Turkey Roulade with Leeks, Mushrooms and Marsala

This turkey roulade with leeks, mushrooms and marsala cooks in an air fryer on the rotisserie, but you can roast it in the oven if you prefer. This turkey recipe is not only delicious, but elegant too. Plus, you won't find any roast turkey that is easier to slice!

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Slicing the turkey roulade on a cutting board.

What is Turkey Roulade?

A roulade is simply a dish that is cooked or served as a roll. Sometimes it is a sweet dish, like a cake rolled around a mousse filling, and sometimes it is a savory dish where a flat piece of meat or fish is rolled around a filling. This turkey roulade is made with a skinless, boneless turkey breast which gets double-butterflied and rolled around a mixture of leeks, mushrooms and marsala before being roasted and eventually sliced. It’s a fantastic option for Thanksgiving, but honestly it shouldn’t be reserved for only one day a year.

Ingredients on a cutting board - leeks, mushrooms, celery, sage, parsley, marsala wine and a jar of tarragon.

Leek and Mushroom Filling

This filling is super tasty, which is exactly what we want to complement turkey, which for the most part is not the most vibrant exciting flavor in the food world. The combination of mushrooms and marsala wine is reminiscent of chicken marsala, while the addition of sage and parsley give it a traditional turkey flavor. The dried tarragon that is thrown in at the beginning gives the filling a different vibe – an unexpected something you can’t necessarily nail down. I love leeks and tarragon together and mushrooms and marsala just go together like, well… mushrooms and marsala. All these flavors make this filling perfect to liven up turkey breast. 

Looking straight down into a sauté pan with cooked leek and mushroom filling.

Filling, not Stuffing

Make no mistake, the mixture that is inside the rolled turkey is not stuffing or dressing or anything remotely similar to what you might expect on a Thanksgiving table. If you are serving this turkey roulade for Thanksgiving and want all the traditional side dishes, you will want to make your stuffing separately. This filling is just that – a super flavorful mixture of herbs and vegetables that adds a ton of flavor to the inside of the turkey roll. A filling.

Hands cutting a turkey breast on a green cutting board with a rotisserie spit and prongs near by.

How to Double Butterfly a Turkey Breast

The tricky part to this recipe involves preparing the turkey breast and then tying it up. The first thing you need to do is double-butterfly the turkey breast. Butterflying the breast means to cut into the breast, but not all the way through so that you can open it like a book. Double-butterflying means you do this twice so that you can open the turkey like an accordion, making an even bigger flat piece of turkey. I give you instructions in the recipe for how to do this, but I also have a separate article on how to do this with step-by-step photographs here. Don’t abandon this recipe because of this step – it’s really not that hard and it is very forgiving. You can make a mistake and all is not lost! If there is a hole in the turkey, you simply roll it up around the hole.

Hands cutting string off a tied up turkey roulade.

How to Tie Turkey Roulade

Once you’ve butterflied the turkey, added the filling and rolled the turkey breast up, the next step is tying it. There are many ways to do this. You could simply tie individual pieces of string around the turkey breast at regular intervals, or if you’d like to learn how to tie the roulade with one piece of twine, check out my article on how to do just that here

Two hands holding the ends of a rotisserie spit with a turkey breast roulade on it.

Use Your Rotisserie

If you have a rotisserie at your disposal – use it! Rotisserie cooking is a great way to roast this turkey roulade. The constant rotation of the meat helps move the juices around the turkey, keeping it moist all the way through and evenly browned on the outside. 

Turkey Roulade cooking in an air fryer oven on a rotisserie spit.

How Long to Air-Fry Turkey Roulade

If you don’t have a rotisserie, but you do have an air-fryer – use it! Air-frying gets foods browner and crispier on the outside while keeping them moist on the inside because it cooks faster than a regular oven. A 2 to 2.5 pound turkey breast should take between 60 to 75 minutes at 350ºF in your air fryer, rotating the turkey every 20 minutes.

roasted turkey roulade on a cutting board with a chef's knife, the rotisserie spit and prongs and some discarded kitchen twine.

How Long to Oven Roast Turkey Roulade

If you don’t have an air fryer, you can roast this roulade in the oven. Place the turkey on a rack in a roasting pan or over a sheet pan. Roast at 375˚F for 75 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 160˚F at the thickest part.

Slicing the turkey roulade on a cutting board.

How to Slice Turkey Roulade

Here’s where you become very happy that you made a turkey roulade instead of a roast turkey. Slicing the roulade changes it from looking like a lump of meat into something fancy, and it really couldn’t be easier. There are no bones to work around, no skin to tear, just simple easy slices that look beautiful shingled on a plate. 

A china dinner plate of turkey roulade, gravy, green beans and mashed potato on a white table cloth with a second place setting, wine and salt and pepper shakers.

What To Serve with Turkey Roulade

If you’re making this turkey roulade for Thanksgiving, you probably already have side dishes in mind, like Balsamic Glazed Carrots, or Green Beans with Pearl Onions and Bacon, or Mashed Potatoes and Slow Cooker Thanksgiving Stuffing (a personal favorite). If it’s just a regular dinner or dinner party, you really can serve turkey roulade with anything – some basmati rice and any green vegetable like asparagus or Brussels sprouts (depending on the time of year). It’s versatile yet impressive, but mostly just delicious.

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Turkey Roulade with Leeks, Mushrooms and Marsala

  • Prep Time: 30 m
  • Cook Time: 1 h
  • Total Time: 1 h 30 m
  • Servings:
    6

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 leeks thinly sliced
  • 2 ribs celery finely chopped (about ½ cup)
  • 8 ounces cremini mushrooms finely chopped in a food processor
  • ½ teaspoon dried tarragon
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup Marsala wine
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
  • 1 (2- to 2½-pound) boneless turkey breast

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat a large skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter and sauté the leeks and celery until they just start to soften – about 8 minutes.
  2. Add the mushrooms and tarragon to the skillet and continue to sauté for about 10 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  3. Add the Marsala wine to the skillet and deglaze the pan by scraping the bottom with a flat spatula to scrape up any brown bits. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the parsley and sage Season the vegetables again with salt to taste and set the filling aside to cool.
  4. Double butterfly the turkey breast. To do this, place the turkey breast on a cutting board. Hold your knife parallel to the cutting board and press the palm of your free hand down on the turkey breast. Slice into the long side of the breast a third of the way down from the top of the breast (or two thirds of the way up from the cutting board). Stop before you cut all the way through the turkey. Flip the turkey breast over 180 degrees so that the slice opening is now closer to the cutting board, but still on the same side as your knife. Slice into the turkey breast again with the knife parallel to the cutting board and holding the turkey down with you other hand, again slicing a third of the way down from the top of the breast (or two thirds of the way up from the cutting board). Again, stop before you reach the other side of the breast – don’t cut all the way through. You should now be able to open the slices of turkey like an accordion and lay the turkey breast flat on the cutting board. Pound the turkey lightly to even out the meat.
  5. Season the turkey with salt and freshly ground black pepper and then spoon the filling evenly onto the breast. Roll the breast up around the filling and tie it closed at regular intervals.
  6. Place the stuffed and rolled turkey breast onto the rotisserie spit of your air fryer oven and secure it into place on the spit with the rotisserie tongs. Transfer the turkey to the air fryer oven.
  7. Air-fry at 350˚F for about 50 to 60 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the turkey reaches a temperature of 165˚F.
  8. Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest on a cutting board, loosely tented with foil for ten minutes before slicing and serving.
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