From frozen to feast, how to safely defrost your Thanksgiving turkey

Millions of Americans are already preparing their feasts for this Thanksgiving — including the frozen turkey, which takes center stage for many holiday menus.

When it comes to purchasing a turkey for Thanksgiving, buying a frozen bird is oftentimes the most convenient choice because it allows shoppers to get ahead of the holiday chaos. However, thawing them safely is no small task.

Thankfully, experts at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Butterball — one of the largest U.S. suppliers of turkey — have recommended the best ways to defrost your turkey without disaster.

According to Butterball, one of the safest and least hands-on way to defrost your frozen turkey is by using the refrigerator method. To do so, pop the frozen turkey — still snug in its original packaging — breast-side up inside the fridge, which must be set to 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

It takes one full day per four pounds to thaw a turkey, meaning your 16-pound bird will need a long weekend to properly defrost. Once it’s been thawed, each turkey has a four-day window before it must be cooked in the oven.

For those who lack patience, the cold water method may be more your speed. This approach involves dunking a turkey breast-side down in a container full of cold water. However, the turkey must be fully submerged and the water must be swapped out every 30 minutes to stay cold.

No giant pot? No problem. You can rotate the bird every half hour instead, but make sure it stays chilly.

The cold water method takes 30 minutes to thaw per pound, meaning an average-sized turkey will need several hours to defrost. Once thawed, the turkey needs to hit the oven immediately.

For the culinary risk-takers, there’s also the microwave method. The USDA advises stripping off all the packaging before placing your turkey on a microwave-safe dish. From there, check your microwave’s manual for defrosting times based on weight.

Typically, you’ll need about six minutes of thawing per pound. Throughout the process, be prepared to rotate and flip the turkey multiple times for even defrosting. Much like the cold water method, this microwave method demands immediate cooking post-thaw.

Whichever method you choose to defrost your turkey, remember that a properly thawed turkey isn’t just safer — it’s tastier, too.