How to Defrost a Turkey

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During Arctic expeditions, explorers can spend hours simply melting enough permafrost to yield drinkable water—so what makes you think you can defrost a 25-pound turkey in 20 minutes? Read on for the three main techniques with which you can defrost your bird.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Refrigerator/Freezer
Pots & Pans
Frozen turkey

Step1

The most traditional—and also the most time-intensive—means to thaw a turkey is simply to move it from your freezer to your refrigerator a few days in advance of the feast. As a rule of thumb, you’ll need 24 hours for every five pounds of bird, so a 20-pound bird will require four full days of defrosting time. Remember to place the turkey in a pan, to catch any drippings—or, if there’s not enough room, situate the pan on the shelf below.

Step2

If you don’t have days to spare to thaw your turkey in the fridge, there’s a quicker—but more labor-intensive—alternative. Simply place the bird in a big pot of cold water, allowing half an hour of soaking time per pound (meaning a 25-pound turkey can thaw in half a day). You’ll have to replace the water every half hour, and also make sure that the turkey is in a leak-proof package, because turkey meat can absorb moisture and become watery.

Step3

If you’re feeling brave—and if your oven is cavernous enough—it’s also possible to defrost your turkey in the microwave. You need to zap the bird on a low-to-medium energy setting for at least 6 minutes per pound (two hours for a 20-pound bird), being sure to rotate it occasionally from top to bottom and end to end. Because it’s possible that the microwave will start cooking certain portions of the turkey, it’s necessary to start cooking the bird in a traditional oven immediately after defrosting.

Tips & Warnings

As tempting as it may seem, you should not attempt to thaw your turkey by leaving it out overnight in a room-temperature environment (either on the kitchen counter, or inside a brown bag or a picnic cooler). A room-temperature-thawed bird is susceptible to contamination by bacteria, so unless you’d like your guests to be visiting the emergency room in the days after your feast, the thawing techniques above are your only options.

Comments

Anonymous said

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on 12/28/2005 As soon as you can get the frozen bird thawed enough to remove wrapping, soak the almost frozen bird in cold water in your sink. Make sure your sink is clean beforehand. You must change the water every 15 to 20 minutes to ensure the water is not getting to the temperature that bacteria grows at. After about 2-3 hours, you can remove the inside bag of giblets. Then you should keep with the water changing cycle for another 2-3 hours until fully thawed.
Frozen turkey to thawed for emergency = about 6 hours for 17-22 pound turkey.

Anonymous said

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on 12/8/2005 If you're rushed to get your frozen turkey thawed as fast as possible, place the turkey in a clean kitchen sink and run cold water continuously over it until thawed. A 10-12 pound turkey can be thawed in 6-8 hours.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 To ensure that the bird is not still frosty deep inside, soak it in a sink full of cold water for two hours before roasting. This will help ensure that you don't wind up with a bird that's dry or overcooked on the outside and undercooked deep inside.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 This is only for smaller turkeys! While the turkey is still in its attractive plastic packaging, place it in a large stock pot that is filled with water (make sure the turkey is fully submerged). Place the pot in your sink and turn the faucet on so that it is just barely producing a steady stream (but more than just simply dripping). Make sure that the stream of water is landing in the pot. The water will pour over the top of the pot, and this is OK. What it is doing is creating a liquid convection current that is keeping all the water molecules constantly moving around the bird. This will make it dethaw even faster than just letting the bird float in still water.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Simply place your frozen turkey into a sink or large container filled with cold water. Every hour you replace the cold water until the turkey is thawed. Just make sure the entire bird is submerged under water.

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