How To Thaw A Frozen Turkey

Turkey Basics

These terms do not exactly mean what they say. We were not able to take the internal temperature of our frozen turkey, but considering it was in a display case, and not in a freezing unit, it is hard to say what exactly classified it as frozen.

Normally a frozen turkey is one that is kept below 0 degrees fahrenheit. Refrigerated are generally kept below 32 degrees fahrenheit and fresh below 40 degrees.

Contrary to popular belief 32 degrees is not the freezing point of a turkey, it is the freezing point of water. So keeping turkeys below zero degrees fahrenheit ensures that the turkey and not just the water content is kept frozen.

Thawing a Turkey

We believe the best bet is to use a frozen turkey, but make sure you do not buy it the same day you want to cook it.

Give it at least 3 days to thaw in the refrigerator, in a bowl, or large 12-16 quart pot. You want to make sure none of the juice from the bag, the turkey itself or anything else can cross-contaiminate anything else in your refrigerator.

Note: our turkey was 10 lbs. if you have something larger than 15 lbs. give it another two days to thaw in the refrigerator.

If the turkey is still not fully thawed then you can safely run it under cold water until you are able to remove the bag inside. The bag contains the liver, and other internal parts. People love to use these parts for gravy or save them for soups since they are so flavorful.

Once the turkey is fully thawed we like to place the turkey in a brine.