If you’re planning to thaw a frozen turkey for Thanksgiving as safely as possible – no matter the size of the turkey – start thawing it now by leaving it in its original packaging, putting it on a plate to catch any condensation and putting it in the refrigerator. As you can see in the picture of the “estimated thawing time” label below, thawing a turkey in the refrigerator takes days of time. After 3 full days of thawing in the refrigerator, I checked my 15 1/2 pound turkey last night and found the bottom was still crunchy frozen.

So, to help it thaw more evenly, I turned the turkey over from breast-side up to breast-side down so that it looked like…

…this and…

…put it back in the refrigerator to continue thawing. I’ll let you know when it’s done and…

…will also post pictures tomorrow showing how to thaw a frozen turkey safely and much more quickly in water.

In the meantime, you can get complete step-by-step picture book Thanksgiving dinner recipes and other recipe tips by visiting the Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook Thanksgiving Help page you can get to by clicking any picture on this page.