Thanksgiving Planner: How Much Turkey per Person, Thaw and Cook Times

Tell the planner who is coming, and change the dinner time, the turkey or the menu if you like. It sizes the turkey, works out when it has to come out of the freezer, schedules the roast and every side back from dinner time, warns you when one oven cannot fit everything, and turns the whole menu into a shopping list in store order. The plan above is a worked example for 8 adults at 4 pm on Thanksgiving Day; change anything and it updates as you go. It stays on this device, and Share sends the exact plan to whoever is cooking with you.

How much turkey per person#

Plan on 1 to 1½ pounds of whole turkey for each adult. That sounds like a lot of meat, but a whole bird is a good part bone, and the weight on the label is the raw, bone-in weight. The USDA consumer guide allows 1 pound per person, and so does Butterball's portion calculator, which adds ½ pound per adult when you want leftovers and counts ½ pound for each child.

The planner uses 1 pound for light eaters, 1¼ pounds for a normal table where people go back for seconds, and 1½ pounds when you want leftovers. For a bone-in turkey breast, which has much less bone, it plans ¾ to 1¼ pounds a person.

When to buy two turkeys

The USDA roasting timetable stops at 24 pounds, and a bird that big is hard to fit in a home oven, slow to thaw and slow to cook through. For a crowd of 20 or more, two 16 to 20 lb turkeys each follow their own, shorter line on the timetable, thaw days sooner, carve faster and give you twice the drumsticks. If one of the two can be a bone-in breast, it also roasts in about half the time.

Small gatherings

For 2 to 4 people, a whole turkey means a week of leftovers, since small whole birds can be hard to find. A 3 to 7 lb bone-in turkey breast roasts in 1½ to 2¾ hours, carves in minutes and still gives you the gravy drippings. Pick Turkey breast in the planner to see the plan for it.

How long to thaw a turkey#

A frozen turkey thaws safely in the fridge or in cold water, never on the counter. The fridge is the easy way and needs the most time: the USDA allows about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds, and Butterball says 1 day per 4 pounds, so a 16 lb turkey needs 4 days. Cold water is faster at about 30 minutes per pound, but you change the water every 30 minutes and cook the turkey as soon as it is thawed.

Leave the turkey in its wrapper on a tray on the bottom shelf, so nothing drips onto other food. Once it has thawed in the fridge it keeps for 1 to 2 days, according to the USDA, so starting a day early costs nothing and saves a frantic Thursday. Here is when to start for this year's Thanksgiving:

How long to cook a turkey#

Roast the turkey at 325°F, the lowest oven temperature the USDA recommends, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Use the timetable below to plan, then let a food thermometer decide: the turkey is done when it reads 165°F in the thickest part of the breast and the innermost part of the thigh and wing. A pop-up timer is not enough on its own, says the USDA.

• Stuffed takes longer. A stuffed turkey needs up to 30 minutes more, and the center of the stuffing has to reach 165°F too. The USDA recommends baking stuffing in a dish instead, for safety and more even cooking; if you do stuff the bird, mix it just before it goes in and fill it loosely.
• Rest it. Let the turkey stand at least 20 minutes before carving, so the juices settle and it carves cleanly. Covered loosely with foil, it stays hot while the sides bake.
• Brining. Butterball puts the turkey in the brine the night before roasting, in the fridge, then rinses and pats it dry. Skip it if the label says the turkey is already brined, kosher or self-basting, or it can come out too salty.

A Thanksgiving dinner timeline#

Every Thanksgiving schedule runs backward from the moment you sit down. Work out when the turkey comes out (30 to 45 minutes before dinner), subtract its roasting time to find when it goes in, and the rest of the day falls into place around it. The week looks like this:

1. 1

   The weekend before

   Buy the frozen turkey and move it to the fridge in time for its weight (the table above). Settle the menu and the guest count.
2. 2

   Monday or Tuesday

   Do the big shop: everything except fresh herbs and rolls. Pick up a fresh turkey no more than 1 to 2 days before you cook it, as the USDA advises.
3. 3

   Wednesday

   Bake the pies, make the cranberry sauce, cube the bread for the stuffing, chop the onion and celery, assemble the casseroles and refrigerate them, chill the drinks and set the table. Brine the turkey in the evening if you are brining.
4. 4

   Thursday morning

   Heat the oven to 325°F, pat the turkey dry, season it and get it in at the time the planner gives you. Peel the potatoes while it roasts.
5. 5

   The last hour

   Turkey out to rest, oven up for the casseroles, potatoes mashed, gravy made from the drippings, rolls warmed in the last 10 minutes, turkey carved. Then sit down.

How much food per person for Thanksgiving#

Sides are where hosts overbuy, because every dish gets planned as if it were the only one. Sur La Table suggests ⅓ to ½ cup per person of mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole, ½ to ¾ cup of stuffing, 1 to 2 rolls and a slice of pie, and notes that the more dishes you serve, the less of each people take. The Old Farmer's Almanac plans ¾ cup of stuffing, ⅓ cup of gravy and 2 rolls a person for a crowd.

The planner turns these into real shopping amounts: 3 pounds of potatoes, not "6 cups mashed", a carton of broth for the gravy and stuffing together, and every stick of butter across the whole menu added up in one line. One pound of potatoes makes about 2 cups mashed, according to NDSU Extension, so ⅓ pound per person is a generous ⅔ cup. If a side recipe of your own serves 6 and you need 14, the recipe converter scales it in one step.

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner with one oven#

With one oven, the turkey has it for most of the day. The way through is to use the turkey's resting time: when it comes out, turn the oven up to 350°F and bake two casseroles side by side while it rests and gets carved, then warm the rolls in the last 10 minutes. The planner schedules exactly that, two dishes at a time and one temperature at a time, and shows a chart of the day. When something still does not fit, it says so and offers a swap:

The stove has a limit too: most ranges have four burners, and the last half hour is when potatoes, gravy and green beans all want one. The planner warns when more than four pots need the stove at once.

Thanksgiving shopping list by aisle#

A Thanksgiving list is long, and a list in the order you thought of things sends you back across the store for the celery three times. The planner's list is grouped the way most US supermarkets are walked: produce first, then the bakery, meat, dairy and the center aisles, with frozen food last so it stays cold. Pantry staples like flour, sugar and spices are marked so you check the cupboard before buying another jar. Our guide to organizing a grocery list by aisle explains the order, and its sorter works on any list.

Tap Save to CookEase and the list becomes a shopping list in CookEase, every item already in its aisle, on your phone and on the web. Tick things off in the store, share it with whoever is doing the second run, or send it to Instacart or Amazon Fresh for delivery (how shopping lists work and how ordering works). Save your side dish recipes into CookEase too, and set each one to the servings you need, so their ingredients scale before they join the list (how scaling works).

Leftovers: the 2-hour rule#

Turkey, stuffing and gravy go into the fridge within 2 hours of coming out of the oven, or within 1 hour if the room is above 90°F, according to the USDA. Carve the meat off the bones, divide everything into shallow covered containers so it cools quickly, and eat it within 3 to 4 days, or freeze it for 2 to 6 months. Reheat leftovers to 165°F. Wondering what a plate of it all adds up to? The recipe calorie calculator works out calories and protein for any of your recipes per serving.