Buying turkey for Thanksgiving dinner is a big choice. Do you want a heritage bird or a classic grocery store bird-in-a-bag? Fresh or frozen? Whole or parts? And, arguably the most important consideration of all: Just how much turkey per person do you need?
To calculate how big your Thanksgiving turkey should be, you’ve got to figure out the number of guests you’re serving and how much turkey each might eat. After all, if you’re hosting Thanksgiving, it’s your mission to send everyone home as full of delicious food as possible.
Cooking up a juicy turkey is a cherished tradition for many families’ holiday meals. When preparing your feast one important question is how much cooked meat you can expect to yield from the whole bird you bought. Understanding turkey meat yields helps ensure you purchase the right size turkey for your gathering.
The typical whole turkey contains a surprising amount of bone, cartilage and other inedible parts. After roasting and carving, roughly 40-50% of the original weight will be edible meat. The remaining 50-60% is lost to bones, skin and trimmings.
So if you bought a 16-pound whole turkey plan on ending up with around 6 to 8 pounds of cooked meat after removing all the waste. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how much meat you’ll get from different turkey sizes
- 10 lb turkey = 4 to 5 lbs meat
- 12 lb turkey = 5 to 6 lbs meat
- 14 lb turkey = 6 to 7 lbs meat
- 16 lb turkey = 6 to 8 lbs meat
- 18 lb turkey = 7 to 9 lbs meat
- 20 lb turkey = 8 to 10 lbs meat
These meat yields account for about 3-4 ounces of meat per person if serving a moderate portion. Make sure to scale up if hearty appetites will be at your dinner table!
Factors Affecting Meat Yield
Several factors impact how much edible meat you’ll harvest from your turkey:
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Turkey sex – Hens generally have a higher meat to bone ratio than toms. Hens can yield around 50% meat while big toms may be only 40% meat.
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Breed – Heritage breed turkeys have a higher bone and skin percentage compared to commercial broad-breasted turkeys optimized for white meat.
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Feeding – Pasture-raised and organic turkeys will have a leaner meat yield than conventionally raised birds.
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Cooking method – Roast turkeys can lose more moisture from the breast meat compared to smoked or fried.
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Carving skill – Getting as much meat off the bones as possible will maximize your total meat quantity.
Weighing Leftovers
The best way to accurately determine how much meat your turkey produced is to weigh the cooked leftovers after carving. Follow these steps:
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After the turkey rests, carve off all the meat you can from the bones.
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Place the carved meat in a large bowl and weigh it. This gives you the edible meat yield.
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Compare the cooked meat weight to the original raw turkey weight to find the percentage.
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Divide the meat weight by the number of servings to estimate how many future meals you’ll get.
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Freeze the carved meat in bags for easy heating later.
Doing this extra weighing step takes a bit more effort but removes the guesswork on how many people your leftovers can feed.
Getting the Most Meat
Follow these tips to maximize the usable meat you’ll get from your holiday bird:
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Brine the bird – Soaking in a saltwater brine infuses moisture and makes carving easier.
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Cook to proper temp – Pull turkey from oven at 160°F and let carryover cooking bring it to 165°F.
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Let it rest – Waiting 30 minutes before carving allows juices to reabsorb for moister meat.
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Carve carefully – Use a sharp knife to cleanly slice meat from the bones and joints.
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Pick the carcass – Dig out small bits of meat from the bones after initial carving.
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Make turkey stock – Simmer the carcass to extract flavorful broth for soups or gravy.
Planning Your Turkey Purchase
When shopping for the big meal, keep these turkey meat yield guidelines in mind:
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Allow 0.75 lbs turkey per person as a general rule of thumb.
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Estimate about 4 oz of cooked meat per average serving.
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Buy a little extra for hearty appetites, leftovers and picking errors.
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Opt for hens which yield slightly more meat pound for pound.
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Factor in your carving skills if you tend to leave meat behind on bones.
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For small groups, get just a breast or turkey parts to reduce waste.
With proper planning, you can feel confident you’ve purchased just the right turkey size for your holiday feast. Then you can relax and enjoy carving up the centerpiece of your memorable meal.
What if I’m afraid of underserving my guests?
