Who makes it
plusbeauxjours makes small, free tools that answer one question clearly, with sources. No ads, no sign-up. See all of them at plusbeauxjours.com. We are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture or its Food Safety and Inspection Service. This is planning help, not a guarantee: ovens and birds vary, and a food thermometer at 165 °F decides when the turkey is done.
Three kinds of numbers
USDA Read directly from USDA FSIS pages (plus the statute for the date of Thanksgiving and NIST for daylight saving time).
- Allow 1 pound of turkey per person (fresh or frozen); 1¼ lb per person for a frozen pre-stuffed turkey.
- Fridge thaw at 40 °F or below: approximately 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds.
- FSIS's thawing calculator prints round¼(lb ÷ 5) to lb ÷ 4 days.
- A thawed turkey can remain in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days before cooking.
- Cold water: about 30 minutes per pound, in a leak-proof bag, submerged in cold tap water, changing the water every 30 minutes; cook immediately after thawing.
- Never thaw on the counter: after more than 2 hours the outer layer is in the 40 to 140 °F Danger Zone.
- Set the oven no lower than 325 °F. Preheating is not necessary. Times assume a thawed bird at 40 °F or below.
- Roasting at 325 °F, unstuffed: 8 to 12 lb 2¾ to 3 hours, 12 to 14 lb 3 to 3¾, 14 to 18 lb 3¾ to 4¼, 18 to 20 lb 4¼ to 4½, 20 to 24 lb 4½ to 5; breast 4 to 6 lb 1½ to 2¼, 6 to 8 lb 2¼ to 3¼.
- Stuffed: 8 to 12 lb 3 to 3½ hours, 12 to 14 lb 3½ to 4, 14 to 18 lb 4 to 4¼, 18 to 20 lb 4¼ to 4¾, 20 to 24 lb 4¾ to 5¼; breast 6 to 8 lb 2½ to 3½; breast 4 to 6 lb: not usually applicable.
- Done at 165 °F, measured with a food thermometer in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast; the center of the stuffing must reach 165 °F; check even with a pop-up indicator.
- For quality, let the turkey stand 20 minutes before carving (and before removing the stuffing).
- Cooking from frozen takes at least 50 percent longer; remove the giblets with tongs during cooking.
- Cooking stuffing outside the bird, in a casserole, is safest. If you stuff it: mix just before, about ¾ cup per pound, stuff loosely, cook immediately.
- Brine in the refrigerator, at least overnight; brined poultry may stay in the fridge up to 2 days after it is thawed; dry brine up to 2 days, massaging every 8 to 12 hours; brine before stuffing.
- Discard turkey, stuffing and gravy left out more than 2 hours (1 hour above 90 °F); refrigerate within 2 hours; use within 3 to 4 days; freeze 2 to 6 months; reheat to 165 °F.
- Casseroles 165 °F; leftovers 165 °F.
- Buy a fresh turkey only 1 to 2 days before you cook it; don't buy a fresh pre-stuffed turkey.
- USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-674-6854, open Thanksgiving Day 8 am to 2 pm ET.
- Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November: Thursday, November 26, 2026.
- Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November (November 1, 2026), before any time this tool can plan.
common rule Widely used, from two secondary sources, not USDA.
- With leftovers: 1½ lb per adult.
- Kids: about ½ lb per child.
our rule Our planning choices. Each one, and why:
- We plan on the long end of each USDA time range and tell you to start checking at the short end. That way the turkey is not late, and the thermometer, not the clock, decides when it is done.
- A weight on the edge of two USDA rows (12, 14, 18 or 20 lb) uses the heavier row. USDA's rows share their edges; the heavier row gives the longer time, which matches A1.
- Your oven holds 2 side dishes at once. You can change this to 1 to 4 under My oven. Two casserole dishes on two racks is a typical home oven; yours may differ.
- Changing the oven temperature between dishes takes 10 minutes. An oven needs time to get to the new setting before the next dish goes in.
- The turkey's rest may stretch to 45 minutes to free the oven for sides (60 if you allow it). The rest is oven time for your sides, and 45 to 60 minutes stays inside USDA's 2-hour limit for food left out.
- A wet brine “overnight” is 12 hours. USDA says to refrigerate a brine at least overnight; we count a night as 12 hours.
- Side-dish times and temperatures are our starting values; change them to your recipe's. Recipes vary. We never shorten your time; the planner only moves dishes.
How we tested it
- Our fridge-thaw math reproduces FSIS's own thawing calculator for every weight from 6 to 36 lb, and its cold-water times from 6 to 20 lb.
- Roasting rows match FSIS's chart to the quarter hour, including the heavier row on shared edges.
- Every plan is checked against a reference calculator: thaw dates, oven packing, conflicts and fixes, brine and the 2-day hold, fresh and frozen birds, the calendar file, and weight parsing. The tests run in two time zones, because your plan uses your own clock.
- Every event the planner can produce falls after daylight saving time ends on November 1, 2026, so clock times are never off by an hour.
Privacy
What you type stays on this device, in your browser's storage, so your plan is still there next time. Side-dish names are never saved or sent. The planner has a Forget my plan link that clears it. Nothing you enter goes into the address bar, to us, or to analytics; the calendar file is made in your browser. We count visits with Google Analytics, which never sees your inputs. Read the full privacy policy and terms.
Questions on the day?
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline, 1-888-674-6854, open Thanksgiving 8 am to 2 pm ET.
Ready to plan? Open the planner.