How long does a 18 pound turkey take to cook

You've properly thawed and seasoned your turkey with a flavor-boosting dry brine — now it’s ready for the oven! But the question of how long to cook a turkey remains. Before we get to that, make sure your kitchen is equipped with the right tools: While a timer is helpful to keep track of the hours, the real hero for roasting is a great meat thermometer, which will register the internal temperature for perfect results every time.

Table of Contents Show

Let's talk turkey tips
How long does it take to cook a turkey?
Turkey Recipe Cheat-Sheet
How to Safely Thaw a Frozen Turkey
How Long to Thaw a Turkey
What to Do If Your Turkey Is Still Frozen
How to Brine a Turkey
How and When to Make Turkey Gravy
How to Carve the Turkey
Cooking Your Turkey
Ingredients
Instructions
Recipe Notes
Is it better to cook a turkey at 325 or 350?
How long does it take to cook an 18lb turkey?
How long does a stuffed 18 pound turkey take to cook?
How do you know when a 18 pound turkey is done?

For a ballpark estimate on timing, figure about 13 minutes per pound of turkey when cooking an unstuffed bird.

Why unstuffed? You'd have to overcook your bird to ensure the stuffing inside reaches a safe temperature. And no amount of Thanksgiving gravy can save bone-dry turkey like that. Opt instead to bake your stuffing recipe in a separate pan. If you’re curious how long it will take when cooking your turkey upside down, you might want to reconsider that method altogether. According to our Test Kitchen pros, it doesn’t lead to a juicier bird and all that flipping can actually be dangerous!

Let's talk turkey tips

Bigger isn’t better when it comes to turkey. Buy two smaller birds (or one whole turkey and one turkey breast) if you’re feeding a crowd. A pair of 10-pound birds will cook more evenly and stay juicier than a 20-pound beast (plus, they'll be easier to carve!).
For the oven, the Test Kitchen agrees that 375℉ is the Goldilocks of temperatures for turkey roasting — it’s not too hot, not too cold, and cooks quickly enough to ensure that a bird is just right by dinnertime.
To check if the turkey is done, insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. The internal temperature should register 165°F and its juices should be clear, not pink.
Allow your turkey to rest for at least 25 minutes before carving. Cover it loosely with foil to keep it hot.

How long does it take to cook a turkey?

Here’s our handy guide for cooking times by turkey weight:

Laura Formisano

Turkey 8–10 lbs, cook for 1 hr 45 mins–2 hrs 15 mins
Turkey 10–12 lbs, cook for 2 hrs 15 mins–2 hrs 30 mins
Turkey 12–14 lbs, cook for 2 hrs 30 mins–3 hrs
Turkey 14–16 lbs, cook for 3 hrs–3 hrs 30 mins
Turkey 16–18 lbs, cook for 3 hrs 30 mins–4 hrs
Turkey 18–20 lbs, cook for 4 hrs–4 hrs 15 mins

Bump up the time if your turkey is still a little bit frozen on Thanksgiving morning. It's actually completely safe to roast an icy turkey, but it’ll take about 50% longer to cook than a fully thawed bird. Dinner might have to wait a few hours — hey, more time for Thanksgiving appetizers — but you'll still be rewarded with a delicious turkey.

Samantha (she/her) is an editorial assistant in the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen, where she writes about tasty recipes, must-try food products and top-tested secrets for home cooking success. She has taste-tasted hundreds of products and recipes since joining GH in 2020 (tough job!). A graduate of Fordham University, she considers the kitchen to be her happiest place.

Susan (she/her) is the recipe editor at Good Housekeeping, where she pitches ideas, parses words, and produces food content. In the Test Kitchen, she cooks (and samples!) recipes, working with developers to deliver the best written versions possible. A graduate of Brown University and a collaborator on several cookbooks, her previous experience includes stints at Food & Wine, Food Network, three meal kit companies, a wine shop in Brooklyn, and Chez Panisse, the pioneering restaurant in Berkeley, California. She enjoys playing tennis, natural wines, and reality competition shows.

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Here is our super basic, super simple, super easy recipe for roasting a super beautiful turkey.

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Whether you’re roasting a whole turkey for the first time, or just need your annual Thanksgiving and holiday-season refresher, this guide will help you through the steps to a perfect turkey: Crispy skin, tender meat, well seasoned, and so delicious you’ll wonder why you waited a year to eat it again. This is the easiest, simplest way to roast a turkey.

