Time to Thaw a Turkey in Refrigerator

The Time to Thaw a Frozen Turkey in a Refrigerator calculator uses the weight of the turkey to estimate the time to completely thaw your frozen solid turkey in a refrigerator before cooking.  Photo by Tim Sackton

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

• (W) Weight of the Turkey

Time to Thaw (t): The calculator returns the time to thaw in hours.  However, this can be automatically converted to compatible units via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

According to Butterball, thawing a turkey in the refrigerator takes about 24 hours per 4 pounds of turkey or 6 hours per pound. The cold water method takes about 30 minutes per pound. These ratios will not apply to all types and portion sizes of meat. Obviously 4 one pound cuts of meat will thaw more quickly than one single 4 pound portion.

Butterball: How to Thaw a Turkey

Fry a Turkey Calculators

• How big of a turkey do we need?
• Time to Deep Fry a Turkey
• Time to Thaw a Frozen Turkey
• Time to thaw a turkey in water
• Time to thaw a turkey in a refrigerator
• Oil Displaced by a Turkey
• Volume of a Bird Fryer
• Volume of a Rectangular Fryer
• Volume of a Circular Fryer
• Oil needed for Turkey Fryer
• Convert Kitchen Units This helps you use different measuring cups in the kitchen to correctly add up to the prescribed volume.