Turkey Cooking Time by Weight

Turkey cooking time at 325 F / 163 C is about 13 to 15 minutes per pound unstuffed, and about 15 to 17 minutes per pound stuffed. That works out to roughly 3 hours for a 12-pound turkey, 3 hours 45 minutes for a 14-pound turkey, and 4 hours 30 minutes for a 20-pound turkey. Every one of those numbers is an estimate, and the thermometer is the final word.

The chart below is the short answer to how long to cook a turkey at any weight. It follows the USDA roasting timetable at 325 F / 163 C. Weigh the bird as it goes into the oven, stuffing and all.

Two things move these numbers more than anything else. A bird that goes in cold from the refrigerator runs long, so let it sit on the counter for an hour first. And every oven lies a little, which is why the last 45 minutes belong to your thermometer rather than the clock.

What Temperature to Cook a Turkey

Set your oven to 325 F / 163 C for a whole turkey. It is hot enough to brown the skin and gentle enough that the breast does not dry out while the thighs catch up. That gap between white meat and dark is the central problem with cooking a whole bird.

Higher temperatures work if you are watching. Roasting at 350 F / 177 C shaves off time and browns harder. A high-heat start, 425 F / 218 C for the first 30 minutes before dropping to 325 F / 163 C, gives you the deepest color. Anything sustained above 400 F / 204 C asks you to tent the breast early and check often.

The number that decides dinner is the one inside the bird.

• Safe everywhere: 165 F / 74 C in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast.
• Stuffing: 165 F / 74 C in the center of the stuffing, which often lags behind the meat.
• Carryover: The temperature climbs another 5 to 10 degrees F / 3 to 6 degrees C while the turkey rests.
• Dark meat preference: Thighs are more tender closer to 175 F / 79 C, and they can take it without drying.

How to Cook a Turkey: Eight Methods Compared

There are eight practical ways to cook a turkey at home, and they differ in time, equipment, and how much of your attention they want. Roasting is the default. Spatchcocking is the fastest oven route. The grill and the smoker free up the oven, and deep frying is the shortest path of all, with the most safety rules attached.

Classic Oven Roast

Roasting at 325 F / 163 C is the method the timing chart above is built on, and the one that gives you a pan full of drippings for gravy. Set the bird breast up on a rack so hot air can reach the underside. Give the pan an inch of headroom on all sides so the heat can move.

The first hour smells like nothing much. Somewhere in the second, the kitchen changes, and from then on the house tells everyone how much longer they have to wait.

Convection Roast

A convection fan moves hot air across the bird, which cooks it roughly a quarter faster and browns the skin more evenly. Use a low-sided pan so the air can circulate, dry the skin well, and start checking the temperature earlier than you think you need to. Skip the stuffing in a convection oven, since the outside finishes long before the center of the stuffing is safe.

High-Heat Start

Thirty minutes at 425 F / 218 C, then the rest at 325 F / 163 C, gives you dark, crackling skin. The breast never sits in high heat long enough to dry out. Line the pan first. Drippings that spend half an hour at 425 F / 218 C can scorch before the gravy ever happens.

Spatchcock

Spatchcocking means cutting out the backbone and pressing the bird flat. That puts the thighs and the breast on the same level, so they finish at nearly the same time. A flattened turkey roasts at 450 F / 232 C in about half the time of a whole one, around 1 hour 30 minutes for a 14-pound bird, and the skin crisps from edge to edge.

Kitchen shears and a little effort are all it takes. The trade is presentation, since a flat turkey does not carry to the table the way a whole one does, and the backbone goes into the stockpot instead.

On the Grill

A charcoal or gas grill roasts a turkey at 325 to 350 F / 163 to 177 C in about 12 minutes per pound. It also gives you back the oven for stuffing, rolls, and pie. Bank the coals on both sides or light only the outer burners, set a drip pan with an inch of water underneath, and keep the lid down.

Cold weather and wind slow a grill considerably, so build in an extra hour of margin and keep fuel ready. What you get for the trouble is faintly smoky skin and a kitchen that stays calm.

In the Smoker

A smoker at 275 F / 135 C takes about 22 minutes per pound, so a 12-pound bird runs around four and a half hours. Use a mild fruit wood such as apple or cherry, because turkey takes on smoke fast and heavy wood turns it bitter.

Keep smoked turkeys to about 14 pounds. A larger bird at low heat spends too long warming through, and the meat sits in the range where bacteria multiply longer than you want it to. Expect burnished, chewy skin rather than crisp, and a pink ring under the surface that is smoke, not undercooked meat.

Deep Fry

Deep frying cooks a turkey in about 3 to 4 minutes per pound in 350 F / 177 C oil. That puts a 12-pound bird on the table in under an hour, with crackling skin. It is also the method with real consequences attached, so the rules are not optional.

• Measure the oil first: Set the turkey in the empty pot, add water until it just covers, lift the bird out, and mark the line. Dry the pot completely.
• Outdoors, on concrete: At least 10 feet from the house, the garage, and anything that can catch. Never on a wood deck, never in a garage.
• Completely thawed, completely dry: Ice and water hitting hot oil is what causes fryer fires.
• Never stuffed, never unattended: Keep a dry-powder fire extinguisher within reach and stay with the pot.
• Size limit: Most fryer kits are built for birds of 12 to 14 pounds or less.

Turkey Breast Only

A bone-in turkey breast roasts at 325 F / 163 C in about 23 minutes per pound and feeds four to six people. It is the sensible choice when your table is small. Skip the multi-day thaw, season it the night before, and roast it skin side up on a rack until the thickest part reads 165 F / 74 C.

