Understanding How to Properly Thaw Your Turkey Is Important

Preparing for your Thanksgiving Day feast can be a time consuming task, no matter how prepared you are.  One of the most important parts of this process is properly thawing your turkey.  If you do it incorrectly, you might wind up with undercooked food, which can be a serious health hazard.  However, thawing your Thanksgiving turkey doesn’t need to include a lot of guesswork – here are some easy steps to do it right, no matter what recipe you use to cook it.

 

First, there are two ways in which you can thaw a Thanksgiving turkey – in cold water or in the refrigerator.  Never thaw in the sink or by running it under hot water, or you may wind up with food poisoning. We’ll start with the refrigerator method.  For this method, make sure that you put your turkey in a pan to collect the juices that will leak out as thawing occurs.  For a four to twelve pound bird, you’ll need to thaw it for one to three days.  For twelve to sixteen pounds, it requires three to four days.  For sixteen to twenty pounds of Thanksgiving turkey, thaw it for four to five days.  For twenty to twenty four pounds, it requires five to six days.

 

If you prefer, you can use cold water to speed the thawing process along.  You need to fill a pot with cold water and place your Thanksgiving turkey in it, or you can use your sink.  For four to twelve pounds, it should thaw for two to six hours.  For twelve to sixteen pounds, it takes six to eight hours.  For sixteen to twenty pounds, allot eight to ten hours.  Finally, for Thanksgiving turkeys that weigh twenty to twenty-four pounds, give them ten to twelve hours to thaw.

Subscribe for newsletters &
Get Latest Updates & Offers

Stay
Connected