I'm here to save you THOUSANDS of dollars a year by making your own Deli-Style Roast Turkey, I've seasoned mine with garlic and coarse black pepper! Yes, it's possible and infinitely better tasting. You need about an hour, a few very simple pantry ingredients and then a little patience as it cools. You won't be sorry and will be making this on your weekly rotation for the perfect deli sandwiches!

Background of Deli Sandwiches

I know many of you know my father owned a pizza shop when I was a little girl, hence where my love of all things dough came from perhaps? But after the pizza shops closed, my dad actually opened a mini-mart and deli. I walked to middle school every day and I was fortunate enough to walk by my dad's shop - so naturally I would pick-up a freshly made deli sandwich and all my snacks on my way to school.

Truth be told - at the time I did NOT appreciate this incredible masterpiece of freshly sliced turkey, cheese on fresh bread. In fact, I wanted to be like the "norm" and bring a peanut butter and jelly to school - WHAT WAS I THINKING? It's like the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding when Tula brings moussaka and she just wants a PB&J to fit in. A fancy deli sandwich did NOT help anyone fit in as an Arab kid.

Money Saving

Fast forward 30 years later and I'm the one making fancy deli sandwiches for my kids - sans fancy deli! Times have changed immensely and my kids LOVE taking leftovers to school including all the arabic food like hashweh, spinach and rice and bazella with rice. Kids are actually ENVIOUS of the incredible lunches they bring from home - do you blame them?

Being on the West Coast, at least Portland - I always had a hard time finding places that sliced lunchmeat the way I LIKED IT - thin and stacked! And when I did find the places that did it, it was upwards of $12-15/pound which for a family of 5 isn't a sustainable regular lunch. I bought a slicer a few years ago and began slicing my own lunchmeat - it takes time and dedication when you are purchasing a large hunk of ham, turkey or beef to slice. That quickly ended as it was too much for our family - we couldn't eat that much and I didn't love it frozen.

Fast forward to today - making a small roasted turkey and hand slicing for the BEST and freshest sandwiches. It's been a GAME CHANGER! I've been doing it with both turkey and roast beef (coming soon). The smaller size is enough for about a week worth of sandwiches and stays super fresh as it's freshly cooked. So keep on reading to CHANGE YOUR WORLD and make some incredible sandwiches with deli-style roast turkey!

Ingredients

3 pound boneless turkey - I find the Butterball boneless turkey in the freezer section and it's a mix of both white and dark meat which yields a delicious flavor. You can use whatever boneless variety you find at your local grocery store. These 3 pound turkey roasts are about $13-14, which is less than $5 a pound! They thaw quickly in the fridge overnight.
Toum - Toum is one of the key ingredients in making ultra tender turkey, although you can substitute butter and garlic powder - see substitutions below. If you don't make your own toum yet - you can always use the Trader Joe's variety.
Coarse Black Pepper - I love my pepper grinder but when I'm cooking and need to add a bit of pepper, I prefer a larger container of black pepper and typically a coarse variety. You can certainly omit if you don't like a peppered turkey but I find it really gives a nice flavor. I use half in the mix and the rest to coat the exterior for a peppered crust.
Kosher Salt - I can't stress enough how much kosher salt works best in food, especially when you have so few ingredients. I prefer Diamond brand - salting your turkey is important to ensure a flavorful bite.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions on Making Deli-Style Roast Turkey

Line your sheet pan with foil and then remove the netting from the turkey. This netting is NOT oven safe. Once you remove the netting - the turkey pieces will separate slightly.

Turkey after netting is removed. We'll use twine to tie together after seasoning.

deli_turkey-process-marinated-turkey-topview

Slather toum, salt and pepper onto your turkey - ensure it coats all areas. Then tie 3-4 pieces of twine to hold together once again.

deli_turkey-process-tied-marinatedturkey

Twine across 3 sections of turkey - finally coat the top with additional coarse pepper.

deli_turkey-process-cooked-turkey-sideview

Cook half the time uncovered and 2nd half with foil draped until golden brown and temperature reads 165 degrees.

Immediately wrap with foil, allow to come to a warm temperature then place in fridge before slicing - preferably overnight.

Once turkey is cold, remove from foil and using a sharp knife, thinly slice. The turkey should hold together - you can see the variation in white and dark meat here in the photo.

deli_turkey-process-coldslicedturkey-topview

Slice what you need for sandwiches then store in fridge.

deli_turkey-final-turkeysandwich-sideview

Variations and Substitutions

Bone-in Turkey - You can certainly substitute a bone-in turkey breast for this recipe but it will yield less meat, more difficult to slice and take longer to cook. The flavors will also be slightly different since you aren't able to really get all the sides coated around the bone. If cooking bone-in, I would follow this cooking guide. But always best to have a thermometer to check for proper temperature:

Weight in lbs	Roasting time at 350
3-5 lbs	1 - 2 ¼ hours
5-7 lbs	2 ¼ - 3 hours

Substitute for Toum - If you don't have toum in your fridge yet, you should quickly make a batch - it's a game changer! But you can substitute butter and garlic powder in its place:

Original	Substitution
2 Tablespoons Toum	2 Tablespoons softened butter 1 Tablespoon garlic powder

Spices - Feel free to add your own flair and spin on the recipe with your mix of spices, some ideas include:

Dried Rosemary
Smoked Paprika
Pesto
Aleppo Pepper

Equipment & Kitchen Tools

This recipe really doesn't require much besides a small sheet pan, foil (I like using the heavy duty) and twine! I do recommend an instant read thermometer to ensure your turkey is cooked properly - an invaluable kitchen tool.

The foil is KEY for easy cleanup but also for wrapping the turkey after its cooked to lock in flavor and juices. Since the turkey comes in a few pieces - I use some basic kitchen twine to hold together while cooking.

I typically bake this in my countertop oven after dinner - prep, cook, wrap and pop into the fridge for the next morning to slice.

How to Store

The turkey is good in the fridge for 5-7 days - you can also slice and freeze or simply freeze a larger chunk for later use. Wrap with plastic wrap or parchment then place in ziplock with air removed and pop in freezer for 3-5 months. Remove from freezer and place in fridge to thaw.

I hope you enjoy Garlic Pepper Deli-Style Roast Turkey for Sandwiches (lunchmeat) as much my family does - feel free to adjust and make your own!

If you make Garlic Pepper Deli-Style Roast Turkey for Sandwiches (lunchmeat), please let me know by leaving a rating and review below!

As always, I love seeing your creations. Please leave a review or share your dish with me on social media #cosetteskitchen which lets me know what is working for you! You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter , Tiktok and Pinterest. For more delicious recipes to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter!

xoxo,
Cosette