The Thanksgiving turkey is the main attraction of the Thanksgiving dinner, and is straightforward to prepare, as long as one has allowed ample time for thawing and cooking. Other methods, such as brining and deep frying may liven up the traditional meal's centerpiece, but require special equipment.
Turkey Cooking by the Numbers
- Plan for 1 1/2 pounds of turkey per personMartha Stewart: How Big a Bird...
- Thaw frozen turkey on the bottom of the refrigerator; allow 5 hours per pound thaw timeMartha Stewart: Food Safety, Fallacies and Facts
- Roasting times for unstuffed birds at 325 degrees:
- 8-12 pounds: 2 3/4 to 3 hours
- 12-14 pounds: 3 to 3 3/4 hours
- 14-18 pounds: 3 3/4 to 4 1/4 hours
- 18-20 pounds: 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 hoursUSDA: Let's Talk Turkey
- Cook to 165 degrees internal temperatureUSDA: Let's Talk Turkey
More Thanksgiving Turkey Help
How to Roast a Turkey
Kristin with Hipcooks in West Los Angeles presents a guide on how to roast a turkey. She presents a two stage cooking process that ensure the turkey takes on a golden brown exterior. This cooking video is part of a larger series of instructional guides offered on the Mahalo.com YouTube channel.
Featured
Are you looking for a great cranberry sauce recipe? If turkey is the star of a great Thanksgiving dinner, then cranberry sauce is the supporting player that ties the whole extravaganza together.
Featured
Hipcooks and Mahalo.com teaches the viewer how to prepare turkey stuffing. The cook demonstrates how to turn a sourdough bread loaf into crumbs for her stuffing recipe. Once she is done, she toasts them in the oven so that they become crispy. She goes on to make a mixture that includes celery, onions, mushrooms, sage, pepper, parsley and butter.
Featured
Kristen and Mahalo teach you in this video how to smoke a turkey. Master this skill and you can impress all your family and friends at Thanksgiving and on other occasions. This video will provide you with all the schools you will need.
Featured
Mahalo.com and Kristin from Hipcooks, Los Angeles provide all the information you will need in this video for how to brine a turkey. Once gained, this is a valuable skill to impress family and friends at Thanksgiving and other meals. This video shows you how.
Featured
If you're planning on serving a huge Thanksgiving holiday meal, there's a good chance that turkey will be on the menu. Turkey is often the main course at many Thanksgiving dinner tables.