How To Cook Two Turkeys In One Oven
Instead of roasting a behemothic turkey, endeavour cooking two smaller birds at the same fourth dimension — not only is information technology faster, but the cease result may be more delicious.
Paradigm Credit: Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision/GettyImages
If you've got a big crowd coming over and want to serve a lot of turkey, you can make a giant bird. Only there's another option: Cook two smaller birds in the oven at the same time.
"For a juicier, tender product that you can fit in your oven, two birds might exist a better choice," King Phojanakong, a chef at the Plant of Culinary Education, tells LIVESTRONG.com. A larger and older turkey is more likely to accept tough meat, Phojanakong says.
You may also discover two smaller birds easier to handle — simply retrieve about the relative ease of lifting up a roasting pan with a 12-pound turkey versus a roasting pan full of a blazing hot 24-pound bird. With two birds in play, you tin can as well employ different seasonings. Plus, you'll cut down on melt time: Ii small turkeys cook faster than a single super-sized one.
But if you're going to cook two turkeys at once, you'll demand to do some accelerate planning. Here's what you lot need to know, and the verbal steps y'all'll take to cook two turkeys at once in the oven.
Plan Ahead Before Cooking Ii Turkeys at the Same Fourth dimension
Keep these considerations in listen if yous're cooking ii turkeys together.
1. Cull the Right Size Turkeys
Y'all'll want to make certain there'south room for both birds in your oven.
Consider their size to make timing easier: "Information technology'due south best to look for two birds that are as close to the same size as possible so they'll melt at similar rates," Phojanakong says.
ii. Make Certain Your Oven Is Large Plenty
You'll demand to fit the two turkeys — and their two roasting pans — in the oven. But you'll also need the air in the oven to be able to broadcast around a fleck, co-ordinate to the USDA. If your oven will have a clown motorcar-like appearance with two turkeys inside it, cooking 2 birds at once might not work for yous.
"Information technology'due south best to use split roasting pans," Phojanakong says. That'south for safety reasons, as having 2 turkeys in a roasting pan can exist unwieldy and heavy, he says. Plus, the air can't broadcast easily if both turkeys are crammed in a unmarried roasting pan, Phojanakong says.
To that end, you'll desire to place the roasting pans in different corners of the oven, per guidance from the National Turkey Federation (NTF).
Tip
Another way to promote circulation: Elevate the turkey on either a roasting rack or a bed of root vegetables, Phojanakong recommends. "This will create some more infinite for the estrus to circulate."
3. Think About Timing
The timing will be based on the size of each private bird, according to the USDA.
That is, if y'all're cooking ii 10-pound turkeys, yous'll desire to go by the melt time for a 10-pound turkey, not a 20-pound i. If the ii birds are slightly different sizes, use the weight of the smaller turkey to determine timing, per Kansas State University.
Calculation stuffing leads to a longer melt time. If you stuff one bird, but not the other, the unstuffed bird will exist done sooner.
4. Programme to Clean Your Food Thermometer
A nutrient thermometer is the only way to know when a turkey is fully cooked. Even when the exterior of poultry is a delightful golden-dark-brown color, it's still possible that the inside is undercooked, which can pb to foodborne illness.
Cleaning the thermometer probe between uses is required to avoid cantankerous-contamination, per Michigan Country University. Employ soapy water to clean it, per the University of Diet and Dietetics.
If you're feeling very cautious, you lot can accept two food thermometers — 1 for each turkey — on hand. That'll relieve you lot some washing time if you're checking on the temperatures of both turkeys.
Considering the birds are the same size, they'll cook at the aforementioned rate, and so information technology's fine to cheque the temperature on just one bird throughout the cooking procedure, Phojanakong says. Practice check the temperature on both turkeys at the final phase to determine if they're done.
five. Fully Cook Both Turkeys
Turkey should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yous'll want to check the turkey'due south temperature in three spots, per the USDA:
- the thickest function of the breast
- the innermost part of the wing
- the innermost part of the thigh
How to Cook Two Turkeys at Once
Earlier y'all can cook the turkeys, you'll need to thaw them. While y'all can cook turkeys that are frozen or partially frozen, it volition add to your cooking time.
At that place are only three safe ways to thaw your turkey, per the USDA. The top recommendation is to thaw turkey in the refrigerator — this takes about 24 hours for every 5 pounds of turkey. Yous tin can too thaw turkeys in cold h2o or in the microwave — these methods are speedier but more cumbersome. If you opt to thaw your turkey in the microwave or cold water, you lot'll need to cook the bird immediately after it's thawed.
If you wish, brine the turkeys the day before cooking them. Brining leads to a moister bird.
To brine, mix together 1 cup of kosher common salt per 1 gallon of water in a large container. Place the turkey in the nutrient-safe container. It should be fully submerged in the liquid. Air-condition the turkey in the alkali for at least viii hours or overnight, according to the NTF.