This method will work with any turkey: Big or small, brined or not, free-range or otherwise. Cooking times will vary, but the basic technique will be the same. For reference, the turkey in the photos was a pre-brined 16-pound turkey from Williams-Sonoma.

Turkey Recipe Cheat-Sheet

How big of a turkey? This method is best for a 12 to 16 pound bird. (Buy 1 to 1 1/2 pounds turkey for each guest.)
How long to cook the turkey? 13 minutes of cooking time for each pound of turkey if roasting empty and 15 minutes per pound if stuffed.
What temperature to cook the turkey? Preheat the oven to 450°F then drop the temperature to 350°F after putting the turkey into the oven.
What temperature should the turkey be? The turkey is done when it registers a minimum of 165° in the thickest part of the thigh.
How long to rest the turkey? Rest the turkey for at least 15 minutes before carving.

(Image credit: Emma Christensen)

How to Safely Thaw a Frozen Turkey

Be sure to let your turkey completely thaw before cooking. The best way is to loosen the wrapping and place the turkey on a baking sheet, then thaw in the refrigerator.

How Long to Thaw a Turkey

What to Do If Your Turkey Is Still Frozen

If your turkey isn’t completely thawed yet — no worries! You can roast your frozen turkey and it will turn out just fine! If your turkey is still frozen — fully or partially — just follow our instructions for cooking a frozen turkey. You’ll be fine (and your gravy will be even more delicious).

Read more: How To Cook a Fully Frozen Turkey

How to Brine a Turkey

Any turkey will taste better if brined in salt for a day or two before cooking. Brining is not necessary but it is a good idea. This method has become popular over the last few years and involves immersing the turkey in a salt-water solution or dry-brining in salt for a day or so before cooking. The end result is moist, well seasoned white and dark meat. We’ve had great results with brining and heartily endorse it, although our method here will still work without brining.

How and When to Make Turkey Gravy

After roasting the turkey should rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. This is a perfect time to make gravy. Move the turkey to a cutting board and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. This way you can use all those tasty pan drippings for gravy making. (If you’d rather check things off in advance, it’s definitely possible to make gravy ahead of time, too.) Read these how-tos for more:

(Image credit: Emma Christensen)

How to Carve the Turkey

Carving a turkey is just like carving an extra-large chicken: Remove the wings first, and then the thighs — pop out the joints that keep these pieces attached to the bird and cut straight through the joint. When carving the breast meat, slice close to the rib cage with the flat of your knife right up against the rib bones. Once you have the meat off, you can separate the thighs into thighs and drumsticks, and carve the breast meat into individual slices. For a good demonstration, watch our cooking school video on carving a chicken, or follow this step-by-step guide:

Get the guide: How To Carve a Turkey

Cooking Your Turkey

Are you ready? Let’s cook some turkey! If you get anxious during roasting, just remember that roasting a turkey is just like roasting a large chicken. The same methods and ideas apply. Even if you don’t get fancy with spices or brining or special basting liquids, your turkey will still turn out browned, moist, and flavorful.

Please share your own stories, advice, and recipe suggestions in the comments below!

Here is our super basic, super simple, super easy recipe for roasting a super beautiful turkey.

Ingredients

1
whole turkey, any size, thawed if frozen
2 cups
low-sodium chicken broth, vegetable broth, water, or other liquid
2 sticks
(1 cup) melted unsalted butter or oil, for basting (optional)

Equipment

Roasting pan (or an alternative roasting dish)
Roasting rack (or something to lift the turkey off the pan)
Turkey baster, brush, or ladle (optional, if basting)

