Buzz
The ultimate Thanksgiving stress: It’s the day before the big feast, and your turkey is still frozen. Despite the countless reminders on various food blogs about how long it takes to thaw a turkey—weeks in advance—there will always be those who procrastinate until the last possible moment, maybe even the morning of Thursday itself.
While thawing a completely frozen turkey on Thanksgiving isn’t impossible (though it’ll be a late dinner), it’s best not to leave it to the last minute. Even by Wednesday, you can still manage to thaw your turkey without losing your sanity. To speed up the process, you’ll need to rely on two key helpers.
How to Thaw Your Turkey Quickly Using Water
A common defrosting method is to fill your sink with cold water and change it every 30 minutes. Typically, it takes about 30 minutes per pound. To give the process a jumpstart, you can use a quick 10-minute hot-water soak, then switch to cold water to keep the turkey out of the 'danger zone' and avoid bacterial growth.
Defrost your turkey quickly using brine
If your turkey is nearly thawed but you’re planning to brine it, you can proceed by submerging it in a liquid brine inside the fridge. While the brine is at the same temperature as the refrigerator, water conducts heat better than air, so the brine will help thaw the turkey while also infusing it with flavor.
Use a sous vide machine to defrost your turkey swiftly
I cook at least four turkeys each November for recipe testing, and often I don't have the three to four days needed to thaw a 12-pound bird, nor do I have the time to change the water every half hour. When that happens, I turn to my immersion circulator.
Sous-vide circulators are not designed to cool water, but they can keep cool water in motion and provide precise temperature readings, eliminating the need for frequent water changes. This helps conserve water (which isn’t cheap) and saves time.
Cold tap water from an average faucet is around 45℉, so aim to keep it near that temperature. Fill a large container with cold tap water, set the circulator to 45℉, and add ice as necessary to bring the temperature down. Turn on the circulator and let it circulate the water around the turkey. The frozen turkey will prevent the water from rising in temperature—though the water is slightly above the upper danger zone limit, the turkey will stay within a safe range for quite some time, and it won’t reach the danger zone for at least two hours.
If you’re feeling anxious towards the end of the thawing process, you can add extra ice and lower the circulator's temperature to 39℉. (I’ve also started with water at around 60℉ and then lowered the temperature by adding ice once the turkey begins to soften.) Using the circulator this way can cut hours off your thawing time. And with Turkey Day looming, every hour counts.
It’s perfectly fine to have the turkey mostly thawed
If time is running out and you’ve followed these techniques only to find some ice crystals still in the turkey cavity, don’t worry. It’s completely safe to bake a partially frozen bird. The cavity mainly consists of cartilage, bone, and air, so it’s normal for ice to remain there. The goal is to make the turkey muscles tender, or at least somewhat pliable, using the methods outlined above.
Roasting a turkey that’s still a bit icy is no different from roasting a fully thawed one; you’ll simply need to add extra time. The exact amount of time will depend on how frozen the bird is, but you should expect it to take 20%-50% longer. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh (away from the bone) every 30 minutes after the usual roasting time for a thawed turkey, until it reaches 165℉.
Fortunately, thawing a turkey quickly requires very little hands-on effort. So let it do its thing while you focus on preparing the rest of your feast.
