Turkey Size Calculator

• What is the size turkey for 10 people?
• How to estimate the size of turkey for 8?
• How big of a turkey for 12?

These questions are a lot easier than you think - carefully count the number of adults, children and vegetarians/vegans at your party (don't forget to check all the other food options for your Thanksgiving party).

• Kids aged 6-15 usually eat around half of the adults' portion. 🍼
• Think about your guests and their preferences - e.g., there's a probability that an all-male group will eat considerably more than an all-women gathering.

Your next step will be deciding if you need any leftovers. If you need some of them to make a turkey sandwich or turkey casserole 🥘, be sure to multiply the original amount by 1.5.

Now, as we've covered the general idea, let's proceed to the details used in our turkey portion calculator presented in the next section.

Our turkey size calculator assumes that during the Thanksgiving party, we usually consume:

• 1 pound (0.45 kg) of turkey per adult
• 0.5 pound (0.23 kg) of turkey per child

Do you think it's way too much meat?

Don't forget that we need to incorporate both edible and inedible parts: the weight of the entire turkey consists of bones, fat, skin, tendons, as well as meat. 🍗

Have you already got what you need? Or maybe you're still looking for other holiday food calculators?

• Ham cooking time calculator
• Cooking measurement converter
• Thanksgiving calories calculator 🍽️

The question "How big of a turkey do I need?" usually goes along with "How long will I have to cook it for?". 🤔

We decided to help you out with that task as well; our turkey calculator per person uses the following cooking schemes at 325°F (163°C):

1. Unstuffed turkey

Every 1 pound of turkey needs 15 minutes in the oven.

2. Stuffed turkey

Every 1 pound of turkey needs 17.5 minutes in the oven. Ensure that the filling's temperature is equal or above 165°F (74°C).

🙋 This calculator shows a rough estimate of the cooking time; for more detailed calculations, try our turkey cooking time calculator 🍗

You may also try the following estimated cooking time chart:

We know you're wondering how to determine what size turkey you need - but it's also essential to know when to start taking care of it if you didn't buy it fresh. Frozen turkey might be a real holiday nightmare, but we've found just the perfect solution!

(Pss, if you're looking for more specific calculations, drop by our turkey defrost time calculator 🧊🧊)

1. Thawing time in the refrigerator

   The primary step is to know how much turkey per person do you need; find the total weight of your turkey in pounds and then multiply it by 5 h.

   E.g., 20 lb of turkey * 5 h = 100 h = 4 days 4 hours

2. Thawing time in cold water

   First, find out your turkey's weight in pounds and multiply it by 1 h.

   E.g., 25 lb of turkey * 1 h = 25 h

Our how much turkey do I need per person calculator follows a few basic assumptions:

• Every adult eats 1 lb of turkey
• Every child eats 0.5 lb of turkey
• Leftovers are quite generous and constitute 0.5 of the original portion.

We use the following equation:

Total turkey weight = (No. of adults * 1) + (No. of children * 0.5),

where:

• Total turkey weight is given in pounds.

To get the total turkey weight with leftovers:

Turkey weight with leftovers = Total turkey weight * 1.5.

Let's follow the example:

I'm having a party for 6 adults and 2 children. How big of a turkey should I buy?

Total turkey weight = (6 * 1) + (2 * 0.5) = 6 lb + 1 lb = 7 lb

Our turkey's going to weigh 7 pounds. 🎉