Instructions

Prepare the turkey for roasting. Thirty minutes to an hour before roasting, take the turkey out of the refrigerator. Remove any packaging and the bag of giblets (check in the body cavity and in the neck cavity). Set the turkey breast-side up on the roasting rack set in a roasting pan and let it sit while the oven preheats. This takes the chill off the meat, which helps the meat cook faster and more evenly. It also gives the skin time to dry out, which promotes browning and crisping. (Note: Your turkey will likely still feel cool to the touch after sitting at room temperature — that's fine and you can continue on with roasting.)
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Position an oven rack in the bottom third of your oven, remove any racks above it, and heat the oven to 450°F. If you brined your turkey, as we did, no need to do anything now. If your turkey is straight out of the package, rub it with some salt and pepper before putting it in the oven. We recommend leaving your turkey un-stuffed and un-trussed, both because it's easier and because the turkey will cook more evenly.
Add liquid to the roasting pan. When ready to roast, pour the broth or water into the roasting pan.
Place the turkey in the oven and turn down the heat. Place the turkey in the oven and turn down the heat to 350°F. We recommend roasting turkeys breast-side up. Some people like starting the turkey breast-side down to shield the breast meat, but the idea of flipping a hot, sputtering turkey is not our idea of a good time. Instead, we prefer to simply shield the breast meat with aluminum foil toward the end of cooking if it starts getting too browned.
Roast the turkey. The rule of thumb for cooking a turkey is 13 minutes per pound. So our 16-pound turkey was estimated to cook in about 3 1/2 hours. However, some factors like brining the bird, cooking with an empty (un-stuffed) cavity, and leaving the legs un-trussed will contribute to much faster cooking. Plan on the 13-minute-per-pound rule, but start checking the temperature of your turkey about halfway through the scheduled cooking time to gauge how fast it's cooking.
Baste the turkey every 45 minutes. Every 45 minutes, remove the turkey from the oven, close the oven door (don't let that heat out!), and baste the turkey all over. To baste, tilt the pan if needed and use a turkey baster or spoon to scoop up the pan liquids and drizzle them on top of the turkey. Basting with pan juices cools the surface of the turkey and slows down cooking, which in turn keeps the breast meat cooking at close to the same rate as the legs and thighs. In the last 45 minutes or so of cooking, you can also baste the turkey with melted butter or oil. This helps crisp up the skin and turn it a beautiful deep golden brown.
Check the turkey's temperature. Begin checking the turkey's temperature about halfway through the estimated cooking time. Check the temperature in three places: the breast, outer thigh, and inside thigh (see photos above). In every case, the meat should be at least 165°F when the turkey has finished cooking. If any place is under that temperature, put the turkey back in the oven for another 20 minutes. Shield the breast meat with foil if needed to keep it from overcooking.
Rest the turkey before carving. Remove the turkey from the oven. Grab one side of the roasting rack with an oven mitt and tilt the whole pan so the liquids inside the turkey cavity run out into the pan. (These juices are used to make the gravy.) Then, lift the whole turkey (still on the rack) and transfer it to a clean cutting board. Tent the turkey loosely with aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. This gives time for the meat to firm up and the juices to be re-absorbed into the muscle tissue, making the turkey easier to slice and taste juicier.
Carve the turkey. Carve the turkey the same way you would carve a chicken; see the video above for a walk-through of the process. Remove the wings first, then the thighs, then the breast meat. Once you have the meat off, you can separate the thighs into thighs and drumsticks and carve the breast meat into individual slices.
Don't forget about the leftovers. One final note! Once you've sat down at the table, don't forget about the turkey back on the counter. The leftover meat needs to be refrigerated within two hours of cooking, after which the risk of something nasty taking up residence starts to increase exponentially. Be safe!

Recipe Notes

Ways to Add Flavor to Your Turkey: Rub your turkey with butter or oil for a richer flavor and browner skin, rub minced herbs or ground spices into (or beneath) the skin for more flavor, place a few halved lemons or garlic cloves inside the cavity of the turkey.

Storage: Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

Nutritional information is based on a 15-pound turkey basted with 1 cup of butter.

Is it better to cook a turkey at 325 or 350?

Roast the turkey uncovered at a temperature ranging from 325°F to 350°F. Higher temperatures may cause the meat to dry out, but this is preferable to temperatures that are too low which may not allow the interior of the turkey to cook to a safe temperature.

How long does it take to cook an 18lb turkey?

For 12- to 14-pound turkey, roast 3½ to 4 hours. For 14- to 18-pound turkey, roast 4 to 4¼ hours. For 18- to 20-pound turkey, roast 4¼ to 4¾ hours. For 20- to 24-pound turkey, roast 4¾ to 5¼ hours.

How long does a stuffed 18 pound turkey take to cook?

How Long to Cook an Stuffed Turkey.

How do you know when a 18 pound turkey is done?

To find out if your turkey is fully cooked, insert a meat thermometer into the meatiest, thickest part of the bird (typically the thighs). You're aiming for between 170º and 175º for a whole bird and 165º for a turkey breast.