Should you bring turkey to room temperature before cooking it? And if you do, how long can uncooked turkey be left out before you need to start worrying about spoilage? If you’ve never asked yourself these questions before, now is the time to start.
Should You Let Turkey Sit Out Before Cooking?
It’s fine to let turkey sit at room temperature for an hour before you start to cook it. Doing so can help the meat cook at a more reliable pace. After 2 hours, the meat has spent too long in the danger zone, so it’s better to restrict the warm-up period to just one hour.
How Long Can Uncooked Turkey Be Left Out?
While many chefs advocate allowing meat to come to room temperature before exposing it to the heat, others claim that it’s better to keep it refrigerated for as long as possible. Why the debate?
The answer stems from food safety concerns. Raw meat, including poultry products like whole turkeys, need to be kept refrigerated to slow bacterial growth. When the turkey is stored at temperatures between 32 and 39 degrees, it should keep for 1 to 2 days.
The longer the meat is exposed to the “danger zone”—that is, temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees—the likelier it is that hazardous bacteria will spread. For optimum safety, you should never leave turkey unrefrigerated for longer than 2 hours.
While cooking the turkey to a safe temperature should destroy any potential bacteria, some of these bacteria can leave behind toxins that are resistant to heat. So if the turkey was left out too long, it won’t be safe to consume, even after you cook it.
Should You Let Turkey Sit Out Before Cooking It?
The choice is yours, but we think it’s a good idea to let the turkey sit out for at least a little while (see below) before you start to cook it.
As we pointed out, you don’t want to leave the meat at room temperature for too long. But it’s just as important for the turkey to cook past 140 degrees within a 4-hour time frame. Otherwise, you’re inviting the same types of hazardous bacteria to set up camp.
When you allow the turkey to come to room temperature, the meat will climb out of the danger zone faster once it starts to cook. In essence, you’re giving the turkey a head start.
That’s not to say that all is lost if you forget to take the turkey out of the fridge until the last minute. It might take the meat a little bit longer to cook, but you’re not likely to notice much of a difference.
How Long To Bring Turkey To Room Temperature
Our suggestion would be to take the turkey out of the refrigerator about one hour before you want to start the cooking process.
Most of the time, you’ll have 2 hours before you need to start worrying. However, when the outside temperature is 90 degrees or more, you’ll have to get the turkey in the oven or smoker within one hour.
We’ve found that allowing the turkey to sit out for one hour represents a good compromise. The meat will warm up slightly, but not enough to allow bacteria to set up camp. You’ll also have a bit of wiggle room in terms of when you have to start cooking.
What’s the Safe Internal Temperature for Turkey?
Although it’s important to get the turkey out of the danger zone within a 4-hour period, it’s not finished cooking at that point.
Chicken and turkey products should cook to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, according to USDA guidelines. This is the standard recommendation for whole muscle cuts, as well as ground poultry products.
In cooking the meat to a safe temperature, you’ll be killing off the bacteria that can linger on the surface of the bird’s flesh. The bacteria might die off at slightly lower temperatures, but at 165, they’re killed almost instantly.
You might be wondering why it’s fine to cook steak and even pork chops to medium rare, while chicken needs to cook to a point that would be considered well done for those cuts. The answer has to do with the nature of the flesh itself.
Beef and pork are red meat. That means the flesh is denser than that of poultry, which is considered white meat. Since the bacteria that cause food poisoning lurk on the surface of the flesh, you can cook red meat to lower temperatures without worrying.
Since turkey is less dense, the same bacteria might have penetrated farther beneath the surface. That means you’ll need to cook the meat thoroughly to make sure it will be free of potential contaminants.
White vs. Dark Meat
Although all turkey is technically classified as white meat as opposed to red meat, the breast is the only white meat on the bird. The thighs, drumsticks, and wings are all considered dark meat.
This distinction is important because you’ll need to cook these two types of meat to different temperatures. The dark meat is safe to consume at 165, but it’s often too chewy at this temp. It’s better to cook it to 180 degrees before taking it off the heat.
The breast meat, on the other hand, will be dry and chalky if you cook it past 165. In fact, we suggest removing it from the heat as soon as it hits the 160-degree mark. Thanks to carryover cooking, it will come to the proper serving temperature as the bird rests.
To ensure that the white and dark meat reach their optimal serving temps at roughly the same time, try placing the turkey on the cooking grate so that the breast portion faces away from the heat source. This usually means that the breast side will be facing up.
In the event that the breast meat is cooking too quickly, you can tent that portion with a layer of aluminum foil. This can be tricky, though, since if you take this step too early, the skin on the breasts might turn rubbery instead of crisping up.
Sometimes, the breast will reach 160 degrees while the thighs still have a way to go. In this case, you can take the whole turkey off the heat, carve off the breasts, and keep them warm while you return the rest of the carcass to the oven or smoker.
About Thawing Procedures
Some beginners are tempted to thaw a whole turkey more quickly by leaving it out on the counter. Whatever you do, don’t fall into this trap.
Even when the turkey is still frozen, you can’t leave it at room temperature for longer than 2 hours. The outer layers of the meat will thaw and enter the danger zone while the rest of the turkey is still frozen solid.
Safe Method #1: Cold Water
If you’re in a hurry, fill a container with enough cold water to cover the turkey. Set the bird in the cold water until the meat is thawed. You’ll need to swap out the water every 30 minutes or so to ensure that it remains nice and cold.
With the cold water method, your turkey should defrost at a rate of about 30 minutes per pound. So a 10-pound turkey can be ready to cook around 5 hours after you take it out of the freezer.
When you defrost a turkey in cold water, you need to cook it immediately. That’s true of all meat products. Of course, if you’re using this method, it’s probably because you want to cook the turkey as soon as possible anyway.
Safe Method #2: Refrigerator
Thawing the turkey in the refrigerator will allow you to wait a couple of days before you cook it off. The trade-off is that you’ll need to plan ahead.
A whole turkey should thaw in the fridge at a rate of 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds of meat. If you have a 10-pound turkey and you want to cook it on a Thursday, take it out of the freezer late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.
Make sure you put the turkey in a roasting pan, or at least a rimmed baking sheet or platter that can catch any liquid that seeps out of the package. Set the bird in the pan breast side up and place it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to defrost.
How To Safely Refrigerate Leftovers
Even after the meat is cooked, it needs to be refrigerated within 1 to 2 hours, depending on how hot it is outside. If it sits out any longer, you’ll need to discard it.
Store leftover turkey in sealed containers, or wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Keep it on the bottom shelf of the fridge and consume it within 4 days.
If you want to freeze the leftover turkey instead, do so as soon as possible. The meat should keep in the freezer for up to 2 months before it starts to lose too much moisture.
The Bottom Line
If you want to let your turkey sit out before cooking, feel free to let it warm to room temperature for up to an hour. While you’re waiting, you can fire up the oven or smoker, make a seasoning rub, or start the prep on your side dishes.
Best of luck, and happy grilling!
