How to Quickly Defrost a Turkey

I remember one year, I got a frozen turkey and figured it was like a pound of hamburger and would defrost with no problem. Boy, was I wrong. Now I buy turkey that is already defrosted, but if you have a frozen one, and you got to get it defrosted fast, read on to learn when and how you can quickly defrost it.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Turkey
• water
• microwave
• refrigerator

1. Refrigerator defrost: First of all, you do not want to just put it on a counter to defrost because of bacteria. The best way to defrost it is to do it in the refrigerator. The math is 24 hours for every 5 pounds of turkey, so a 10 pound turkey would take 48 hours and a 20 pound turkey would take 96 hours or 4 days. So, buy an average size frozen turkey on Sunday and put it in the refrigerator and it will be defrosted Thanksgiving day.

2. Microwave Defrost: If you do have a microwave that is big enough for a turkey you can defrost it, but you have to cook immediately after you defrost it. Take off the wrapper, take out the giblets and so forth and put it in the microwave. Every microwave varies but in general it takes about 6 min. per pound of turkey at a medium setting. Also, be cautious as a microwave may defrost one area and cook another.

3. Defrosting in sink: Leave the plastic around the turkey and put it in a sink full of water. You will have to change the water every 30 minutes and it will take 30 minutes for every pound of turkey, so you are looking at about 8-10 hours to defrost, along with you changing the water every 30 minutes.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have time to do these steps then just leave it frozen and run up to the store and get a defrosted turkey.
• Be careful that you cook it as soon as it's defrosted so that no one gets sick.

[dsarokin]

on 11/1/2008 Great tips! I might have do the extended family Thanksgiving dinner this year, and need all the help I can get. Definitely boomarking this one.