How long can a thawed turkey stay in the fridge?

How long can a thawed turkey stay in the fridge?

1 to 2 days after it's completely thawed. That's the USDA's figure in its turkey thawing guide, and it's the same window FSIS gives raw poultry of any kind in The Big Thaw: once poultry has thawed in the fridge, it stays usable for a day or two before cooking.

The days the bird spends thawing don't count against those 2. A frozen turkey sits below 40°F (4°C) the whole time it's in the fridge, so nothing much grows while the ice melts. What starts the clock is the moment the center gives way. A 20-pound bird that went in on Friday and finished thawing on Tuesday has until Thursday.

The window assumes your fridge holds 40°F or colder. A dial setting tells you nothing about that. An appliance thermometer on the bottom shelf, where the turkey sits, tells you what you need to know. A fresh, never-frozen turkey is held to the same window: FSIS says to buy it no more than 1 to 2 days before you cook.

How long does a turkey take to thaw in the fridge?

Allow about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds (roughly 2 kg). The table puts the USDA's ranges next to the day to start for Thanksgiving, which falls on Thursday 26 November this year. The start days are the ones that finish the thaw in time without running past the 2-day hold.

Fridge and cold-water times are the USDA's, as printed by Nebraska Extension. Pick the earlier start day if your fridge runs cold: Michigan State University Extension notes that food takes longer to thaw at 35°F than at 40°F. Pick the later one if the bird is at the light end of its range.

Leave the turkey in its original wrapper and stand it in a roasting pan or a rimmed tray on the bottom shelf. The wrapper leaks as it thaws, and a tray keeps the drips off everything else in the fridge.

A 20-pound turkey takes up most of a shelf for the best part of a week, which is easy to forget when the freezer is full of other things. Add it to the freezer in Hedgehog Chef's pantry the day you buy it, and it sits on the same list as everything else you keep, with a date beside it.

Is a turkey that's been thawing for a week still safe?

It depends on its size. Count from the day it finished thawing, and use the table above to work out when that was.

A 22-pound bird that went into the fridge last Thursday probably finished thawing on Tuesday or Wednesday, so cooking it this Thursday is inside the window. A 10-pound bird put in on the same day would have been soft through by the weekend. By Thursday it's 4 to 6 days past thawing, well beyond the USDA's 1 to 2.

Don't use your nose to decide. Spoilage bacteria make raw poultry smell sour and feel tacky, but the bacteria that cause food poisoning don't announce themselves. If it's past the window, the choices that keep you inside USDA guidance are to throw it out or, if you caught it within the window, to refreeze it now.

How to tell if a turkey is fully thawed

Reach into the body cavity. If you feel ice, or the giblet bag is frozen to the inside, it isn't done. Turkeys keep the neck and giblets in one or two bags, either inside the body or under the flap of skin at the neck end, so Virginia Cooperative Extension advises checking both cavities once the bird has thawed. Those bags should come out without a fight.

From the outside, the legs should move at the joint and the thickest part of the breast should give when you press it. Firm thighs mean ice near the bone.

Still icy inside on the morning you planned to cook? Switch to cold water for the last stretch (below), or roast it as it is. A partially frozen turkey is safe to roast, it takes longer, and you'll fish the giblets out with tongs partway through. Our guide to cooking a partially frozen turkey has the timings.

Can you refreeze a thawed turkey?

Yes, if it thawed in the fridge and it's still inside the 1 to 2 days. The USDA's thawing guide says food thawed in the refrigerator can be refrozen without cooking. Expect some loss of quality: a bird frozen twice loses more juice as it thaws, and the breast can cook up drier.

A turkey thawed in cold water or the microwave can't go back in the freezer raw. Cook it first. Once cooked, the meat freezes like any leftover turkey, and if the dinner moves, cooking the bird on schedule and freezing the carved meat spares it a second raw freeze.

How to thaw a turkey in cold water when you're short on time

Allow about 30 minutes per pound: 8 to 10 hours for a 16 to 20 pound turkey. It's the USDA's fallback for a bird that went into the fridge too late or never went in at all.

1. Check the wrapper for tears. If it's split, put the turkey in a large leak-proof bag so water can't get in and juices can't get out.
2. Put it in a clean sink, a cooler or a big pot, and cover it completely with cold tap water.
3. Change the water every 30 minutes so it stays cold. Water left alone warms toward room temperature.
4. Cook it as soon as it's thawed. It doesn't get the 1 to 2 days a fridge-thawed bird gets.

Ten hours of water changes means planning the night. Starting at 6 in the evening finishes a 20-pound bird around 4 the next morning, so cold water works best for finishing a bird that's half-thawed in the fridge, where the cavity needs another 2 or 3 hours.

The microwave is a third option for a small turkey: Nebraska Extension says to check the oven maker's instructions for the size that fits, the minutes per pound and the power level, then cook it immediately. Most microwaves can't take a whole Thanksgiving bird.

Planning the thaw around the rest of Thanksgiving

The thaw is the first job of the week and the easiest to miss, because it has to start before you've bought anything else. Write the start day from the table on the calendar the day you buy the turkey, and work backwards from the dinner for the rest. Our Thanksgiving cooking timeline lays out the week, and how much turkey per person sets the weight, which sets the start day. If you're brining, the thaw needs to finish before the brine starts. Dry brine vs wet brine covers how long each one takes.

In Hedgehog's meal planner, the “Thaw tonight” reminder goes out the evening before a planned recipe that uses something frozen. That's right for chicken thighs and too late for a turkey. For the bird, set one of your own reminders for the morning of the start day: “Move the turkey to the fridge”.