How to Take the Temperature of a Turkey

You can trust the editors of Cook's Illustrated—experts of all things Thanksgiving—to deliver recipes that work.

WATCH: How to Brine a Turkey & How to Salt a Turkey

WATCH: How to Carve a Turkey Like a Pro

Many supermarket turkeys come with a preinserted timer set to pop when the temperature of the bird reaches 178 degrees Fahrenheit. But if you wait that long your breast meat will be dry and overcooked. We recommend that you remove the bird from the oven when the breast temperature reaches 165 degrees and the thickest part of the thighs reaches between 170 and 175 degrees.

To take the temperature of the breast, insert the thermometer into the deepest part of the breast, holding it parallel to the bird at the neck end. Confirm the temperature by inserting the thermometer in both sides of the breast, being careful to not go so deep as to hit the bone (which can compromise the reading).

To take the temperature of the thigh, insert the thermometer into the thickest portion of the thigh away from the bone. Confirm the temperature by inserting the thermometer in both thighs.

HERE ARE 3 MORE TIPS TO KNOW WHEN YOUR TURKEY IS DONE:

1. Don't be afraid of a little pink meat. Just because a slice of turkey has a pinkish tint doesn't necessarily mean it’s underdone. In general, the red or pink color in meat comes from the red protein pigment called myoglobin in the muscle cells that store oxygen.

2. As long as the meat has registered the prescribed temperature on your thermometer, it's perfectly safe to eat. Dark meat does take longer to cook than white meat because it stores and uses oxygen differently. Turkey legs are composed of active muscles that are fattier, denser, and require more time to come up to temperature.

3. The turkey needs to rest before carving. About 45 minutes or so gives it time to reabsorb the juices; otherwise they’ll dribble out when you slice, and the meat will be dry. Don’t tent the turkey with foil to keep it warm while it’s resting; it’s unnecessary and will make the skin soggy. As long as the turkey is intact, it will cool quite slowly.

America's Test Kitchen is a real 2,500 square foot test kitchen located just outside of Boston that is home to more than three dozen full-time cooks and product testers. Our mission is simple: to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods. To do this, we test each recipe 30, 40, sometimes as many as 70 times, until we arrive at the combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time, and equipment that yields the best, most-foolproof recipe.

Each week, the cast of America's Test Kitchen brings the recipes, testings, and tastings from Cook's Illustrated magazine to life on our public television series. With more than 2 million viewers per episode, we are the most-watched cooking show on public television.

More than 1.3 million home cooks rely on Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines to provide trusted recipes that work, honest ratings of equipment and supermarket ingredients, and kitchen tips.

[nelumbonucifera]

160F is too high, unless you like dry meat.  145-150F is more appropriate.  And remember that the temperature will continue to rise for some time after removing the bird from the oven.

[ikiruyamamoto]

No discussion of carryover temp?! A large roast or bird has a carryover temp of at least 10-15 degrees. That means you're cooking the breast to 175?! Better have a lot of gravy!

[rushnerd]

I have a proper temp probe, but I always just went by the plastic probe that comes with the turkey, is that bad?

[HansEisenman]

too much blah blah blah and not enough show show show

[CorneliusSneedley]

This is very good advice, but it is much easier to use a probe thermometer like the Polder. This way there is no need to open the oven until the temperature alarm beeps at the perfect temperature. No guesswork, in other words. With the sort of thermometer shown in this video, you still have to guess regarding _when_ to take the temperature of your bird. And with all the other things going on in a kitchen during the preparation of a holiday meal, it is all too easy to forget to do so until it is too late.