To some, turkey is a succulent holiday centerpiece. To others, it’s a vehicle for gravy. But turkey can be great (delicious even) if you know how to cook a turkey properly so that it hits the ideal internal temperature without going over. Whether you’re a longtime Thanksgiving pro feeling bogged down by the year’s newest trend (Is it spatchcocked or dry-brined turkey this year? Turkey breast only? Or maybe confit? We can’t keep up!) or a holiday-hosting newbie who’s preparing a whole turkey for the first time, you can rely on this foolproof guiding principle: You don’t need a special recipe if you just stick to the basics. Ahead you’ll find everything you need to know, including step-by-step instructions, to make the perfect turkey.
In a hurry? Scroll down to get right to our table of turkey cook times. Or scroll even further for our guide to cooking a turkey that’s still frozen solid.
Cooking a 19 lb turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner can seem like an intimidating task. However, with some planning and preparation, you can cook a moist, flavorful and perfectly cooked 19 lb turkey for your holiday feast. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to cook a delicious 19 lb turkey in the oven.
Overview of Cooking a 19 lb Turkey
Here’s a quick overview of the process
- Prepare the turkey – Thaw if frozen remove giblets, rinse and pat dry.
- Brine the turkey (optional) – Soak in a saltwater solution to infuse flavor and moisture.
- Stuff the turkey (optional) – Stuff the cavity with aromatics and bread stuffing
- Truss the turkey – Tie the legs together to hold shape during roasting.
- Roast the turkey – Cook in the oven uncovered at 325°F, allowing about 15 minutes per pound.
- Baste the turkey – Brush with pan drippings every 30 minutes during roasting.
- Use a meat thermometer – Cook until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165°F.
- Let rest before carving – Allow the juices to redistribute after roasting.
- Carve and serve – Slice the breast meat and legs and serve with gravy and sides.
Properly preparing and roasting a 19 lb turkey requires a time commitment, but following these tips will ensure a juicy, tender and flavorful holiday centerpiece.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Prepare the Turkey
- Thaw – If frozen, thaw turkey in the refrigerator 1-2 days in advance. Place on a tray to catch drips.
- Remove giblets – Check inside both body and neck cavities and remove giblets and neck.
- Rinse turkey – Rinse inside and out with cold water. This removes bacteria and helps prevent cross-contamination.
- Pat dry – Dry the turkey cavity and skin thoroughly with paper towels. Wet skin leads to soggy skin.
2. Brine the Turkey (Optional)
- Make brine – In a very large pot, combine 1 cup kosher salt per gallon of water. Add aromatics like peppercorns, allspice berries, thyme, brown sugar, etc.
- Submerge turkey – Place turkey in brine, breast side down. Use a plate weighted with cans to keep submerged.
- Refrigerate – Cover and refrigerate 12-24 hours, turning occasionally. The salt solution infuses flavor and moisture.
- Rinse turkey – Remove turkey from brine and rinse thoroughly. Pat dry with paper towels before stuffing and roasting.
3. Stuff the Turkey (Optional)
- Make stuffing – Prepare your favorite stuffing recipe. Avoid pre-stuffing to prevent bacterial growth.
- Fill cavity – Lightly fill the body and neck cavities just before roasting. Do not overstuff.
- Truss turkey – Secure the cavity openings closed with twine or skewers so the stuffing stays in.
4. Truss the Turkey
- Tie legs together – Use kitchen twine to tie the turkey legs together. This holds the legs tight against the body.
- Secure wings – Tuck wing tips under body and tie into place so they don’t burn.
- Truss the cavity – Wrap twine around turkey several times to close the cavity for even cooking.
5. Roast the Turkey
- Place turkey – Put turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Tent with foil for the first hour if desired.
- Calculate time – Figure 15 minutes per pound, so about 4 1/2 hours total for a 19 lb turkey.
- Roast at 325°F – Roast at 325°F, uncovered after the first hour. Turn heat down if browning too fast.
