Homemade Turkey Deli Ham - Perfect Cold Cut Lunch Meat (video)

Making homemade turkey deli ham, lunch meat, cold cut or boloney as it's also known, is a very simple process that requires few ingredients and little skill.

Using this delicious homemade lunch meat to make beautiful sandwiches with sourdough bread or Borodinsky bread is a treat all on its own.

Once you've made your own turkey deli meat, you'll never go back to store-bought boloney again.

This recipe for turkey lunch meat is also easily modified to suit individual taste and can be made with 100% natural ingredients without preservatives.

Jump to:

• What makes real turkey deli meat
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Video
• Tips for success
• Troubleshooting turkey deli ham
• Substitutes and variations
• Serving suggestions
• Storage options
• Frequently asked questions
• Useful equipment
• Related recipes
• Recipe
• Comments

What makes real turkey deli meat

• Texture is what makes it deli meat - A roasted turkey breast is sliced along the grain, causing the edges to fray and making it hard to cut thin slices. Deli meat, on the other hand, is an emulsion: the proteins are broken down and bound, allowing it to be sliced cleanly in any direction. This texture is what distinguishes it as a proper cold cut.
  
• Three textures make one cold cut - The dense, even bite of good bologna comes from mixing whole muscle, coarse mince, and smooth purée. The cubes provide chewiness, the mince binds, and the purée emulsifies everything into a sliceable block. This three-part method creates the texture of deli meat.
  
• Curing salt is for color and safety, not flavor - A small amount of curing salt (Prague powder #1) gives ham its pink color and prevents botulism during cold-smoking. It's optional for oven batches meant to be eaten quickly. Without it, the meat turns pale grey, but adding smoked paprika can restore color without using nitrites.
  
• MSG adds the savory depth you expect from deli meat - Monosodium glutamate, found in tomatoes, aged cheese, and cured meat, enhances the savory flavor of deli meat. A small amount contributes richness, while leaving it out may result in a flatter taste.
  
• Low, slow cooking is what makes it sliceable - Deli meat should be cooked gently to a precise internal temperature, rather than roasted at high heat. Overcooking can lead to dry, grainy meat. Cooking at 68°C (154°F) followed by a cold-water chill helps create clean slices.

Ingredients

• Turkey - For my turkey deli meat recipe, I use deboned, skinless turkey thighs. You can also use turkey breast or a mix of the two. The main reason I like the thigh is because of the richer flavor. It also has a little bit of fat, which I like in my deli meats.
• Egg - We only use egg white. To be honest, this is also an optional ingredient, but I like using it for that extra protein stability when slicing it.
• Garlic - I use dried garlic, but you can use fresh minced garlic too.
• Water - Plain drinkable water. If you have it, use turkey, chicken, or vegetable stock instead. If not, the amount needed is very small, so it won't make much of a difference in flavor.
• Salt - In my opinion, a must, but you can use alternatives if your diet requires low sodium.
• MSG (optional) - Monosodium Glutamate, as we know it nowadays, is not a harmful additive but rather the 5th flavor, umami. It's naturally found in foods like tomatoes, cheese, soy, meat, fish, and fermented products. In my opinion a must in this recipe, but if you're categorically against it then just leave it out.
• Curing salt (optional) - I use curing salt number 1. Also sold as Prague powder #1, Insta Cure #1, and Pink curing salt #1. It's colored pink to prevent confusing it with table salt. Made of 94% salt and 6% sodium nitrite. It serves two functions. Firstly, to prevent botulism poisoning and secondly to give the ham that attractive pink color. In tiny amounts, like used in this recipe, it's perfectly safe, desirable, and preferred to not using it at all. Again, the choice is yours to use it or not.
• Smoked paprika (optional) - I use smoked paprika so everyone can make something as close to turkey deli ham as possible, with a smoky flavor. It also warms up the color if you choose to skip the curing salt. It's, of course, optional, and you can simply omit it if you want.

Instructions

Preparing

1. Trim the turkey, removing any tough tissue or bones. Cut it into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes.
2. Divide the cubes into three parts for different textures. Each part gets seasoned and prepared differently to create a specific texture. The ratios are all in the recipe card.
3. Mince part of the turkey through a meat grinder using the coarse grinding plate.
4. Purée part of the turkey in a food processor until smooth.

