Can You Trust the Pop-Up Timer in Your Turkey?

This Thanksgiving, there’s one tool you need to keep out of the kitchen in order to cook the perfect turkey. Ironically, it’s the pop-up turkey timer.

A pop-up turkey timer ― the kind that comes pre-inserted in your store-bought bird ― is probably one of the most unreliable kitchen gadgets of all time. By the time the timer does actually pop, your turkey will be overcooked and as dry as sawdust. Advertisement

That’s because commercial turkey buttons are set to pop at 180 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit, even though you should actually remove the turkey from the oven when it reaches 160 degrees F (then you temperature will continue rising as it rests on the counter, to the FDA-recommended 165 degrees Fahrenheit). If you use a pop-up timer, you end up drastically overcooking your turkey.

As Thanksgiving approaches, home cooks across the country are preparing to roast turkeys for their holiday feasts. Many supermarket turkeys come with a pop-up timer that is supposed to indicate when the bird is fully cooked. But can you actually trust these pop-up timers to properly gauge doneness?

A Brief History of the Pop-Up Turkey Timer

The pop-up turkey timer has been around since the 1960s. It was invented as a way to help home cooks roast turkeys properly and promote turkey sales beyond just Thanksgiving. At the time recommendations for roasting times per pound were considered unreliable. The pop-up timer provided a visual cue for when the turkey was done.

The original pop-up timers had some flaws – they would sometimes fail to pop up at the right temperature or pop out of the turkey completely. The design has been refined over the decades, but experts still caution against fully relying on the pop-up for determining doneness.

How Do Pop-Up Turkey Timers Work?

A pop-up timer consists of a few key components

A barrel that sits inside the turkey breast
A red plunger
A spring
A blob of food-grade wax

It operates based on the melting point of the wax. The wax is calibrated to melt at between 180-185°F. When the turkey reaches this temperature, the wax melts, releasing the spring and causing the red plunger to pop up.

The problem is that 180-185°F is hotter than the 165°F that is considered safe for poultry doneness.

Why Pop-Up Timers Can Be Unreliable

There are a few reasons why many cooking experts caution against relying solely on the pop-up timer:

Inconsistent cooking temperatures – Turkeys have varying thicknesses, which leads to inconsistent cooking. The area around the pop-up timer may reach 185°F before the rest of the turkey is properly cooked.
Failure to pop – In some cases, the pop-up timer never actually pops. This could be due to a malfunction or the turkey never reaching the target temperature.
Pops too early – Some timers have been known to pop before the turkey has reached a safe 165°F. This results in dangerously undercooked poultry.
One temperature reading – The pop-up only measures the temperature in one small area of the turkey rather than throughout.

Alternative Methods for Testing Turkey Doneness

Instead of the pop-up timer, experts recommend using the following techniques to test your turkey’s doneness:

Meat thermometer – Insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, without touching bone. It should read 165°F. Test in a few areas.
Cut into the breast – Use a knife to cut into the breast meat. It should be white throughout with no traces of pink.
Leg wiggle – Twist the leg gently. It should move easily in the socket.
Clear juices – Pierce the turkey and check the juice color. It should run clear rather than pink.

Safety Tips for Turkey Roasting

To ensure your holiday turkey is fully and safely cooked, keep these tips in mind:

Never rely solely on the pop-up timer – use a meat thermometer as well.
Check the temperature in multiple thick and thin sections.
Let the turkey rest 20 minutes before carving for juices to redistribute.
Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.
Reheat leftovers thoroughly to 165°F.
Wash hands, utensils, sinks after contact with raw turkey.

Is It Time to Ditch the Pop-Up Timer?

The pop-up timer became a staple because home cooks needed a better gauge for determining turkey doneness. However, as we now know, these timers can be wildly inaccurate and inconsistent.

Modern instant-read thermometers provide a much more reliable way to assess doneness. Checking the internal temperature in multiple areas leaves little room for error.

While the pop-up timer is unlikely to disappear from supermarket turkeys anytime soon, it’s clear that home cooks shouldn’t put all their trust in this fallible device. For foolproof food safety, bust out that trusty meat thermometer. It’s the best way to take the temperature of your turkey and enjoy another happy, healthy Thanksgiving.

can you trust the pop up timer in a turkey

Food industry professionals don’t like pop-up timers.

If you need any more proof that pop-up timers are bad, just know that Butterball turkey doesn’t use them, Consumer Reports doesn’t recommend them and food writers despise them.Advertisement

“If I had my way, the world would be rid of it,” J. Kenji López-Alt, James Beard-nominated columnist and chief culinary consultant of Serious Eats, said of pop-up timers in an interview with The Washington Post in 2015.

But the best way to take the temperature of a turkey is with a digital instant-read thermometer.

It’s not that hard to jab a turkey with a thermometer and see if it’s done or not. Simply insert a digital instant-read thermometer into the space between the thigh and the breast to get an accurate reading. We also recommend probe-style digital thermometers, which can be inserted into your bird with a wire leading out of the oven door to a digital display that monitors the temperature. (And if you buy a turkey that already has a pop-up timer inserted, either ignore it or pull it out, if you can do so without mangling the bird.)

Get yourself a good meat thermometer before it’s too late.

HuffPost and its publishing partners may receive a commission from some purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently curated by the HuffPost Shopping team. Prices and availability are subject to change.

Can you trust the pop-up timer in a turkey?

FAQ

Are turkey pop up timers accurate?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. These pop-up timers are actually inaccurate. There’s a reason that turkey has a reputation for being dry, and it’s because of these timers. If they ever pop at all, it can be too late.

Can you trust pop up on turkey?

Our food safety experts recommend that cooks not rely on these timers to tell whether their holiday bird is done. Instead, use a conventional meat thermometer to check the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast and in the thigh between the drumstick and the body, and take several readings.

Is the turkey done when the timer pops?

When the turkey’s timer pops up, it’s signaling to you the bird is done. Here’s how it works. It has the stick that pops up, a spring and soft metal that’s solid at room temperature but metals and turns into a liquid at about 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Should I remove turkey pop up timer?

What is it, should I remove it before cooking the turkey? The “button” you referred to is a pop-up temperature indicator, commonly called a Pop-Up Timer. No, the Pop-Up Timer should not be removed before cooking. This thermometer is precisely positioned to assure that your food will be cooked correctly.

Does a Turkey have a pop-up timer?

If your turkey has a pre-inserted pop-up timer — most turkeys you buy from the grocery store do — you don’t have to worry about using a separate meat thermometer. When the turkey’s timer pops up, it’s signaling to you the bird is done. Here’s how it works: A pop-up timer found in a turkey or chicken normally has four parts (see image above):

Should you use a plastic pop-up timer to test a Turkey?

But few, if any chefs these days will recommend that you use the plastic pop-up timer to test the bird for doneness. Those of us over a certain age can be forgiven for thinking all turkeys were born and bred to sport a plastic pop-up button, mainly because it always seemed that way.

Are pop-up timers accurate?

Pop-up timers aren’t the most accurate. You may want to use a regular meat thermometer to double-check the doneness of your turkey. Are Pop-up Timers Reliable? No, pop-up timers aren’t known for their reliability.

Can you use a pop-up thermometer to cook a Turkey?

In her guide for making the perfect roast turkey, Martha Stewart gives the pop-up thermometer a hard pass. Instead, she recommends home cooks use a meat thermometer inserted at the thickest part of the thigh.