“Most people put out so many sides that running out of turkey really isn’t an issue,” says contributing editor Amiel Stanek. “Turkey is, in my experience, the thing people want least.” As a host, you can even take some of your attention away from a cartoonishly large Rockwellian bird and think deeply about the Thanksgiving side dishes. This is where you can customize your selection based on the size, tastes, and needs of your crowd. Serving a few extra vegetarians this year? Go all-in on mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and roasted veggies (we recommend balsamic-roasted brussels sprouts, which are a test kitchen favorite).
Want to show off your baking skills? Make a big tray of showstopping stuffing biscuits. And, of course, you’ve got to have cranberry sauce—either homemade or canned, that’s your prerogative.
If you’re wondering, How big of a turkey do I need, really?, Amiel points out that the bigger the turkey, the less likely it is to cook evenly. He would much rather serve smallish portions of perfect poultry than massive servings that are half-raw, half-dry. “In terms of ensuring that the breast meat is delicious and moist and the dark meat is cooked through, I think you’re going to get the best results from a 14-to-15-pound turkey, max.”
Turkey size per person
Our advice: Go for a smaller turkey. We promise, there’ll be enough to go around.
If a 15-pound bird sounds teeny compared to your guest list, Amiel and Jessie recommend supplementing with a different meat or protein (no matter your party’s size). “I like to do steak or lamb chops,” says Jessie, “which are very festive and a lot easier to prepare than a whole turkey.” Having a second meat on the table provides a backup if your bird is on the scrawny side, but it also makes your turkey stretch further. Aim for 1–1½ total pounds of protein per person, including your supplementary main, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.
If you’re hosting a smaller gathering, another option is to forgo the roast turkey entirely in favor of a smaller bird—roast chicken or glazed duck make just as nice a centerpiece.
How many pounds of turkey per person do I actually need?
The general rule of thumb is 1–1½ pounds turkey per person. If that seems like a lot, remember that a whole turkey comes with a lot of parts that don’t end up getting eaten. “When you buy a whole turkey, a lot of it is bone,” says recipe developer (and former BA staffer) Jessie YuChen. The smaller the bird, the higher that percentage may be. For smaller gatherings, Jessie recommends scaling up to 2 pounds per person to maximize leftovers (more on that later). “For four to six people, 11 to 13 pounds is a good range,” Jessie says. (Most of our recipes call for a 12-to-14-pound bird.)
Beyond the bones, the total mass of a whole bird accounts for cartilage and less favorable cuts of meat around the shoulders, neck, and back that are better suited for making stock the next day than for presenting on a platter. Just because you’re buying a pound per each guest doesn’t mean it’ll yield an equivalent amount of turkey meat.
How much meat do you get from a 20 pound turkey?
FAQ
How many pounds of meat do you get off a turkey?
What is the average meat yield from a wild turkey?
How many people will a 15 lb turkey feed?
What is the yield of a whole turkey?
How much Turkey should a 10 pound turkey eat?
The end goal is 1/2 a pound of turkey per adult and 1/3 of a pound per child at the dinner table. So if you’re serving a holiday dinner of 10 adults, you need five pounds of cooked turkey in total. We know we’re going to lose roughly 50% of the weight of a whole bird through cooking and the bones. So you’ll want a 10-pound turkey.
How much raw turkey per person?
That equals one pound of raw turkey per adult and 2/3 of a pound per child. If you’re concerned that’s not enough or you want to ensure there will be plenty of leftovers to go around, consider purchasing 1 1/2 pounds of raw turkey per person attending.
How much should a turkey weigh?
For eight guests, buy a turkey that weighs about 12 pounds. For 10 guests, you want a bird that is at least 15 pounds. If you know right off the bat whether your guests prefer white meat or dark meat, then you can opt to roast bone-in breasts for white meat, turkey legs for dark meat, or a mixture of both.
How many turkeys should a family eat?
For large groups of people, consider buying a couple of smaller turkeys to match the pound per person rule. So if you need to feed 60 people, buy two turkeys that are around 20 pounds each. Families that prefer white meat might also want to consider just buying turkey breast (or a couple extra in addition to the bird) for your meal.