Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays – mainly because you get delicious food and a day just to spend with family.
When I was much younger, my family would load up into the car after the turkey was placed in the oven and we would drive a couple of hours out of town to go cut down a Christmas tree in the forest. We’d scour through the woods looking for the perfect tree, excitedly cut it down, and drive all the way back home just in time for the turkey to finish cooking. Then, we’d finish preparing all the sides, like the mandatory mashed potatoes and gravy, and we’d be ready to eat!
As I got older, we started going to cut down the tree the day after Thanksgiving. For those outings, we had leftover turkey sandwiches for lunch. Leftover turkey on white bread with pickles and miracle whip? Oh, yeah… there was nothing better to eat after a long hike through the snowy mountains. I loved them so much that they are still my favorite sandwiches of all time!
Now that I’m married with my own family, we have continued the tradition of cutting down a tree in the forest after Thanksgiving. This year, however, I could not go (and didn’t really want my husband to be in the forest and hard to get a hold of) just in case Baby Number 2 decided to come. So, we did what I have seen done in countless Hallmark movies – my husband, daughter, and I went to a tree lot for the first time in my entire life! I seriously had no idea how it worked… other than what I had seen in movies (which I hoped was accurate and luckily proved to be!). My husband picked out a great tree, and I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I still like it even though it didn’t get chopped down by us in the forest.
Anyway, to have a little fun with all the extra time I had the day after Thanksgiving this year, I chose to make a small Thanksgiving dinner for just my husband, daughter, and myself. We had a big dinner with my family on Thanksgiving Day, but I thought it might be fun to do something small at our house too. I didn’t want to do a whole turkey, so that was when I found turkey tenderloins. Have you ever eaten or cooked with them? I am super excited to try more recipes out with turkey tenderloins – especially since I love turkey and would eat it all the time if I could… and turkey tenderloins are super affordable.
I started out by using basic components that I would add to a whole turkey when making this recipe. I used the concept of a mirepoix (celery, carrots, and onions), along with a few traditional spices and chicken stock. I also used an oven bag to seal the juices in… because dry turkey is just wrong! Then, I let my Crockpot do the rest.
I was so happy with the results! The turkey was so tender and flavorful, and it truly had a Thanksgiving taste without all the hassle of a whole turkey. This recipe made just enough for my family, but it could easily be doubled or tripled to accommodate a larger crowd. I hope you enjoy it too!
Thanksgiving Turkey Tenderloins
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs turkey tenderloins
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
- ½ tsp herbes de provence
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 2 large carrots, sliced in about 3-inch pieces
- 3 celery sticks, sliced in about 3-inch pieces
- ½ large onion, sliced into sixths
Instructions
- Lightly spray the inside of an oven bag with nonstick spray and place it open side up in the Crockpot.
- Put the turkey tenderloins in the oven bag.
- Add the pepper, garlic salt, herbes de provence, and chicken stock to the oven bag with the turkey.
- Add the carrots, celery, and onion to the oven bag.
- Tightly hold the oven bag closed and mix the contents of the bag together by lightly shaking the bag.
- Place the bag back into the Crockpot (open side up) and loosely fold the open end of the oven bag a few times to hold in the steam.
- Put the lid on the Crockpot and cook on low for 7 hours.
- Turn the Crockpot off, take off the lid, and let the turkey rest in the oven bag for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
- Carefully open the oven bag (the escaping steam will be very hot), remove the turkey and vegetables to a cutting board.
- Allow the turkey to rest for an additional 5 minutes before slicing and serving.