- Baste regularly – Brush turkey with pan drippings every 30 minutes to prevent drying out.
6. Check Temperature
- Use a meat thermometer – Insert it deep into the thickest part of the thigh, avoiding bone.
- Cook to 165°F – When thermometer reads 165°F, turkey is fully cooked and safe to eat. The temperature will rise 5-10 degrees upon standing.
- Check multiple areas – Test temperature in thigh, breast and wing for accuracy.
7. Let Turkey Rest
- Tent with foil – Lightly tent turkey with foil and let rest 20-30 minutes.
- Allow juices to redistribute – Resting makes the turkey juicier and easier to carve.
8. Carve and Serve Turkey
- Remove legs and wings – Cut through joints to remove legs and wings.
- Slice breast meat – Cut breast meat off bones in thin slices.
- Arrange on platter – Arrange sliced meat neatly on a serving platter.
- Make gravy – Make gravy from the pan drippings.
- Serve with sides – Carve turkey beside dishes like mashed potatoes, dressing, and cranberry sauce.
Tips for Best Results
Follow these tips for a moist, flavorful 19 lb holiday turkey:
- Thaw safely – Thaw frozen turkey 1-2 days in the fridge to prevent bacteria growth.
- Dry thoroughly – Blot turkey skin very dry before roasting for crispy skin.
- Use a rack – Elevate turkey on a rack in the pan for even cooking.
- Cook breast side up – Heat rises, cooking the breast evenly when facing up.
- Maintain temperature – Keep oven temperature steady and consistent during roasting.
- Baste frequently – Basting prevents the turkey skin from drying out.
- Let rest before carving – Waiting allows juices to become distributed throughout the meat.
Common FAQs
Get answers to some common questions about roasting a 19 lb turkey:
How long does it take to cook a 19 lb turkey?
Figure about 15 minutes per pound in a 325°F oven. So a 19 lb turkey will take around 4 1/2 hours total.
What is the best turkey roasting temperature?
Most experts recommend roasting at 325°F which cooks the turkey evenly without drying it out.
Should you brine a 19 lb turkey?
Brining infuses flavor and moisture into the turkey. While optional, it’s highly recommended for large birds like a 19 lb turkey.
What is the minimum oven temperature for cooking turkey?
Turkey should be roasted at a minimum of 325°F to ensure it cooks through safely. Do not roast a turkey below 300°F.
How can you tell when a 19 lb turkey is done?
Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature, which should reach 165°F in the deepest part of the thigh.
Can I roast a turkey in a convection oven?
Yes, set the temperature 25 degrees lower than the recipe states as convection ovens cook faster.
Get Ready for Turkey Day!
Roasting a picture-perfect 19 lb turkey may seem intimidating for the holidays. However, just follow these simple steps for choosing, thawing, preparing, and cooking your turkey using the proper techniques.
Focus on safely thawing the turkey, monitoring the internal temperature, and allowing it to rest before serving. With some patience, your 19 lb bird will turn out juicy, tender and golden brown this holiday season.
How to Cook a Heritage Turkey
With longer thighs and drumsticks, a leaner breast, and a more diminutive size compared to a standard supermarket turkey, heritage birds look, taste, and cook differently than your average Thanksgiving fowl. Heritage birds generally top out at 14 to 16 pounds, so if you plan on serving a larger crowd, you might want to roast two side by side. An added bonus is that smaller birds cook more quickly than their fleshy cousins, so you don’t need to rise at dawn if you like to eat Thanksgiving dinner at noon.
Because they tend to have a more active lifestyle, heritage turkeys must be roasted differently in order to avoid toughness. Roasting the bird slowly, at a lower temperature is the best way to achieve tender meat. You should still prep the bird with butter, salt, and pepper, as described above (or dry-brine it). To cook, set your oven to 325°F and roast for 3½ to 4 hours for a 12- to 14-pound bird. Most important, pay attention to the internal temperature. It’s important to note that the nature of some heritage breeds yield flesh and bone that may still have a pinkish hue, even when fully cooked. But, as long at the temperature has reached 165°F on a reliable meat thermometer, you needn’t worry.
