Can You Defrost A Turkey In The Microwave

Microwaves are a home cook’s best friend! It’s a magical machine where you can heat every single food. New and old cooks both agree that a microwave might be the most efficient way to defrost any of your frozen goods like pasta, steaks, sauces, and many more! Those are just some of the diverse plethora of food that you can heat up or even cook in a microwave. But if the machine is really that amazing - can you defrost a turkey in the microwave? like the whole Thanksgiving turkey? Well, you most certainly can, and here’s how!

Defrosting 101

We all know how thick turkey meat can be especially when it’s fresh from the refrigerator freezer, literally frozen solid. There are a lot of ways to defrost it.

You can thaw it in cold water to keep it in a safe temperature till it’s fully defrosted, or you can use your fridge to thaw it with consistency because of the steady change in temperature, which would take about six days.

But the most accessible and quick way to do it is by using your microwave! So can you defrost a turkey in the microwave? Yes! If you follow this really easy tip, that will make you even more efficient in the kitchen, especially on Thanksgiving!

Thawing Your Turkey in The Microwave

Before you begin stuffing your Turkey in your microwave, you’d have to double-check if your microwave can accommodate the size of your Thanksgiving turkey. The heat and power of your microwave solely depend on the size of your turkey. You have to measure it by minutes per pound to get it done as intended.

When you got all that sorted out, you have to remove all of the outside wrappings and put your turkey on a microwaveable plate or dish to catch some stray juices that might leak when the heating starts.

One thing you need to take note is that you have to allow 6 minutes per pound to avoid accidentally cooking it or, worse, undercooking it instead of thawing. During the entire process, you have to make sure you observe it to identify which part needs to be exposed more to heat.

Then you can flip and rotate it depending on what it needs. When it starts to cook, you have to let it rest for about 5 minutes before you put it back in the microwave. Once it’s done, you need to cook it immediately!

With this wonderful tip, it answers your question if you can defrost a turkey in the microwave.

Thawing Complete

Before reading this, you might have asked yourself the question - can you defrost a turkey in the microwave? And now you finally got your answer. As what’s been previously mentioned, there are still plenty of ways for you to thaw your turkey. However, using the microwave not only makes it easier but also faster, especially when you have plenty of dishes to cook aside from that juicy thanksgiving turkey! Just a little reminder before you start cooking! Never thaw your turkey if you’re not using a microwave, your fridge, or cold water as it ruins the quality of your main dish on Thanksgiving!