My family’s favorite Gluten-Free Zesty Turkey Breast, sometimes called my Special Turkey Breast, has now transitioned to become Gluten-Free Zesty Turkey Breast Tenderloins.
Well, for me, that is. Or perhaps for me and one other person. It could probably feed another person or two (and perhaps more if you had other main dishes and/or side dishes) but not if you wanted an ample portion and/or leftovers. And I do always want leftovers if at all possible when it comes to my Zesty Turkey Breast.
Before we go on, if you’re not familiar with my Zesty Turkey Breast, “zesty” is the key word. The ingredients vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, and ground black pepper are mixed together and then poured over the turkey before its baked. The resulting flavor is really sensational. You have to try the recipe to really appreciate it. One caveat … if you have no appreciation at all for vinegar, this is not the recipe for you. If you do know how much vinegar can add to appropriate recipes, you definitely want to try Zesty Turkey—either today’s recipe for Zesty Turkey Breast Tenderloins or the full-sized Slow Cooker Zesty Turkey Breast.
Note that the packaging on the Jenni-O All Natural Turkey Breast Tenderloins, the product I have consistently used for today’s recipe, states that its turkey tenderloins provides four 4-ounce servings per pound. Simple math of course. Standard turkey guidance says that a turkey serving is usually four ounces. I’m not sure how such portion sizes hold up in real life unless again one has other main dishes and side dishes on the table. Incidentally, if you had turkey on your Thanksgiving table, I hope you had plenty of that and everything else plus, treasured family members and friends celebrating with you!
Back to these Zesty Turkey Breast Tenderloins. I re-created my full-size Zesty Turkey Breast as Turkey Breast Tenderloins for several reasons. The first one I have already indicated. I wanted a recipe that was not made for serving a crowd—as the original recipe does so well. I wanted to enjoy this flavorful turkey breast by myself when the craving for its zesty flavorful goodness inevitably struck.
The second reason was that when I went in search of a turkey breast to make the original recipe back in the spring, I could not find a turkey breast—even a frozen one—in my local stores. I used to be able to get turkey breasts all year long but my stores were no longer stocking them “off season”. Hmm. I don’t know if that was an anomaly or if it’s the norm now.
Turkey breasts are back in my local grocery store at this time of year of course. Well, frozen ones have been available anyway and fresh ones were available right before Thanksgiving and will be available again close to Christmas and New Year’s Day.
But most of the year from this point on, it will be turkey breast tenderloins for me.
Gluten-Free Zesty Turkey Breast Tenderloins Ready To Go In the Oven
Or smaller boneless turkey breasts, which are very similar to these turkey breasts tenderloins but weigh more.
We actually used the original recipe with two boneless turkey breasts, each weighing 2.5 pounds this Thanksiving. (Son calls them turkey balls because in the packaging, they’re totally ball shaped!) With the total weight of 5 pounds, the proportions of the original recipe worked fine for the two boneless turkey breasts on the holiday.
Admittedly, turkey breast tenderloins are not the best value compared to turkey breasts. So, I’m sure I will still buy turkey breasts from time to time—even for just myself—and make either my Slow Cooker Special Zesty Turkey Breast or my Super Easy Turkey Breast (Two Ingredients). Because as I said, I do love those leftovers!
Especially for recipe such as Turkey Tetrazzini and subbing for chicken in recipes like Gluten-Free Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Chicken A La King, and Chicken Pot Pie. Just to name a few.
They’re very simple to cook either in your oven or your slow cooker.
I think they’re actually slightly more delicious when cooked in the slow cooker—the flavoring permeates the turkey better and the tenderloins are more tender—but I’m not sure most of you will notice the slight differences and not everyone has a slow cooker or wants to use one if they do. Either way, I think they Zesty Turkey Tenderloins will be a very fine addition to your menu plan any time of year. I personally love that I can enjoy Zesty Turkey Breast easily any time the craving strikes now!
By the way, initially I just halved the amount of ingredients that I used for my original Zesty Turkey Breast recipe—and that version is shown above—but the vinegar flavor was way too strong. Several more attempts were not right either.
When Carol Fenster launched her last cookbook Gluten-Free Cooking for Two: 125 Favorites, she shared some of the things that she had learned over the years when going from a recipe that served four people to two people. The main thing was that it was not as simple as cutting the recipe in half. As she said, the truth is that “not all ingredients scale down proportionately.”
When I learned that halving this recipe did in fact not work, I kept reducing the total amount and also adjusting the proportions until I got the results just right. I really hope you agree when you give this recipe a try!
More Gluten-Free Recipes Made for One or Two People
~ Six-Inch Gluten-Free Individual Pizza (aka Your Personal Pizza)
~ Chocolate Hazelnut (aka Nutella) Brownies for Two
~ Crab Salad with Old Bay Seasoning
~ Gluten-Free Molten Chocolate Cake
Gluten-Free Zesty Turkey Breast Tenderloins (for Two) Recipe
Gluten-Free Zesty Turkey Breast Tenderloins (for Two)
Now you can enjoy the magic of my Zesty Turkey Breast just for yourself or for you and one other person!
Ingredients
- two turkey breast tenderloins, 24 ounces (I used one package of Jenni-O All Natural Turkey Breast Tenderloins)
- 1 tbsp dried parsley + 1 tsp dried parsley (divided, see instructions)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil of choice (I use extra virgin olive oil most of the time)
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg's apple cider vinegar; if you really love vinegar, you may decide to use the greater volumne)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Place turkey breast tenderloins in baking dish. (I lined my baking dish with parchment paper for easy cleanup.)
- In glass measuring cup, add oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of dried parsley.
- Mix well and pour over turkey breast tenderloins.
- Sprinkle remaining 1 teaspoon of dried parsley over turkey breast tenderloins.
- Bake according to package directions, which typically state to bake for 60 to 70 minutes.
- After baking, let rest about 10 minutes before serving.
- If using a slow cooker, follow steps one through 5 and cook on LOW for 2 hours. Allow tenderloins to rest 10 minutes before serving.
Originally published December 7, 2025.
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