The Hip Mom's Guide to Preparing Turkey

Our poll from last week showed that many of you enjoy hosting the Thanksgiving dinner in your home. I wonder how many of you will be hosting this year. I, for one, will be having 25 guests over for the festivities. Two questions I always ask myself are "how much Turkey will I need to buy?", and "how long will it take to thaw and cook the bird?". I did some research, and i will share my findings with you... Before you buy the turkey, figure out your guest list. You should have 1 to 1½ pounds of turkey per person. That sure seems like a lot! It's always great to have leftovers, though. If you're buying a frozen turkey, calculate the time needed for it to thaw: one day for every five pounds of turkey. It's best to thaw it in the fridge, but if you need to speed up the process, you can place it in cool water. Below you will find approximate cooking times for different sized birds... both stuffed and unstuffed. It's a good idea to rub cooking oil on the bird to keep it moist and to give it that golden brown color! Happy Roasting!!!

Approximate Roasting Times for Turkey:

Size of Turkey Unstuffed Timing Stuffed Timing
8-12 lbs. 2¾ - 3 Hours 3 - 3½ Hours

12-14 lbs. 3 - 3¾ Hours 3½ - 4 Hours

14-18 lbs. 3¾ - 4¼ Hours 4 - 4¼ Hours
.
18-20 lbs. 4¼ - 4½ Hours 4¼ - 4¾ Hours

20-24 lbs. 4½ - 5 Hours 4¾ - 5¼ Hours
(325 °F oven temperature)

I hope your turkeys are delicious and your hearts are thankful this Thanksgiving!