Turkey Roulades with Apple Cider Gravy
Sometimes on Thanksgiving, you end up with a very small crowd.
Sometimes during the Thanksgiving season, you end up doing more than one gathering and you just want something a little different. A little more intimate. A little bit delicious.
Enter Turkey Roulades.
You may have heard of chicken tenderloins, but these babies are turkey tenderloins pounded flat and stuffed with the bounty of autumn. Chop up tart apples, cranberries and walnuts and mix them with the savoriness of onion, garlic and Thanksgiving spices and you have a dish that just begs to be a centerpiece at your Holiday celebration this year.
Watch us make these on my Rise & Shine TV segment by clicking play below!
I bought these turkey tenders this week at Whole Foods. Take each tender and slice it open in half…like a book.
Just slice them in half, but NOT all the way through, then open up the breast just like a book with little slices until it falls open on your cutting board.
Take the butterflied turkey tender and put in a gallon freezer baggie.
Don’t zip the baggie shut and start pounding the tender out from the center. You can use a meat tenderizer, or a pounder like I have or even a rolling pin. Pound out the tender until it’s uniformly flat and about 1/4 inch thick. Then remove it from the bag to a platter and continue to do the same to 7 more tenders.
Now get your food processor.
Core up one granny smith apple, peel and all and add it right into the processor.
Also measure out one cup of cranberries.
Dump them right into the food processor with the apples.
Then quarter up one-half of a yellow onion. I always use yellow onions. I don’t know why. What do you use? Yellow or white?
Now close up your food processor and pulse it until you get small chunks.
Oops! Also add in your two cloves of garlic!
Normally, I’d just add them right in with the other stuff but I forgot!
Pour in one cup of unseasoned bread crumbs.
My herbs have made it through the freezes so far, so at this point I added in 1 tablespoon of fresh sage (about 6-7 leaves) and one tablespoon of fresh rosemary (about 3 stalks).
Pulse again just until the herbs are chopped in nicely, then remove the lid and spread about 1/2 cup of the mixture over each flattened turkey tender. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts per tender over each as well. I used walnuts because they are my favorite, but pecans would also be fabulous!
Then carefully, roll each tender up.
Once it’s all rolled up, cut up 12 slices of bacon into thirds.
Drape 4-5 pieces of cut up bacon over each roll.
Secure each roll by tying them with kitchen twine or toothpicks.
Place them into a baking pan (it might take two 9 x 13 pans for 8 roulades).
Place the pan(s) into a 400º oven for 1 1/2 hours or until the bacon appears done and a meat thermometer reads 165º-170º.
Meanwhile, make the gravy.
Saute the chopped onion in a pan over medium heat in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil about 5 minutes.
Add in 2 cloves of garlic either minced or pressed.
Stir another minute then add 2 cups of chicken broth, one cup of apple cider and 1 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.
Simmer this until it reduces down by one-half . Mix one tablespoon of corn starch in a small bowl with one tablespoon of water.
Add in into the gravy and let it bubble for a couple of minutes to thicken, whisking vigorously.
Taste your gravy and season to taste with salt and pepper. Chicken broth can be pretty salty sometimes, so you’ll have to adjust according to what you use.
Remove your Roulades from the oven and let them rest for 5-7 minutes.
Slice them into one inch slices.
And drizzle them with the Apple Cider Gravy.
You can make the roulades up to 3 days ahead of time and then bake them on the day you’re going to serve them. Wouldn’t these be fun to have for an intimate Thanksgiving dinner for 8 or less?
Try something new this year! Try my Turkey Roulades! I hope you enjoy them!
- 8 turkey breast tenders
- 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and roughly sliced
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- ½ medium yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 c. plain breadcrumbs
- 1 T. fresh sage, chopped
- 1 T. fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 c. finely chopped walnuts
- 2 t. salt
- 1 t. t. pepper
- 10-12 slices bacon
- Gravy Ingredients:
- 2 T. olive oil
- ¼ yellow onion, chopped finely
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 c. apple cider
- 1 T. apple cider vinegar
- ½ t. salt
- ¼ t. pepper
- 1 T. cornstarch
- 1 T. water
- For the Roulades:
- Preheat oven to 400º.
- Slice each turkey tender in half but not all the way through, opening it as if it were a book. Sprinkle each with salt and pepper and remove to platter.
- In food processor, add in apple, cranberries, onion, and garlic. Pulse until small chunks form.
- Add in sage, rosemary and breadcrumbs.
- Pulse 6 or 7 times or just until herbs and chopped.
- Spread ½ cup over inside of each turkey tender leaving ¼ inch on edge for rolling up.
- Sprinkle ⅛ cup or 2 Tablespoons of chopped walnuts over spread on each turkey tender.
- Carefully roll up tender tucking in any filling.
- Cut 12 pieces of bacon into thirds.
- Lay pieces of bacon over each rolled tenderloin roll using about 4-5 per tender. Secure with toothpicks or kitchen twine and place in sprayed baking dish and bake for 1½ hours.
- Drizzle with Cider Gravy. (Recipe follows).
- Cider Gravy Instructions:
- Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minue. Add chicken stock, cider and vinegar along with salt and pepper and simmer until reduced by one half volume. In small bowl combine cornstarch and water. Add to pan and whisk vigorously for 3-4 minutes allowing mixture to thicken. Drizzle over Turkey Roulades.