If you don't have a meat grinder or blender, use pre-made turkey mince.

Shaping

1. Mix the three turkey preparations together into a homogeneous mixture.
2. If you want a classic log of baloney, shape the mixture into a sausage using a sausage casing or plastic wrap sprinkled with smoked paprika. If you are not bothered about a log or sausage shape like classic Bologna, then you can simply place it into a vacuum bag or press it into a baking dish.
3. Remove any trapped air by pricking holes in the wrap with a needle or toothpick.
4. Wrap it tight and close the ends with a knot.

Cooking

1. The easiest way to cook your deli meat at home is in the oven. Preheat the oven to 100 °C (212 °F) and fill a tray with boiling water.
2. Place a layer of parchment on the ham and close it tightly with foil.
3. Place the ham in the oven and cook for about 60 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 68 °C (154 °F).
4. Remove the ham from the oven and cool it down in a bowl of ice water or a cool place until the internal temperature reaches 8 °C (46 °F).

If you have a sous vide water bath, set the temperature to 70 °C (158°F).

The reason you remove the oven version at a lower temperature is that it will keep cooking due to residual heat.

See below for storage and serving instructions. All amounts and ratios are in the recipe card.

Video

Tips for success

• Meat quality - Use fresh, high-quality turkey from reputable sources. This way, you can have a high level of confidence that the turkey has been stored correctly and does not contain harmful elements.
• Use metric measurements for accuracy - It's the only accurate measuring system known to humans and is used by every single professional. It will save you many disappointments from using cheap scales to weigh your ingredients.
• Temperature control - Keep the meat and equipment cold during the process to prevent spoilage or bacterial growth. If it heats up too much, simply place it in the fridge or freezer for a bit. Even though we will cook it, it's still best practice to keep the turkey chilled throughout the process.
• Air removal - Remove large air bubbles to ensure even cooking and prevent the ham from falling apart when slicing.
• Cooking method - In my kitchens, we use different methods depending on the resources available to us. The most precise method is, of course, using a sous vide water bath. But a great home alternative is simply in the oven, like I've explained and shown in the video.
• Internal meat temperature - The single best, cheapest investment you can make is a temperature probe. All my chefs use it to cook everything from bread, carrot cake, to perfect salmon and steak. The one I use in this recipe has a long, heat-safe cable that you can insert into the oven to monitor the ham's internal temperature as it cooks. You can even set an alarm to tell you when it reaches the correct internal temperature. For safety reasons, I recommend cooking it to 68 °C (154 °F). Salmonella, the scary poultry bacteria, gets killed at 60 °C (140 °F).
• Cooling - Chill the turkey ham before slicing to ensure it holds together and retains moisture.

Troubleshooting turkey deli ham

The log fell apart when you sliced it - This is the most common failure, and it almost always traces back to one of two things: not enough purée in the mix, or trapped air. The purée is what emulsifies and binds the whole log, so if you leaned too heavy on whole cubes and mince, there is nothing holding it together. Trapped air leaves voids that become fault lines under the knife. Next time, keep the three-texture ratio as written and work the air out properly during shaping - prick the bubbles, then roll tight twice.

The meat won't come out of the ham press - Oil is the usual culprit. A thin film of oil is not enough to release a cooked protein that has bound to the metal. Use a cooking spray instead, applied generously, or line the press with plastic wrap or a vacuum-sealer bag before packing the meat in. Several readers cook the log inside vacuum-sealer plastic specifically to keep the press clean and guarantee an easy release.

You're worried the plastic wrap is unsafe to cook in - At the gentle temperature this recipe uses (the oven sits at 100°C / 212°F and the meat finishes at 68°C / 154°F), food-grade plastic wrap is safe and standard for this kind of preparation. If you would rather not use it, press the mix into a loaf tin or a tight-fitting pan instead - but it has to be packed tight, or the log will not hold together when sliced.

