Start Thawing That Turkey!

If your Thanksgiving turkey is still frozen, you definitely need to pull it out of the freezer today. Butterball’s Nicole Johnson says thawing takes time for a big bird.

“So for example, if you have a 20-pound turkey, that’s going to take a good five full days to thaw in your refrigerator. So, take your turkey out of the freezer, put it in the refrigerator and let it begin to thaw.”

The standard refrigerator thaw method will take one day for every four pounds.

If you haven’t taken your turkey out of the freezer yet to thaw, you could use the old cold water method. Keep the bird in its plastic wrapper and put it in a bucket of cold water.

“It’s a half hour per pound using that method. So your 12 pound turkey would take six hours using that method.”

She says you should change the water every 30 minutes until the bird is thawed.

 Butterball.com also has turkey thawing and preparation tips.