How to Thaw a Turkey

Thaw a frozen turkey in the refrigerator at about 24 hours per 4 to 5 pounds. The faster route is a cold water bath at about 30 minutes per pound, with fresh cold water every 30 minutes. Never thaw a turkey on the counter, where the outside sits at room temperature for hours before the middle gives up any ice.

A turkey thawed in cold water goes straight into the oven, because parts of it have already warmed. One thawed in the refrigerator can wait another day or two, which is why buying early and thawing slow is the calmest plan you can make.

How to Prep a Turkey Before It Cooks

The day before does more for the finished bird than anything you can do on the day itself. Salt needs time to move through the meat, and skin needs time to dry out so it can brown.

• Dry brine: About 1 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound, rubbed over and under the skin, then uncovered in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 days.
• Wet brine: A saltwater soak for 8 to 12 hours, then rinse and dry the bird thoroughly. It adds moisture but softens the skin.
• Butter under the skin: Softened butter with herbs, worked between the skin and the breast, bastes the leanest meat from the inside.
• Aromatics in the cavity: Halved onion, lemon, garlic, and a few sprigs of sage or thyme perfume the meat without seasoning it deeply.
• Truss loosely: Tight trussing slows the thighs down, and tucking the wing tips underneath is enough.

Skip the basting. Every time the oven door opens the temperature drops about 25 F / 14 C, and spooning drippings over the skin softens exactly what you want crisp.

How to Tell When a Turkey Is Done

A turkey is done when an instant-read thermometer reads 165 F / 74 C in the innermost thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. Keep the tip off the bone. Clear juices and a wiggling drumstick are old signals that have been wrong in plenty of kitchens.

Check the thigh first, since it runs coolest. If the breast has reached 165 F / 74 C but the thighs are still behind, tent the breast with foil and give the legs another 15 minutes. Carryover heat adds another 5 to 10 degrees F / 3 to 6 degrees C during the rest. Pull the bird the moment it hits temperature rather than leaving it in for insurance.

The same habit pays off on everything else you cook, from a holiday roast to a weeknight steak. Our guide to how to cook steak covers doneness temperatures cut by cut if you want the full picture.

Resting and Carving

Rest a whole turkey 20 to 30 minutes before carving, loosely tented with foil. The juices redistribute, the temperature evens out, and the carving board stays dry instead of flooding. A turkey holds heat far longer than most cooks expect, so the rest costs you nothing.

Carve in the kitchen, not at the table. Take the legs off first, then lift each breast off the bone in one piece and slice it crosswise, so every slice you plate has skin on it.

• Use a long blade: A carving knife slices cleanly in one stroke instead of sawing.
• Carving fork: A two-tine fork holds the bird steady without tearing the skin.
• Grooved board: The channel catches the juices, which go straight into your gravy.
• Warm platter: Cold plates take the heat out of white meat in a minute flat.

Common Turkey Mistakes

Most turkey trouble starts days before the oven ever comes on, which is good news: you can head all of it off from the couch with a calendar.

• Thawing too late: A 20-pound bird needs up to 6 days in the refrigerator. Count backward from dinner.
• Trusting the pop-up timer: Most are set well above a safe temperature, which means dry breast meat by the time it fires.
• Roasting without a rack: The bottom of the bird sits in liquid and steams instead of browning.
• Basting constantly: Every door opening costs heat, and wet skin will not crisp.
• Stuffing the bird early: Stuff loosely, right before it goes in, and take the stuffing to 165 F / 74 C.
• Carving too soon: Those 20 minutes of rest are the difference between juice in the meat and juice on your board.

Tramontina Cookware for Turkey Day

A turkey needs little equipment, but what it needs, it needs badly. You want a pan sturdy enough to carry 20 pounds out of a hot oven, a rack to lift the bird off the bottom, and a blade sharp enough to carve without shredding.

• Deep roasting pan: The Prima 16.5-inch is an 18/10 stainless steel roasting pan with a basting grill and a V-rack that cradles the bird so air reaches every side. Riveted, mirror-polished handles give you something solid to hold with mitts on.
• Flared-edge pan: The Prima 16.75-inch is a flared-edge roasting pan in heavy-gauge 18/10 stainless steel, basting rack included. The flared sides let heat wrap the bird, and you can set the pan straight on the stovetop after for gravy.
• Nonstick pan: A lighter 16-inch nonstick roasting pan that releases drippings easily and washes up fast, rack included.
• Carving set: The Professional 2-piece pairs a forged carving knife and fork in stainless steel. The long, narrow blade takes a breast off the bone in one pass.
• Carving board: A teak carving board sized for a whole bird, with a channel around the edge that catches the juices for your gravy.
• Serving platter: The Sophia 15.75-inch is a porcelain oval serving platter long enough to hold sliced breast, legs, and wings together, so the turkey reaches the table in one trip.
• Charcoal grill: A 15.5-inch stainless steel charcoal grill for the indirect-heat method, which keeps the turkey outside and your oven free.

Cook With Confidence

Turkey cooking time comes down to two numbers: the thaw clock and 165 F / 74 C. Everything else is seasoning and patience. Get your thaw started on time, salt the bird early, and watch the thermometer instead of the clock.

A turkey asks for one afternoon of your attention and gives back a table full of people staying longer than they planned. You will carve it, someone will steal a piece of skin on the way to the table, and that will be the day.

Still deciding what to cook it in? Our guide to the best cookware by material explains how each one handles high heat. The drippings left in a stainless pan are the start of the gravy, which our guide to cooking with stainless steel walks through. When you are ready, explore roasting pans and racks and set the table you have in mind.

Be generous. Be a better cook.