The texture came out rubbery or paste-like - This is the opposite of the crumbly failure: too much purée, or over-processing. If the whole mix goes through the food processor, you lose the bite that the whole cubes and coarse mince provide, and you end up with something closer to a hot dog than a deli cold cut. Keep the three parts separate and process only the portion the recipe calls for.

The color came out grey instead of pink - Cooked turkey without curing salt goes a natural pale grey-brown. There is nothing wrong with it, and it tastes the same, but it does not have the deli-counter pink most people expect. You have two ways to fix it. The first is the small amount of curing salt (Prague powder #1) the recipe lists as optional, which gives a true cured-meat pink. The second, if you would rather skip the nitrite entirely, is to work extra smoked paprika into the meat mix - it will not give the exact cured pink, but it warms the color up enough that the log reads as deli meat rather than grey.

Substitutes and variations

• Protein - Turkey thigh is the default for its richer flavor and slight fat content, but turkey breast, chicken, pork, beef, or even shrimp all work. Chicken thigh is the closest swap in terms of texture and moisture. Leaner proteins like breast benefit from keeping the egg white in to help bind.
• Spice and aromatics - The base recipe is deliberately clean, so the turkey reads as deli meat, but it takes additions well. Stir in madras curry powder or Thai curry paste for a flavored cold cut, or keep it classic with onion powder, dried herbs, or cracked black pepper.
• Inclusions - This is where you turn deli meat into mortadella. Pistachios are the traditional Italian addition. Sun-dried tomatoes, olives, capers, and chopped fresh herbs all work - fold them into the mix after the three textures are combined so they stay whole.
• Curing salt - Optional. It gives the pink deli color and protects against botulism if cold-smoking. Leave it out for an oven batch eaten within a few days, or use Prague powder #1 in the quantity listed. There is no flavor penalty either way.
• MSG - Optional but recommended for savory depth. Leave it out if you prefer, and accept a slightly flatter result. A splash of soy sauce or a little grated parmesan in the mix gets partway there by adding natural glutamates.
• Smoking - Cold-smoke the finished log if you have the setup. Use the curing salt if you smoke, to keep it safe at low smoking temperatures. For a shortcut smoky note without the equipment, the smoked paprika in the base recipe already does some of that work.

Serving suggestions

Homemade deli ham makes an amazing cold cut, great for simply having with scrambled eggs for breakfast or a few slices when you're feeling peckish. But it can be so much more.

• Sandwich - I love having it on toasted sourdough or borodinsky bread with Dijon mustard, or with a smear of pistachio pesto, homemade Caesar dressing, or lemon mayo.
• Charcuterie board - Sliced thin alongside other homemade cured meats like beef bresaola, good mustard, and pickles.
• Salad - Sliced or cubed in a Cobb salad or a simple tomato and mozzarella salad.
• Snacks - If you just want a few very simple party snacks. Dress some enoki mushrooms in soy sauce, then roll them up in a thin slice of ham.

Storage options

• Fridge - Stored airtight, homemade turkey deli meat keeps for 4 to 5 days. Using the optional curing salt extends this slightly. Keep the log whole and slice as you go rather than slicing it all at once, since exposed sliced surfaces dry out and lose color faster than a sealed log.
• Vacuum-sealed - Fully vacuum-sealed and refrigerated, it holds for up to two weeks. Portioning into smaller sealed packs means you open only what you need, and the rest stays sealed and fresh.
• Freezing - It freezes very well for up to three months with no real loss of texture. Portion it first, wrap each piece tightly, and freeze in sealed bags. Defrost overnight in the fridge - never under warm water or in the microwave, both of which seize the proteins and ruin the slice.
• Slicing for storage - If you plan to freeze it sliced for quick sandwiches, layer a small piece of parchment between slices before sealing, so they pull apart easily straight from frozen.
• How to tell if it has turned - Trust your nose. A sour or ammonia smell, a slimy surface, or any off color beyond the natural grey means it has gone and should be thrown out. Homemade deli meat without curing salt is more perishable than the commercial kind, so do not push it past the windows above.
• Food safety - Do not leave it at room temperature for extended periods. Like any cooked meat, it spoils if left out, and the no-nitrite version is less forgiving than store-bought.

Frequently asked questions

Useful equipment

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