Forgot to Thaw Your Turkey? You Can Cook This One Directly From Frozen

The number one question the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line fields every year is how long it takes to thaw a turkey.

This isn't surprising, considering the answer is longer than most people want to hear. For every four pounds, your turkey will need at least one full day to thaw, meaning a 15-pound bird requires at least four days in the fridge. And, if you’re brining your turkey, you’ll need to start thawing it almost a week in advance. 

That’s why Butterball’s new Cook from Frozen Whole Turkey, released this year, is such a game changer. At around $38, it’s more than twice as expensive as a frozen Butterball turkey, which will only cost you around $15, but still more affordable than most fresh turkeys. You can store the cooked-from-frozen turkey in your freezer for up to a year, and, per the name, cook it directly after pulling it from the freezer, without any time for thawing.

As a chef-turned-farmer who has worked in magazine test kitchens for over 10 years and raises turkeys for Thanksgiving, I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical when I heard about the cook-from-frozen bird, especially because the USDA recommends thawing before cooking. 

But my interest was piqued, so I roasted one at home to try alongside the original thawed Butterball turkey. Here’s how it went — and my honest review of the results.

How to cook the Butterball Cook From Frozen turkey

Butterball makes it really, really easy to cook this turkey…if you have several hours to spare. I followed instructions to remove the protective plastic coating around the 10-to-14 pound bird, then placed the turkey on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Though Butterball suggests brushing the turkey with butter or coating with oil, I used cooking spray to get an even coating on the frozen bird.

Next, I followed instructions to place the roasting pan in a 350°F oven, which is higher than the 325°F temperature Butterball recommends for a thawed turkey. From there, the package has two simple instructions: “roast until fully cooked” and loosely tent the breast with foil after four hours to avoid overcooking that part of the bird. 

At the four-hour mark, my instant-read thermometer read 152°F in the breast and 158°F in the thigh. I loosely covered the turkey with foil and continued cooking it for another hour. At five hours, the turkey temped at 160°F in the breast and 165°F in the thigh. (I would usually remove a heritage bird from the oven at this temperature, but Butterball suggests cooking the turkey until its internal temperature reaches 170°F.) Ultimately, I cooked the turkey for a total of five hours and 42 minutes to reach 170°F in the breast. 

I’ve seen conflicting accounts of how long this turkey takes to cook, which makes sense considering the size can range from 10 to 14 pounds according to the package. I would have weighed mine, but the frozen weight differs from the thawed weight. (And when I tried to weigh it, it kept slipping off my scale). 

To compare the cook-from-frozen bird to a regular turkey, I also roasted a thawed Butterball at the same time. A thawed turkey of approximately the same size took three hours and 15 minutes in a 325°F oven to reach the company’s suggested internal temperature of 170°F.

Is the Butterball Cook From Frozen turkey worth it?

I served both turkeys to my husband and two children without telling them which was which, and we all preferred the thawed turkey to the cook-from-frozen. The skin on both were equally golden brown, but the meat on the thawed turkey was simply juicier and more tender, most likely due to the two hour difference in cooking time. 

If you’re short on the fridge space needed to thaw a turkey, or if you’ve forgotten to thaw the bird and need a quick option, the Butterball Cook From Frozen turkey will help you get a good-looking turkey on the table in a few hours. But if you have the time, just thaw your turkey…and buy it from a local farmer, if you can!