Can You Let A Turkey Thaw At Room Temperature

If the turkey is fresh leave it in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook it.

Can you let a turkey thaw at room temperature.

If it is in a sealed package it could be quick thawed under cool running water then immediately cooked. There are food safety issues with thawing at room temperature and it is not recommended. However you thaw your turkey use a digital tip sensitive thermometer to ensure it has reached an internal temperature of 165f. You can safely cook a frozen turkey overnight at a low temperature.

If the turkey is frozen there are safe ways to thaw it. And the skin probably started to go rancid. Don t thaw at room temperature. I wouldn t eat a large turkey that had been thawed at room temperature.

The laws of physics are apparently different north of the 49th parallel and poultry is required to reach 180f. A year frozen turkey will probably have suffered freezer burn and developed off flavors. Thorough cooking would kill microbes but not necessarily all the toxins they may have produced. Under either of those methods the outer layer of the turkey can sit between the bacteria breeding temperatures of 40 f and 140 f for far too long to be safe.

Use safe thawing techniques rather than leaving chicken out on your kitchen counter follow one of the handful of foodsafe thawing techniques as recommended by the usda. We call that temperature between 41. That s why you never thaw a frozen turkey at room temperature on your kitchen counter or in hot water. No safety issues as long as you thaw it cold.

Check out our collection of thanksgiving turkey recipes. You should never thaw a frozen turkey on the counter at room temperature or in hot water. Even though the center of the package may still be frozen the outer layer of the food is in the danger zone between 40 and 140 f at a temperature where foodborne bacteria multiply rapidly. Thawing a frozen turkey on the kitchen counter or the dining room table or in any other room of your house is a huge no no.

Because room temperature turkey falls into this danger zone it is not safe to leave a turkey at room temperature before cooking. That low temperature could be just what the harmful bugs need to thrive. It s important to keep the whole turkey at a safe temperature throughout the thawing process to prevent bacterial growth that can lead to foodborne illness.