Alkali each bird separately — do not use one container for both birds.
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two minor turkeys (10 to fourteen pounds each), thawed
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Paper towels
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2 wire racks
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Root vegetables (optional)
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Stuffing (optional)
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2 roasting pans
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ane cup h2o
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Timer
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Food thermometer ($13, Amazon.com)
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Oven
Pace 1: Select two turkeys that are approximately the same weight. This allows you to use the aforementioned bones preparations and cooking temperature so the cooking time is also most the same.
Step 2: Preheat the oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 3: Dry each turkey with paper towels and place breast-side up on split wire racks within separate roasting pans.
If y'all don't take a wire rack, chop up root vegetables and employ them equally a bed for the turkey, Phojanakong recommends.
Step 4: Tuck the wing tips nether the shoulder of each bird. This helps to cook the turkeys evenly, as well as conserve space inside the oven.
Step 5: Make full the bottom of each roasting pan with 1/two loving cup of h2o and identify both pans in the oven.
Step six: Rotate the position of the turkeys every 30 minutes to an hour. Doing this "promotes even cooking as there can be hot spots in many ovens," Phojanakong notes.
Step 7: Cook the turkeys until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Check the internal temperature of each turkey by inserting a thermometer probe into the deepest portion of the thigh. Make certain the probe is in the center of the meat and non touching any bones. You should as well check the temperature in the chest and the innermost part of the fly, per the USDA.
The cooking time will vary depending on your oven and the size of the two turkeys. Use the chart below to gauge the cooking time of the birds. Start checking the temperature at the two-60 minutes marking.
Step eight: If one turkey needs a flake longer to cook, go on it in the oven until it'south done. Remove each turkey once information technology reaches the internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 9: Let the turkeys remainder for at least 15 minutes before etching and then that the natural juices settle into the meat (and make it more tender).
What Nigh Stuffing?
The safest bet is to cook your stuffing separately, per the USDA. Phojanakong recommends against stuffing the bird considering cooking stuffing fully means that you'll overcook the turkey.
If you want to stuff the bird despite this, do so before step 4 — here'due south how: Spoon in moist stuffing into the bird's crenel. Use about 3/4 cup stuffing for every pound of turkey, according to the USDA.
At step 7, check the temperature of the stuffing — that needs to reach 165 degrees as well.
How Long to Cook Two Turkeys at Once
The cook time for ii small-sized turkeys is about the same as it is for a single small-sized turkey. That is, if you have one 10-pound turkey in the oven, information technology'll take the same amount of time as 2 10-pound turkeys.
Here are guidelines via the USDA for the required baking fourth dimension of smaller turkeys by size at 325 degrees F — you'll demand almost the same amount of time if you've got two birds in the oven.
| Turkey Weight | Cooking Time (Unstuffed) | Cooking Time (Stuffed) |
|---|---|---|
| eight-12 pounds | 2 hrs. 45 mins. - iii hrs. | 3 hrs. - 3 hrs. thirty mins. |
| 12-xiv pounds | 3 hrs. - iii hrs. 45 mins. | iii hrs. 30 mins. - 4 hrs. |
One time a turkey tops xiv pounds, it's likely incommunicable to fit a 2nd bird of the same size in the oven.
Cooking Two Turkeys Separately
If you lot discover that ii turkeys won't fit in your oven, you could opt to cook ane the twenty-four hour period before Thanksgiving and the other day of the big meal.
Keep in mind that if you do this, you will need to cut the cooked turkey into smaller pieces before placing it in the fridge, per the USDA. While the legs and wings can be left whole, the breast must be sliced.
You should not identify a whole roasted turkey in the refrigerator.
When you reheat this precooked turkey — in the microwave or in the oven — information technology will need to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Other Ways to Melt Two Turkeys
The oven may be the almost common identify to cook a turkey, but it'south not the only choice. If you're looking to experiment with 1 of the turkeys, you can bake 1 and cook the other turkey in one of the following methods:
- Stovetop: Once you interruption down a turkey, y'all tin use several strategies — including braising and sautéing — to cook a turkey on the stovetop.
- Slow cooker: You can cook a turkey chest in a slow cooker. You tin too cook a whole turkey in the ho-hum cooker, simply make sure to cut it up beginning, per the USDA.
- Gas grill: You tin also go outside and take advantage of your grill — if yous're cooking a turkey on a gas grill, you lot'll want to utilise indirect estrus.
- Deep fryer: This method is only appropriate for a turkey that's 12 pounds or smaller, according to the USDA, which lays out the steps involved in the process.
- Microwave: You can also microwave a modest turkey (up to 14 pounds), either whole or in parts, according to the USDA.
Source: https://www.livestrong.com/article/460104-how-to-cook-two-turkeys-in-one-oven/
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