What Does a Popped Turkey Timer Look Like?

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.

A popped turkey timer is a simple yet clever device that indicates when a turkey is fully cooked and ready to eat. Understanding what the timer looks like before and after popping can help ensure your holiday bird is perfectly done.

How a Turkey Timer Works

Turkey timers are small plastic devices inserted into the breast meat of fresh turkeys sold in grocery stores They contain

A red or white indicator stick
A casing that holds the stick in place
A spring mechanism
A piece of soft metal

The metal is solid at room temperature but melts at around 165°F, the ideal internal temperature for turkey doneness.

As the turkey cooks, the metal softens until it liquefies, releasing the indicator stick. The spring then pushes the stick upward so it visibly pops up, signaling the turkey is fully cooked.

Appearance of an Unpopped Turkey Timer

In an uncooked or undercooked turkey, the timer will be flush with the breast meat. Here’s how it looks

The red or white indicator stick sits firmly inside the plastic casing. Only the very tip is visible.
The rounded plastic casing surrounding the stick may be white, blue, or red. It blends seamlessly with the raw turkey flesh.
With the stick contained inside, the timer has a smooth, flat appearance on the surface of the breast meat.
The area of meat around the timer will be raw and pinkish in color.
When the turkey is placed into the oven, the timer will be barely noticeable.

What a Popped Turkey Timer Looks Like

Once the turkey reaches 165°F, the metal liquefies and you’ll see the following changes:

The indicator stick shoots up and becomes completely visible. It may extend 1⁄2 to 1 inch from the breast surface.
The round plastic casing remains flush with the meat but now has a hole in the center where the stick emerged.
The turkey timer takes on a tall, mushroom-like shape with the popped-up stick as the stem.
The meat around the timer will turn from pink to white or golden brown as it cooks fully.
The protruding red or white stick contrasts clearly against the cooked turkey meat, making the popped timer easy to notice.

Pop-Up Mechanism in Action

To see the turkey timer in action, watch it pop up as this turkey reaches optimal doneness:

As you can see, once the turkey is fully cooked, the red indicator stick quickly emerges from the plastic casing in response to the melted metal inside.

Why the Pop-Up Matters

The visual cue provided by the popped-up timer lets you know precisely when the turkey is done and ready to remove from the oven.

If the timer has not yet popped up, it means the turkey needs more cooking time. Leaving it in longer allows the temperature to rise sufficiently to melt the metal and activate the pop-up.

Once the red or white indicator extends up, you can confidently take the turkey out knowing it has reached the safe minimum internal temperature for consumption.

Problems with Pop-Up Timers

While useful, pop-up turkey timers do have some limitations to be aware of:

They can trip prematurely if overstuffed into the turkey cavity.
Insertion into especially fatty areas of the breast may delay the pop-up.
They are slow to respond and only pop when the turkey is overcooked.
Each timer monitors just a small spot, not the whole turkey.
They don’t indicate precise temperature like a meat thermometer.

For these reasons, many cooking experts recommend using an instant-read thermometer to check temperature instead. Ignoring the turkey timer and relying on a thermometer for accuracy is best.

Benefits of Digital Thermometers

Unlike pop-up timers, digital food thermometers provide reliable temperature readings. Advantages include:

Precision: Thermometers display exact temperature rather than just “done/not done.”
Speed: Digital readings take only 2-3 seconds versus waiting for a timer to pop.
Versatility: Thermometers can be used for all meats, not just turkey.
Reusability: Thermometers can be used meal after meal rather than one-use disposable timers.
Accuracy: Thermometers avoid issues like premature popping.

For best results, insert the thermometer at multiple spots in the thigh, drumstick, and breast areas to ensure no undercooked cold spots. The turkey is perfectly done when all areas reach 165°F.

What About Reusing Turkey Timers?

Since they’re made from plastic, you may wonder if pop-up turkey timers can be reused. The answer is yes, though it takes a bit of work.

To reset the timer, pull out the indicator stick after the initial pop-up. Then dip the plastic casing in boiling water for 30 seconds to melt the metal back down.

Next, firmly push the stick back into place inside the casing while the metal is still liquefied. Allow the timer to fully cool and harden before inserting back into the raw turkey. It will then function normally.

While often helpful, the pop-up indicator on a turkey timer shouldn’t be solely relied upon to determine doneness. Confirming the bird is fully cooked to a safe 165°F using a meat thermometer is still recommended.

Knowing what an unpopped and popped turkey timer looks like provides extra visual confirmation that the turkey is ready once the thermometer also reads 165°F. Paying attention to both the pop-up and the temperature reading ensures your holiday turkey turns out perfectly cooked.

what does a popped turkey timer look like

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.

Here’s how turkey timers actually work.

Inside a standard pop-up turkey timer, there’s a red plastic indicator stick that sits in a plastic casing. The stick has a spring wrapped around it. The soft metal in the tip warms as the turkey roasts and eventually melts at around 180 degrees F. Then the red stick is released from the metal and the spring makes it pop up. That’s 15 degrees higher than the recommended 165, making your turkey extremely dry.Advertisement

Pop-Up Turkey Timers

FAQ

Can you trust the pop-up timer in a 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.

What does a turkey pop up timer look like?

Inside a standard pop-up turkey timer, there’s a red plastic indicator stick that sits in a plastic casing. The stick has a spring wrapped around it.

Can you remove pop up timer from turkey?

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.