If you plan on cooking a turkey at some point in your life (perhaps for Thanksgiving?), there’s one important message you need to know: the internal temperature a turkey needs to reach in order to be safe to eat. This is often the most intimidating step for those new to cooking poultry, but choosing the right temperature for your turkey is actually pretty easy. It’s important to get it right: don’t scare you also A lot, but the difference between a perfectly cooked turkey and an undercooked turkey can be foodborne illness rather than a delicious meal, and no one wants to be thought of as the person who caused food poisoning in a loved one. oops.
But don’t worry yet. The easiest way to tell if a turkey is cooked is to use a meat thermometer, which will give you an accurate reading of the turkey’s internal temperature. (Even if the outside looks perfectly cooked, you should still check to make sure the inside is getting the heat it needs to kill any harmful bacteria.) Below, we’ll detail everything you need to know to make sure your bird is cooked Cooked. Here’s everything you need to know about temperatures when cooking turkey.
At what temperature should you cook turkey?
Roasting a turkey in the oven? Set it to 325°F. This is the temperature recommended by Bart Bauer and the turkey experts at the CDC.
You can check out the helpful calculator on Butterball’s website or this table from the CDC to know exactly how long you should cook it, depending on the size of the turkey and whether it’s stuffed.
What is the internal temperature of a turkey?
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends that turkey reach an internal temperature of at least 165°F during cooking to be safe for consumption. This is based on the fact that dangerous bacteria and salmonella cannot withstand temperatures of 160°F for more than 30 seconds.
The experts at Butterball recommend checking your turkey 30-60 minutes before expected finish time, and approximately every 15 minutes thereafter. If you have an oven-proof thermometer, you can insert it into the thickest part of the thigh and leave it there the entire time the turkey is cooking.
Which area of Türkiye should you check the temperature?
The CDC recommends taking the temperature of three different parts of the bird to make sure it’s fully cooked and safe to eat. Using a meat thermometer and avoiding touching the bones, take readings at three locations:
- The thickest part of the breast.
- Where the body and thighs connect, target the thighs.
- Where the body and wings connect, target the wings.
The CDC recommends that the temperature in all three locations reach at least 165°F before removing the turkey from the oven. If you stuff your turkey, you should also insert a food thermometer into the center of the stuffing and make sure the temperature also reaches 165°F, according to the CDC. Then let it sit for 20 minutes before removing the stuffing and carving the bird.
—Additional reporting by Haley Lyndes
Susannah Chen is a former PS writer.
Haley Lyndes is the Assistant Editor at PS Shopping, where she discovers and tests the best home, beauty, and fashion products. She is a graduate of Northern Vermont University and has nearly five decades of experience in written and broadcast journalism.
