How to Pressure Cook Turkey Crown

Want to know how to pressure cook a delicious, juicy Turkey Crown easily? I tell you how with as many details as I can.

Use an electric pressure cooker plus the Keep Warm function to make your life even easier on Christmas Day.

One of the biggest advantages of using your electric pressure cooker (like the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, etc) on Christmas Day is the fact that it will keep it warm.

Let's face it Christmas Day is a day when timings go out the window!

Turkey Crown is a popular centrepiece of the British Christmas. A few years ago, I started pressure cooking it and have done so every year!

Your pressure cooker can help make your life easier at Christmas and for roast dinners in general.

From Roast Potatoes and Parsnips to Brussels Sprouts, Cranberry Sauce, Red Cabbage and Gammon (including Cranberry-Glazed Gammon).

And, of course, let's not forget the festive classic that is the Christmas Pudding.

Ingredients

• Turkey Crown (fresh or frozen, don't forget to defrost it if it's frozen)
• Italian Seasoning
• Vegetable Stock Paste
• Porcini
• Bay leaves
• Cloves
• Peppercorns
• Water

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Mix the water, Italian seasoning, vegetable stock paste, porcini, bay leaves and cloves.

Place the trivet (steamer rack) in the inner pot with the turkey crown on top. Season.

Close the lid, steam release set to Sealing and pressure cook according to the timings in the chart.

Cover in bacon

Air fry or place in the oven.

See recipe card for exact instructions.

Hint: a meat thermometer like a Thermapen or a Meater+ will come in handy, see the equipment section.

Substitutions

Play with the ingredients, this is just a base recipe. Feel free to add any ingredients, herbs and spices you want

• Spices - try it with Za'atar
• Glaze - instead of covering with bacon, try glazing it when crisping it up with the air fryer lid or in the oven

Do I have to cover it with bacon? 

Absolutely not, I just cover it with bacon for two reasons: 

I love the flavour it gives

A lot of my Turkey Crown goes into Christmas Toasties and bacon goes great in those!

You could leave it as is and air fry or place in the oven at the end just to crisp up the skin, which will happen quite quickly. 

You don’t even have to crisp up the skin if you don’t want to. Fair enough! 

Equipment

Over the years, I've used all sorts of Instant Pot models for my Turkey Crowns, from the Lux to the Duo to the Duo Crisp and this year the Pro Crisp (the 7.6 litre).

The Ninja Foodi will do a great job too.

The Instant Pot Pro Crisp has a higher air fryer temperature than the Duo Crisp and the Ninja Foodi.

A meat thermometer is handy to check that it's cooked through. Something like the Thermapen or the Meater+.

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How long to pressure cook Turkey Crown  

Use this handy chart to pressure cook your Turkey Crown: 

• 1.9 kg - 37 minutes
• 2 kg - 39 minutes
• 2.1 kg - 40 minutes
• 2.2 kg - 42 minutes 

and so on

Just increase and decrease in 2 minute increments per 100 grams, so 1.8kg would be 35 minutes and 2.3kg would be 44 minutes).

Always followed by a natural pressure release, this means letting the float valve pop back down of its own accord.

Will my Turkey Crown be okay on Keep Warm? 

Yes, in fact this is one of the biggest advantages on Christmas Day. 

Pressure cooking provides a wet environment and, as such, juicier turkey meat that won’t dry out on Keep Warm like it would in the oven.

Turkey is renowned for being dry and pressure cooking it gets around that. 

Just don’t overcook it it afterwards when air frying or placing it in the oven to crisp up. 

How big a Turkey Crown can I fit in my Instant Pot or pressure cooker? 

Ah, this a very good question. 

Your best bet is to take the inner pot with you to the shops but, as a rule of thumb: 

In a 5.7 litre / 6 quart / litre inner pot (which seem to be similar diameter for most pressure cookers) - the maximum in my experience has been 2.2 kg. Any more than that and it starts being a very tight fit and you don’t want anything pressing against your valves, don’t forget!

In a 7.6 / 7.8 / 8 litre / 8 quart you have way more room. In my video I used a 2.2 kg Turkey Crown and you can see there’s plenty of space. So you can go bigger than 2.2 kg. 

What can you do with the juices from pressure cooking? 

I’m glad you asked! 

Well, you could do a gravy by letting it bubble with wine. 

Or blend it with the vegetables to make a sauce if you used a vegetable trivet. 

But I personally like it as is and, in fact, I have a very important use for it when storing it. 

How to chill or freeze your Turkey Crown

Yes, you guessed it, in the juices left from cooking or the gravy if you made any.

Turkey likes to dry out once chilled so I store as much of the left over turkey in those juices. 

It helps to keep it moist.

First I slice it, then I place it in a container for the fridge.

If it’s for the freezer, I do individual portions with enough slices for 1 or 2 Christmas Toasties. 

How to reheat from chilled: reheat gently in a sauce pan or frying pan on the hob. 

How to reheat from frozen

As turkey has a tendency to dry out, I take it out of the freezer and put the bag with the frozen contents in a container in the fridge for a few hours or the day before.

