Cold Turkey: When to Thaw the Bird!

Also read: 50+ Thanksgiving Recipes

turkeyI will never forget the first Thanksgiving dinner that my husband decided to take over turkey duty; he wanted to give deep frying a shot. So, I left him to it only to realize on Thanksgiving morning that he had not thawed the turkey yet! Our local grocery store was open–one more thing to be thankful for that day–and we were able to buy a thawed turkey.

If you’re thawing it in the fridge, allow at least 1 day of thawing for every 4 lbs. Place it in the fridge, breast side up, in an unopened wrapper on a tray to catch the juices. We usually use two 12lb turkeys, so I start mine thawing on Sunday night.

It takes less time to thaw if you thaw in cold water, but it’s more work. It’ll take about 30 minutes per lb (so my 12 lbs turkeys would take 6 hours.) Keep turkey breast side down in an unopened wrapper. Completely cover the turkey in the cold water and change the water every 30 minutes.

If for some reason, you made the same mistake as me, there is hope! You can actually cook a frozen turkey–though I can never tried it. Check out this tutorial from the Kitchn


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Author: Heather Zachariah

Former Art Director for Home Magazine, Heather Leahy Zachariah, left her career in publishing after baby number number one. She now works from home as a freelance graphic designer and a chauffeur to her 3 busy kids. "Working on TipsFromTown has been a wonderful outlet for me. It renewed my love of publishing where I can design colorful, enticing pages online and allows me to share the things I love about being a mom." Heather grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a place that still is near and dear to her. " After living in Brooklyn for 18 years and studying Graphic Design at Pratt Institute, she now lives in the Jersey burbs. "I love living so close to NYC, but in my heart, I'm an Ohio girl."

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