Making Thanksgiving dinner involves so many steps, it’s easy to overlook tiny details or get something wrong. So you forgot to buy mini marshmallows for the sweet potato casserole. Nobody’s perfect, right?
Well, as it turns out, there’s one misstep that’s worse than all the others. It’s not pairing the wrong wine with your meal (whatever!) or trashing the turkey wishbone before the kids can have at it (they’ll live!). No, it’s a mistake you’ll definitely want to know about in advance—or risk sending guests running for the bathroom instead of for seconds.
So what is the biggest error to avoid if you don’t want dinner to make your entire family sick? Here, three food-safety experts share what not to do, along with their tips to help you get an ah-mazing feast on the table … without any tears or health fears.
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What’s the worst mistake you can make when cooking Thanksgiving dinner?
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It’s forgetting to thaw your turkey ahead of time. Believe it or not, even experienced cooks sometimes space on this step—how and when to thaw a turkey is the No. 1 most-asked question that the Butterball Turkey-Talk Line gets each year, according to a spokesperson for the company. Flubbing this step is a serious problem because it makes it tricky to properly (read: safely) cook the bird.
Why is this rookie mistake such a Thanksgiving nightmare?
If you try to cook a frozen turkey, the inner meat will be undercooked, and that can put everyone at risk of a foodborne illness. “You don’t want to serve food poisoning for Thanksgiving,” says dietitian Joan Salge Blake, RDN, a nutrition professor at Boston University and the author of Nutrition & You.
The biggest concern is bacterial foodborne illness. “Salmonella, campylobacter and E. coli are the most common bacteria found in turkey, and to kill them, the meat needs to be 165 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Dana Hunnes, PhD, RD, a senior clinical dietitian at University of California, Los Angeles Health.
To hit that safe spot, use a thermometer—digital or an old-school dial kind is fine—and insert it deep into the thigh. Sorry, eyeballing the meat isn’t a reliable way to gauge doneness.
So how do you thaw a turkey the right way?
The only safe way to thaw a turkey is in your refrigerator. But it’s not as simple as shoving the bird between the green beans and bottles of wine, giving it a few hours and hoping for the best. A properly thawed turkey takes planning and the right technique—and the tips below are a smart place to start.
Plan ahead
Be warned: Thawing turkey is not a quick project. “It takes 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds to defrost it,” Blake says.
Let’s say you have a 15-pound turkey. You need to allow 3 to 3¾ days for it to thaw. Don’t worry—your meal doesn’t hinge on your ability to do math. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a handy thaw calculator that tells you exactly how long to defrost based on the size of your turkey.
Shop early
Given the timeline, you need to turkey-shop early. On the plus side, that can actually help your wallet, Blake says. Among all the fascinating Thanksgiving facts you’ll hear, this one may be the most helpful: “Watch the circulars, because stores put frozen turkey on sale around now for a ridiculously low price per pound using a sales tactic called ‘loss leader.’” What that means is they want to lead you into the store to get the turkey so you’ll buy everything else you need there, and they are willing to sell the turkey at a loss, she says.
Shop now, store your turkey in the freezer until the holiday nears, then move it to the fridge for days of thawing before Thanksgiving.
Prioritize food safety
There’s a real risk of cross-contamination when thawing a turkey, so keep food safety top of mind. Keep a pan underneath the thawing bird to catch the juices (basically, a salmonella pool) so they don’t contaminate other food. And place your turkey away from fruits and vegetables and other things you eat raw, Hunnes advises.
What do you do about the giblets packet? “You can still thaw a frozen turkey safely with a giblets packet—remove it as soon as the turkey is thawed out enough to do so,” says Lisa Moskovitz, RD, a dietitian in New York City and the author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan.
Once thawed, the turkey will stay good in the fridge for one to two days, according to the USDA.
What else should you keep in mind if you want to avoid foodborne bacteria?
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Resist the urge to wash your turkey. “Don’t give the bird a bath, because you are splashing all that bacteria all over the sink and the counters,” Blake says. “Then, if you don’t really clean the area well, you have bacteria everywhere, and there could be cross-contamination—say, if you touch it with your hands and then go to make a salad.”
As much as you might want to wash away any germs on the surface of the bird, rest assured that there’s a smarter way to get rid of them: Cooking your turkey to the right interior temperature (165 degrees) will kill all the bacteria.
It’s Thanksgiving, and your turkey is a big ice block. Now what?
Deep breath: As long as you got up early, you still have time to get that thing in the oven and eat before midnight.
You can’t just follow the recipe you use every year, though. It’s meant for a fresh or defrosted bird, so the times will be way too short. A frozen bird takes 50% longer than a fresh one, Blake says. For instance, if your recipe called for 5 hours of roasting the turkey, you’ll have to extend that to 7½ hours. Didn’t someone say great things come to those who wait? Tell your guests.
Now, let’s say you get up late and your 20-pound turkey is still hard as a rock. Is there any way to speed things along? Couldn’t you put it in a giant pot of warm water? Or on the warmest part of your counter, close to the radiator? Sorry, Hunnes says, but “from a food-safety perspective, it’s not advised to defrost meat on the counter, in the sink or in water due to the potential for cross-contamination and/or different rates of defrosting. [which gives] bacteria time to multiply.” Translation: It’s going to be a meat-free Thanksgiving dinner.
Well, can you just deep-fry that sucker?
No, no, no! It’s so dangerous to deep-fry a frozen, or even partially frozen, bird that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) both warn against it.
Here’s the problem: “Ice that is on the turkey when it’s being cooked at 400-plus degrees in a deep fryer could cause splattering and a fire risk,” Hunnes says. This isn’t a hypothetical risk either. Deep-fryer fires cause an average of five deaths and 60 injuries a year, according to the NFPA.
The other problem with frying or nuking a frozen turkey is that it’ll cook horribly, with the skin and outer parts getting charred to a crisp before the insides begin to approach doneness. Burned meat and a salmonella risk? That’s a pass.
So what can you do?! Nibble on apps, eat your weight in brie and have your finally done turkey Amalfi Coast–style, at 9 p.m. Trust us: Your guests will be thankful to skip out on food poisoning. And one day, you’ll all laugh about this epic cluck-up!
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About the experts
Joan Salge Blake, RDN, is a dietitian and nutrition professor at Boston University. She is also the author of the textbook Nutrition & You.
Dana Hunnes, PhD, RD, is a senior clinical dietitian at University of California, Los Angeles Health, and an assistant professor with the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA.
Lisa Moskovitz, RD, is the founder of NY Nutrition Group in New York City and the author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan.
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Sources:
Joan Salge Blake, RDN, dietitian and nutrition professor at Boston University and author of Nutrition & You; phone interview, Nov. 12, 2025
Dana Hunnes, PhD, RD, senior clinical dietitian at UCLA Health and assistant professor with the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA; email interview, Nov. 13, 2025
Lisa Moskovitz, RD, founder of NY Nutrition Group in New York City and author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan; email interview, Nov. 13, 2025
Butterball spokesperson
National Fire Protection Association: “Cooking Safety”
USDA: “Your Safe Thanksgiving Guide”
FDNY: “Deep Fryer Fires”
Dining and Cooking