foil for half of the cooking time. Enjoy!
What a delicious sounding recipe, cant wait to try it. Thanks very much.
yum yum yummly
Thanks so much Victoria! Enjoy!
I’ve made this recipe….and it’s AWESOME!!!
Uh oh! So I bought a turkey breast roast to try this recipe and I believe I bought the wrong thing. The one I bougly is fully cooked already. Would that work or do I need to buy a raw one? Help!
Hi Erin, you would need a raw turkey. If you made this recipe with a fully cooked turkey, the turkey would be way overcooked & dry out.
Thank you! I guess I didn’t think it through initially. I found the kind pictured and bought it last night. Should it be fully thawed. I noticed the packaging indicates freezer to oven. Thanks in advance!
One more question….is it easy to slide the rosemary and thyme out from under the bacon once it is cooked? It seems to me that would ruin the pretty presentation of the weaved bacon.
Hi Lise,
Just be sure to leave the ends of the rosemary and thyme sprigs sticking out a little from under the bacon, then they’re super easy to pull out after cooking without ruining the presentation at all!
Beautiful looking recipe, Whitney! I am planning to make for Christmas dinner. I would like to make a pan gravy. Do you suggest I don’t use the foil to line the pan, and should I cook it less time to allow for resting (and continuing to cook during resting)? If that is case, what temperature do you recommend I should cook it to in oven with hope that 10 mins of resting or so will bring to 165 degrees internal temp?
Thank you Lise!
You could still line the pan with the foil, then just pour the bacon grease and turkey drippings from the foil into a pan to make the gravy.
I would cook it to 160 degrees so that it will be at 165 after resting for 10 minutes.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you and your family!! 🙂
Beautiful looking recipe, Whitney! I am planning to make for Christmas dinner. I would like to make a pan gravy. Do you suggest I don’t use the foil to line the pan, and should I cook it less time to allow for resting (and continuing to cook during resting)? If that is case, what temperature do you recommend I should cook it to in oven with hope that 10 mins of resting or so will bring to 165 degrees internal temp?
Have you tried this with turkey bacon? If so do you suggest a brand or type? I’ve purchased everything for this recipe except the bacon. Look forward to hearing back and Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Lindsay, I have not tried turkey bacon for this recipe. In other recipes on the blog I’ve used Jennie-O turkey bacon. Let me know how it turns out 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving!!
Hi! I am going to attempt making this recipe this weekend! Do you think I could use a bone in turkey breast for this? I am having trouble finding boneless turkey breast. Would this change the cooking method at all? Thanks so much!
Hi Rosanna, that should work fine. The only problem I foresee is that a bone in turkey breast is usually larger and might take longer to cook, and the bacon on the outside might burn before the turkey is cooked through. To remedy the situation, I would cook the bacon wrapped turkey for an hour, check the temperature inside the turkey, and if it does not reach 165 degrees, cover the turkey in foil for the remainder of the cooking time to make sure the bacon doesn’t burn, and check the turkey every 10-15 minutes until it reaches 165 degrees. Hope this helps! Enjoy and happy Thanksgiving!!
I’m excited to try this! Do you use regular-cut bacon or thick-cut bacon?
Hi Marci! I use regular-cut bacon in the recipe. Enjoy 🙂
I assume that one should remove the web wrap from the Turkey breast?
I am going to try this next week as it looks so good.
Hi Joe, yes, remove the web wrap from the turkey breast first. Enjoy!
Thanks Whitney. Have a happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks Joe! You too!!
Hi!
This looks delicious! But I have a question: you cook the turkey breast with its skin on, right?
Here in Europe we don’t usually cooki turkey breast, that’s why I’m not familiar with the cooking methods..
Thanks 🙂
Hi Patricia,
Yes, you do cook the turkey breast with the skin on! Enjoy 🙂
Oh my goodness, this could not possibly look any tastier!! Beautiful!
Thanks so much Karly! I can vouch for it tasting as good as it looks 😉