OSHKOSH, WI—(WISS)— Prepping for the big Thanksgiving feast is about to begin. People are peeling potatoes, making pie crust, and prepping the turkey. If you bought a frozen turkey to make this year, now is the time to put it in the refrigerator to start thawing. It will need several days to thaw to cooking temperature.

Thawing the Turkey

Morgan Peterson, Environmental Health Specialist with the Winnebago County Public Health Department, said thawing in the fridge is the safest way to thaw your Thanksgiving Bird.

Usually, the fridge is where we would like you. That’s where we would tell people to thaw. That’s the best. And some people will thaw under cold water. As long as you’re changing that water regularly, but you have to cook it as soon as it’s reaching that thawed area!” Peterson said. “That’s why putting it in the fridge is the best because it’s gonna stay 41(˚F) or below. Or if you’re thawing it out on the counter, we do not recommend that! You don’t know when it’s actually reached that true thawed state. And then it’s getting into what we call the danger zone — 41 to 140 (˚F) — if it gets to room temp or something like that. So, putting it in the fridge a couple of days before and letting it thaw is what we would recommend.”

The USDA lists one more safe way to thaw a turkey. That is in the microwave. But it cautions cooks to start roasting the turkey immediately after thawing, and to make sure the microwave is large enough to handle the turkey.

Never use these methods of thawing

The USDA says the following methods should never be used to thaw a turkey:

Thawing a turkey on the counter, in the garage or on the back porch
Thawing a turkey in a brown paper grocery bag or plastic garbage bag
Using the dishwasher to thaw a turkey (with or without water)
Any method that is not the refrigerator, cold water, or the microwave

There is good news if the Turkey is still frozen solid come Thanksgiving morning. You can still roast the bird! It will just take about 50% longer for the turkey to reach a safe temperature of 165˚F.

“Always making sure to take the temperature of the turkey in the thickest part of the breast of the turkey or somewhere like that,” Peterson said. “That’s how you’ll get that true internal temperature of the meat.”

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