How to Cook a Turkey FAST: 90 minute turkey recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make a turkey cook faster? ›

I tried the spatchco*ck method of roasting a turkey and it cut the cooking time down to 75 minutes. Spatchco*cking involves cutting out the backbone and roasting the bird flat. The turkey was delicious, beautiful, easier to carve, and not that hard to make.

The trick to having a turkey ready in two hours is to use a hot oven and a small turkey. I learned this recipe originally from Julia Child, but I've changed it along the way. The turkey should be no more than 14 pounds. If the roasting pan is more than 2 inches larger than the turkey, the juices may burn.

8-12 lb turkey: 1 1/2 to 2 hours; 12 to 16 lb turkey: 2 to 2 1/2 hours; 16-20 lb turkey: 2 1/2 to 3 hours; 20-24 lb turkey: 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

The bigger the bird, the lower the temperature you should cook it (and for a longer time), Guillard says. "You want to make sure it's (cooked) throughout without getting too brown on the outside," he says. For example, if he had a 20 pound turkey, Guillard says he would cook it at around 300 degrees.

Put the turkey in the oven at 400°F, uncovered. For the 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400°F for the first 20 minutes to brown it. Then reduce the heat to 325°F for the next 1 to 2 hours, until the internal temperature of the breast reaches about 140°F to 145°F or so.

Oven-Roasted Turkey

We recommend starting the turkey in a 425 degree oven for 30-45 minutes before tenting the pan with foil and lowering the temperature to 350 degrees until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the bird.

It is not safe to cook any meat or poultry in an oven set lower than 325 °F. At lower temperatures, meat stays in the Danger Zone (between 40 °F and 140°F for too long.

Calculate turkey cooking time and temperature. The simplest way to figure out turkey roasting times is to calculate 13 minutes per pound at 350°F for an unstuffed turkey (that's about 3 hours for a 12- to 14-lb. turkey), or 15 minutes per pound for a stuffed turkey.

When you're starting to think about going to bed, preheat your oven to somewhere between 170-180ºF. If your oven temperature does not go this low, set it to its coolest setting; anything up to 200ºF is fine. Pull the turkey out of the refrigerator, season it with salt and aromatics, and rub the outside with butter.

15–17 minutes per pound but I would suggest 425 for the first 30 minutes and then 350 for the remaining time based on weight. It's done when the internal temperature of the thickest part (usually the breast} is 165 degrees.

How long does it take a 20 lb turkey to? ›

To achieve a perfectly golden, juicy turkey, let the bird spend time both covered and uncovered in the oven. We recommend covering your bird for most of the cooking time to prevent it from drying out; then, during the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, remove the cover so the skin crisps in the hot oven.

Allow at least 2 inches of space around the oven walls so heat can circulate around the turkey. The use of an aluminum foil tent for the entire roasting time will slow down cooking. A stuffed turkey takes longer to cook.

We recommend preheating the oven to 325°F and not much higher. While higher temperatures will cook a turkey faster, they'll also increase the chances that your bird will singe or even burn on the outside before the inside is cooked through.

Yes. Larger turkeys sixteen pounds and up that are fully thawed and cooked in an oven bag can cook up to one hour faster than the turkey package directions. See the oven bag cooking chart for estimated times.

Brush your turkey with olive oil, salt and pepper (if desired). Roast at 450˚F for approximately 70 minutes for a 12 pound turkey. Your turkey is safe to eat when the thermometer registers 165˚F in the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing and the thickest part of the breast.

Foil insulates the bird, blocks the heat needed for browning, and often increases cooking time. The biggest challenge in cooking turkey is that the breast tends to cook before the dark meat.