How long per pound to roast a turkey

Prepping and cooking your Thanksgiving turkey is no small endeavor. Anything that large is difficult to cook in the oven because the outside inevitably cooks faster than the inside.

But fear not, here's a guide for how long it takes to cook a turkey to the right temperature while maintaining its succulence. Turkey is done when the thigh meat reaches an internal temperature of degrees F 75 degrees C.

To get an accurate reading, be sure that your thermometer is not touching the bone. See our guide that shows you how to check the temperature of a turkey the right way. To prevent your turkey from drying out, factor in carry-over cooking while the turkey is resting: The internal temperature of the turkey will continue to rise 5 to 10 degrees once it is out of the oven. You can remove the turkey from the oven when the thigh meat registers degrees F 68 degrees C and let carry-over cooking do the rest.

While the turkey is resting, check the temperature again after 10 minutes to ensure the turkey has reached degrees F. Use the 20 to 30 minutes while your turkey is resting to make a delicious gravy. Refer to our step-by-step guide to see how to make turkey gravy from drippings.

For some of us, carving the turkey is the most intimidating part. If you've remained patient and let the turkey rest before carving, you're already halfway there! Resting the turkey lets the juices redistribute, ensuring that your turkey isn't dry but also avoiding a big juicy mess on your cutting board, making it harder to carve. See our step-by-step video and guide on how to carve turkey for all you need to know to get the turkey on the table!

How Long to Cook a Turkey. Use our handy guide for turkey cooking times by size. Laura Formisano. Samantha MacAvoy Samantha MacAvoy joined the Good Housekeeping food team in March , where she writes about the latest tasty offerings from the Test Kitchen, must-try food trends, and top tips for home cooking success.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Tenting with foil keeps the skin from getting too dark too soon.

Remove the foil about halfway through cooking to let the skin brown. Traditional recipes call for basting the turkey every half hour to moisten and flavor the bird.

Basting is a simple process that just requires opening the oven and carefully spooning or using a turkey baster to squirt the pan juices all over the turkey. You can add butter to the roasting pan for a richer basting solution, or have turkey broth simmering on the stove to use if the pan juices run dry. Basting will certainly help the skin brown up nicely, but opinions vary on whether the liquid actually penetrates the skin to moisten the flesh.

And remember: An open oven door lets heat escape, lowering the ambient temperature and lengthening the roasting time. If, however, you prefer to roast your turkey at a higher or lower temperature, follow these guidelines. The following cook times are for unstuffed birds. Our rule of thumb is to avoid stuffed turkeys and instead to bake the stuffing alongside so that it can easily reach a safe temperature.

According to the USDA the bird must reach this temperature before you take it out of the oven. Whichever turkey roasting temperature you choose, be sure to use an accurate food thermometer to confirm the final temperature. In the past, home cooks used to look at the color of the meat as an indication of doneness: The turkey was pierced with a knife and if the juices were clear instead of pink it was considered done.

But this is not a reliable method for several reasons. First, pinkness can disappear before a safe temperature is reached.

A meat thermometer comes in handy all holiday season. Tracking the temperature helps to ensure that you get a perfect roast turkey every time. To check the temperature of the turkey, you can use either an instant-read thermometer which you insert after cooking, as it gives a reading immediately or a remote food thermometer the type that has a probe you insert before cooking, which connects to a digital display that sits on your counter.

This gives the juices time to settle into the bird and be reabsorbed; carving it up too soon will just allow the moisture to run out, leaving you with dried-out meat on top of a puddle on your cutting board. Tented with foil, you can leave the bird in a warm place for up to 40 minutes, which gives you plenty of time to make gravy.