The Simplest Way to Cook a Turkey Thaw your turkey.
The ideal place to thaw a frozen turkey is in the fridge, which can take up to a week, depending on the size of the bird. Here’s how long it takes a typical turkey to thaw in the fridge:
- 4–12 pounds: 1 to 3 days
- 12–16 pounds: 3 to 4 days
- 16–20 pounds: 4 to 5 days
- 20–24 pounds: 5 to 6 days
If you’re short on time, there are other, faster ways to thaw a turkey, but thawing it in the refrigerator is your best bet when it comes to safe kitchen practices. For tips on preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving, click on our guide:
When the time arrives to cook your bird, take the now-thawed turkey out of the fridge and set it on a rack at room temperature for an hour to take the chill off and dry out the skin. (This can be the same rack you plan to use to roast your turkey; there’s no need to dirty another dish.) Your roasting rack should allow the bottom of the turkey to sit at or just below the top of the pan. No roasting rack? A heavy-duty cooling rack set inside a half-sheet pan works too.3. Prep your oven.
Position your oven rack on the lowest rung and set the oven to 350°F. Some recipes have you start roasting the turkey at a high oven temperature for a brief period before lowering the heat for the duration. The belief is that the high heat “sears” the bird and the low heat gently roasts, yielding a bird that’s more moist and succulent, but we haven’t found that this makes a huge difference. Plus, the skin gets browned very quickly (often too quickly). Steady heat means not having to check the oven so frequently, leaving you free to do other things, like prep your mashed potatoes and other Thanksgiving side dishes.4. Butter your turkey.
Set your turkey breast side up on the roasting rack and rub room-temperature salted butter—or your favorite flavored compound butter—all over it. (For a 12- to 14-pound turkey, you’ll need about ½ cup [1 stick] of butter.) Slowly work your fingers under the skin, starting at the neck, being careful not to tear the skin or separate it completely at the large cavity. Rub most of the butter under the skin, a little inside the large cavity, and the rest over the skin.5. Season your turkey (if necessary).
If you’ve chosen to brine your bird (via a wet or dry brine) you can skip this final seasoning. For kosher turkeys, which are already salted, there’s no need to salt the cavity, but you will want to salt the skin. Here’s how to do it: For a 12- to 14-pound bird, sprinkle 1½ teaspoons each kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper in the large cavity and another 1½ teaspoons each over the skin.
Sounds random, we know. But stuffing the neck cavity (not the large cavity) with a halved apple—placing the cut side against the turkey’s flesh with the rounded side facing out—helps buffer the breast against heat and protects it from overcooking. But don’t fill the main cavity with stuffing—it’ll only slow down your cooking time. Instead, prep your stuffing recipe in a casserole dish and bake it on the side.7. Add some aromatics.
Not stuffing your turkey means there’s room in the cavity for aromatics, which will add flavor and aroma to the bird and add complexity to the pan drippings used to make gravy. Try placing onion quarters, celery stalks, parsley, thyme, and other fresh herbs inside the turkey before roasting.
You can also place some aromatics right in the roasting pan, under the rack. These will caramelize in the more direct heat, perfuming the meat and further flavoring the drippings. Add a few halved shallots, sliced carrots, and some celery. Whether you choose to add aromatics or not, pour 2 cups of water into your roasting pan to prevent those drippings from burning.8. Cover (and then uncover) the turkey.
Loosely cover the bird with aluminum foil, shiny side out (to deflect heat) at the very beginning of roasting. Tenting with foil keeps the skin from getting too dark too soon. Remove the foil about halfway through cooking to let the skin brown.9. Skip the basting.
