How To Safely Make Sure That Turkey Is Thawed Before Thanksgiving
There is nothing worse than the morning of Thanksgiving when you are preparing all the delicious food, to find out that the turkey isn't ready to be cooked; it's still frozen. Make sure this doesn't happen to you and save your Thanksgiving.
The standard amount of time it takes to thaw out a frozen solid turkey is about 24 hours per 5 pounds if you are trying to thaw it out in the refrigerator. That means if you have a 12 to 24 pound turkey you need to be taking that sucker out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator this weekend.
For those not good at math like me, Rudy's shared a handy guide that tells you exactly when you need to take out the turkey.
Those who are having a huge Thanksgiving and have those massive birds sitting in the freezer, you have to take it out to start thawing this Friday.
The good news is, if you forget to take the turkey out this weekend, you can still thaw it out by using cold water. It is just way more time consuming and labor intensive. If this is your plan, make sure you have enough time to thaw it and cook it before dinner.
The cold water method for defrosting takes 30 minutes per pound, but you have to make sure you refresh the cold water every 30 minutes. That means if you have a 16 pound turkey it is going to take you 8 hours to thaw it out refreshing the water every 30 minutes. That is still going to take too long to thaw and cook. The good news is you can set an alert on your phone to remind yourself that it is time to take out the turkey to thaw.
BONUS TIP: If there is even a SLIGHT chance that the turkey is frozen anywhere, DO NOT DEEP FRY IT. You will catch your house on fire.