As my bags are quite small, they don’t take long to fully defrost.

The container is to catch any spills as the juices defrost. If in a hurry I’d use my method to reheat from frozen in a pressure cooker (using the pot in pot method) and only for about 5 minutes so not to overcook it. 

What can I do with the leftovers? 

Christmas Toasties! 

Yes, just like those ones you see in the coffee shops during December. 

Or wraps. Or panini. 

We tend to add homemade cranberry sauce, the turkey, cheddar cheese (or brie or camembert, or goat’s, T prefers cheddar), bacon and stuffing. 

If making wraps you could make them in the air fryer, start with 2 minutes at 160ºC.

What can I do with the bones? 

Turkey Stock. 

Nothing goes to waste in the Feisty Tapas kitchen and Turkey Stock is just as handy as chicken stock.

From soups to risottos. 

I chill my turkey stock for a few days but also freeze it in 400 or 800 ml portions.

Why 400 or 800 ml portions? Because those are my go-to quantities of stock for risottos and will also do me for soup! Win win.

While we’re talking about stock, have you made my homemade Vegetable Stock Paste yet? It will add flavour to all your savoury dishes and it’s super thrifty. 

Most importantly, my vegetable stock paste is used in this recipe. 

Top tip

Make use of the automatic warm function if you have an electric pressure cooker. Enjoy a chilled-out day!

Watch the video below to see Maria explain the recipe. It might help you understand it if you get stuck at any point.

You can see more video recipes on YouTube, Facebook or here on the website, a lot of recipes now have their own videos.

Is there a recipe you want filmed? Let me know and I'll see what I can do.

📖 Recipe

How to Pressure Cook Turkey Crown

Delicious, juicy, easy Turkey Crown first pressure cooked then crisped up in the oven or with an air fryer lid

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Total pressure cooking time for a 2.2 kg Turkey Crown including reaching pressure and natural pressure release 1 hr 10 mins

Total Time 1 hr 30 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker
• Air Fryer lid
• Oven

Ingredients

  

For pressure cooking

• 2.2 kg Turkey Crown or weight of your choice, fully defrosted if it’s frozen
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning or mixed herbs
• 1 tablespoon vegetable stock paste heaped (or a stock cube)
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 5 cloves
• 8-10 peppercorns
• 5 g porcini
• 500 ml water cold

Optional

• 1 onion thickly sliced,
• 2-3 carrots left whole
• 4 garlic cloves left whole and unpeeled

For air frying / oven / grill

• 12 rashers of streaky bacon or more

Instructions

 

If your Turkey Crown is frozen

• One to two days before, defrost the Turkey Crown in the fridge for the time stated in the packaging or at least 24-48 hours as they can take a while depending on size.

Pressure Cooking

• Add the water to the inner pot and stir in the Italian seasoning, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and porcini.
• Place the trivet in place or (optional) create a trivet with onion, carrots and garlic cloves to lift up the turkey off the bottom of the pot. Bear in mind though, that it is handy to use a trivet with handles to get your Turkey Crown in and out, you could still place one on top of the vegetables.
• Place the defrosted Turkey Crown on the trivet. Season it with salt and black pepper.
• Make sure the sealing ring is in place properly. Lock the lid in. Steam release set to Sealing.
• Programme the time according to the chart: 1.9 kg - 37 minutes, 2 kg - 39 minutes, 2.1 kg - 40 minutes, 2.2 kg - 42 minutes and so on, just increase and decrease in 2 minute increments per 100 grams, so 1.8kg would be 35 minutes and 2.3kg would be 44 minutes).
• Do a natural pressure release, ie. let the float valve pop back down of its own accord. Feel free to get on with your Christmas Day madness and let it be on Keep Warm. For a 2.2 kg Turkey Crown the float valve tends to drop down around the 20 minute mark.
• Remove the Turkey Crown, hold on to the trivet handles for this. Don’t remove it from the trivet just yet.
• Reserve the liquid, don’t discard it.

Air Fryer Lid

• Cover the Turkey Crown with the bacon slices, if using.
• Give the inner pot a quick clean and dry then place back in the base.
• Place the trivet with the turkey crown covered in bacon back in the inner pot.
• Place the air fryer lid on the cooker.
• Press Grill, 232ºC. Start with 10 minutes at maximum temperature. 232ºC in the Duo Crisp press Broil at 204ºC and in the Ninja Foodi press Air Crisp at 205ºC. Basically, use the maximum temperature in yours.

Oven

• You can, of course, also crisp it up in a very hot oven. And take it out once the bacon is to your taste but don’t overdo the time.

Notes

My Vegetable Stock Paste recipe

Keyword bacon, Christmas, Italian seasoning, Turkey Crown, vegetable stock paste

Food safety

A few tips from me:

• Always wash your hands straight after touching raw meat
• Same with your knives, boards and utensils, use separate ones for raw meat and wash them well before using for anything else
• Don't leave food at room temperature for extended periods, always cool down quickly and chill or freeze as soon as you can
• Always chill left over rice as soon as you can and always within half an hour.

See more guidelines at food.gov.uk.