Some traditional recipes call for basting the turkey, ostensibly to moisten and flavor the bird. We’ve found that opening the oven door too often lets too much heat escape, lengthening the cooking time. Additionally, squirting or brushing broth onto the skin will prevent it from browning evenly and can cause it to lose any crispness it might achieve. The better way to ensure a moist bird is to dry-brine it before cooking.10. 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. Check the temperature about three quarters of the way through that time, and then again every 10 minutes, and roast until the temperature reads 165°F (or 150°F as the case may be; more on that below) when checked at the thickest part of the thigh meat and the thickest part of the breast meat.
If, however, you prefer to roast your turkey at a higher or lower temperature, follow these guidelines. (The following cook times are for unstuffed birds. Our rule of thumb is to avoid stuffed turkeys and instead to bake the stuffing alongside so that it can easily reach a safe temperature.)How long to cook a turkey per pound:
- For an 8- to 12-pound turkey:
- 325°F for 2¾ to 3 hours
- For a 12- to 14-pound turkey:
- 425°F for 2¼ to 2½ hours
- 400°F for 2½ to 2¾ hours
- 350°F for 2¾ to 3 hours
- 325°F for 3 to 3¾ hours
- For a 15- to 16-pound turkey:
- 425°F for 3 to 3¼ hours
- 400°F for 3¼ to 3½ hours
- 350°F for 3½ to 3¾ hours
- 325°F for 3¾ to 4 hours
- For an 18- to 20-pound turkey:
- 425°F for 3½ to 3¾ hours
- 400°F for 3¾ to 4 hours
- 350°F for 4 to 4¼ hours
- 325°F for 4¼ to 4½ hours
- For a 21- to 24-pound turkey:
- 425°F for 4 to 4¼ hours
- 400°F for 4¼ to 4½ hours
- 350°F for 4½ to 4¾ hours
- 325°F for 4¾ to 5 hours
- For a turkey that weighs 24 pounds or more:
- 425°F for 4¼ to 4½ hours
- 400°F for 4½ to 4¾ hours
- 350°F for 4¾ to 5 hours
- 325°F for 5 to 5¼ hours
According to the USDA, a turkey must be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F to kill harmful bacteria. For the juiciest meat, you’ll want to remove your bird from the oven when the temperature reaches 150°F. The temperature will continue to rise as the turkey rests and should reach 165°F within 30 minutes of being removed from the oven. Some cooks, including Epi’s food director Chris Morocco, prefer dark meat when it’s cooked to an internal temperature of 190°F, which will allow more of the collagen and connective tissues to break down, rendering more tender meat. This higher temp would dry out white meat though, so it’s best to only aim for it when cooking turkey in parts.
Whichever turkey roasting temperature you choose, be sure to use an accurate meat thermometer to confirm the final temperature. In the past, home cooks used to look at the color of the meat as an indication of doneness: The turkey was pierced with a knife and if the juices were clear instead of pink it was considered done. But this is not a reliable method for several reasons. First, pinkness can disappear before a safe temperature is reached. And on the flip side, some turkeys (especially organic and heritage birds) may never lose their pink color, even if they’re cooked to well above 165°F.
To check the temperature of the turkey, you can use either an instant-read thermometer or a remote food thermometer (the type that has a probe you insert before cooking, which connects to a digital display that sits on your counter). Either way, insert the thermometer so that its point reaches the thickest part of the turkey’s breast. Be careful not to touch the bone (which will skew the reading). You should also check the thigh to ensure the turkey is cooking evenly all the way through.
If you find the skin is getting too dark and the desired internal temperature hasn’t been reached, loosely tent the browned parts with a double-thick layer of buttered aluminum foil to protect them from the heat.
When the roast turkey has reached the right temperature, it’s essential to let it rest for at least 30 minutes before carving. This gives the juices time to settle into the bird and be reabsorbed; carving it up too soon will just allow the moisture to run out, leaving you with dried-out meat on top of a puddle on your cutting board. It is not necessary to cover the turkey with aluminum foil while it rests, and doing so will only cause the skin to go limp. The turkey can rest for up to 90 minutes and still be hot come carving time. Which means you’ve got plenty of time to make gravy.