Learn How to Cook the Perfect Turkey
Ready to roast the big bird? Here are our tips on how to cook a turkey, including a chart on how long to cook a turkey for peak flavor and moisture (no dried-out breasts, here!)
How to Cook a Turkey: Cooking Tips
Before roasting the big bird, ensure you have the right equipment. You’ll need a good roasting pan with a rack; the pan should be heavy enough so it does not bend. Also, we recommend using a meat thermometer for determining when to remove the turkey at the peak of flavor; overcooking is one of the most common problems. See more about meat thermometers.
Preparing the Turkey
- Leave time for defrosting! If your turkey is frozen, it must be defrosted in a refrigerator. Allow 1 day of defrosting for every 4 pounds of turkey.
- Once defrosted, remove the gizzards (the sack containing the neck and innards). You can save these for stock.
- If you’re cooking stuffing inside your turkey, truss it (tie up the turkey’s legs and wings). Otherwise, there’s no need. It will only slow down the cooking time.
- Add aromatics to the turkey cavity, such as garlic cloves, celery, carrots, bay leaves, and herbs.
- Add broth or water (about 1/4 inch) to the bottom of the roasting pan to avoid any burning.
- Place your thawed or fresh turkey breast upwards on a flat rack in your roasting pan, which should be 2 to 2.5 inches deep.
- Brush or rub the skin with olive or coconut oil or softened butter to prevent drying of the skin and enhance the golden color. Season the bird with salt and pepper to your taste.
Cooking the Turkey
- Place into a preheated 325°F (165°C) oven.
- Baste the turkey with juices several times throughout cooking.
- When the skin is a light golden color, and the turkey is about two-thirds done, shield the breast loosely with a tent of lightweight foil to prevent overcooking the breast.
- See the cooking times below for an idea of how long your bird will take to roast, and start checking your meat thermometer until the bird is done cooking.
How Long to Cook a Turkey
Use the roasting schedule below as a guideline, and start checking for doneness 1/2 hour before the recommended time ends.
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Use your instant-read thermometer to test for peak flavor and moistness. The turkey is cooked when it reaches the following internal temperatures:
- 180° to 185°F (82° to 85°C) deep in the thigh; also, juices should be clear, not pink, when the thigh muscle is pierced deeply.
- 170° to 175°F (77° to 80°C) in the thickest part of the breast, just above the rib bones.
- 160° to 165°F (70° to 74°C) in the center of the stuffing (if the turkey is stuffed).
Let the turkey sit for 15 to 20 minutes before carving to allow the juices to be reabsorbed by the meat.
Turkey Cooking Times | ||
|---|---|---|
| Net Weight (pounds) | Unstuffed (hours) | Stuffed (hours) |
| 10 to 18 | 3 to 3.5 | 3.75 to 4.5 |
| 18 to 22 | 3.5 to 4 | 4.5 to 5 |
| 22 to 24 | 4 to 4.5 | 5 to 5.5 |
| 24 to 30 | 4.5 to 5 | 5.5 to 6.25 |
How to Carve a Turkey
Once you’ve roasted the turkey and let it rest, it’s time to carve the big bird! Watch our video on how to carve a turkey for carving tips.
Turkey Recipes
Check out our Thanksgiving Recipes page to see our favorite turkey recipes—and recipes for Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts, too!
How do you cook your Thanksgiving turkey? Roasting? Deep-frying? Share your technique in the comments below!
Catherine Boeckmann
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Defrost your turkey? Why? Yes, I know every professional chef is always saying that is what to do with a frozen bird. Defrost it because it won't get done otherwise. My mom discovered by accident fifty years ago that you can cook a bird from frozen if you go low and slow. Takes longer but that's the method that has been used in our family ever since I've been alive. And it comes out juicier than a defrosted bird without the need to baste. I'll stick with the frozen bird, thank you.
I’ve found that brining the turkey before roasting makes for a moist, tender and flavorful turkey.
After years of "traditional roasting" of turkeys (and chickens), we switched to using an electric roaster. Yes, the skin may not brown and crisp up quite as much as it does in an oven, it frees up valuable oven space, never needs basting (if you have one with a self basting lid) and cooks much faster. Liquid in the bottom of the pan is a great start to great gravy when it's done. Chicken broth, Miller High Life (my favorite) or water will do.
We never stuff the turkey when we cook the bird in the electric roaster, and instead do that in the regular oven.
Always pleased with the results doing the turkey this way!
For many years I have relied on Reynolds turkey-size cooking bags. Much shorter cooking time and they have not failed to be moist and tender, though not crispy and browned as some want to display.
Do not use cooking bags if you have have parrots or other birds in the house. They can be deadly.
And then there are those of us who love Reynolds Oven Bags - Turkey Size. A 21+ lb bird in 2 3/4 hours. Breast down in the bag create juicy breast meat, but turning it over to carve I have not yet mastered.
Our answer to this is a central carving trolley so you have two people to hold the bird using oven gloves and turn together. We cook ours in double layers of tinfoil and turn it half way through cooking. Agree before hand which way to turn it though!! Juicy breast meat every time.
We grew up learning that turkey was to be cooked for at least 15 to 20 minutes (longer for much larger birds) at higher temp (400 to 425F) to bring it up out of the "danger zone" faster as well as "set" the skin (to prevent the skin from going soggy or soft as well as prevent skin splitting), then reduced the heat to cook lower (325 to 350 F) and slower to avoid overly dry meat. Altitude also matters!
I have always followed my mother's recipe for stuffing a turkey. Depending on the size of the bird, use one (1) to two (2) pounds of sausage meat and mix well with thyme (I always thought she meant "It takes a lot of time to stuff a turkey").
She, and I, cook the turkey at 30 minutes per pound at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thanks for the tip, Thomas!
