Cook a Frozen Turkey
Cooking a solidly frozen turkey takes very little work. It prevents your having to deal with bacteria contamination, and it helps to solve the problem of breast meat becoming dry and tough as you keep roasting to be sure the thigh and leg meat is done. Some frozen turkeys even come pre-stuffed and with gravy!
Steps
- Buy a frozen turkey. If you can find a turkey made to be cooked from frozen that is fine. If not, choose a turkey that has been processed. You are not going to be able to brine this turkey or to do much in the way of adding flavor, so look on the label for one that has been "enhanced," "basted" or described as "self-basting."
- Keep it in the freezer until the day you are ready to cook it. This is the big advantage. There will be no need to thaw this turkey for days in advance.
- Estimate how long it's going to take. For timing estimates, start with the number of hours and minutes that a thawed turkey of the same size would take to cook, then add an extra fifty percent. For example, if a thawed turkey would take around four hours, cooking the same turkey from the frozen state would take around six hours. But, always determine whether the turkey is safely cooked by using a thermometer, not a clock. The turkey is done when the thermometer says it is done.
- Preheat the oven to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
- Take the frozen bird, remove the plastic wrapping, and place it breast down on a rack in a roasting pan.
- Place the bird into the preheated oven.
- After 2 hours, turn the turkey breast up. See if the giblets and neck that were most likely packaged, in paper of plastic, in the neck and body cavity are loose enough to remove.
- Remove the giblets now if they are ready – if not monitor the turkey every 15 minutes and remove the package when you can. Do not let a plastic bag containing the giblets melt. If a plastic packet deforms or melts, chemicals may leech into the giblets and the surrounding turkey meat. Neither the giblets nor the turkey should be eaten in that case. A paper giblet bag is safe. After taking the giblets from the turkey, put some onions, celery, citrus or whatever you like to flavor your bird in the cavity.
- Monitor the temperature of the bird using an instant read thermometer. The turkey is done when the deepest part of the thigh registers {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. and the breast registers {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. Because you cooked the turkey from the frozen state, the larger mass of breast meat will thaw and cook more slowly. At the same time, the lesser mass of thigh and leg meat will thaw and cook more quickly. This roasting dynamic allows the breast to register only {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}, maintaining its moisture, while the deepest part of the thigh reaches a temperature of {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
- Remove the turkey from the oven, loosely cover with aluminum foil, and let the turkey rest for at least 10 minutes while the juices redistribute.
Warnings
- This method is ONLY for ROASTING - never grill or deep fry a frozen bird.
