<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThe thing to remember about cooking a turkey is that white meat cooks much faster than dark meat. Due to this, you have to keep track of the temperature of the breast meat rather than the thighs or legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, according to USDA, you should cook turkey until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 F. The problem is that if you follow this advice, then your turkey is going to end up dry and overcooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is why you should take the bird off the heat when the internal temp reaches 150 F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t worry, this is a safe internal temperature for your turkey. Remember that once you take the bird off the heat, the whole turkey will continue to cook anyway, with the internal temp going up by as much as 10 degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, let the turkey rest and by then it will be cooked to perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Can You Leave Leftover Turkey Out?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Did you know that the same rules for raw and cooked turkey apply? Far too many people let their leftover turkey sit out on the counter at room temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once again, though, if the turkey is left out at room temperature for too long, bacteria will begin to grow and multiply. After this happens, it doesn’t matter if you refrigerate the turkey as the damage will be done – the meat can still make you sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How long can you leave turkey out after the cooking process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the room temperature is below 90 F, then you can let it sit out for two hours. In case the room temp is above 90 F, then you can only let it sit out for about an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general, though, I would advise putting the turkey away shortly after it has cooled enough so that it is warm to the touch. This way, you can cut down on the risk of the meat spoiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, don’t put the turkey in the fridge or freezer while it is hot. If you do this, the heat of the bird will bring down the temperature in the cold area. In doing so, you risk the other foods in the fridge or freezer spoiling too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to Store Turkey After Cooking?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n It is important to know how to store the turkey properly as well. If you will be reheating and using up the turkey within a couple of days, then it can be kept in the refrigerator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here, simply place the turkey in an airtight container and store it in the fridge. If possible, make space at the back of the fridge as this area is the coldest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In case you want to keep the turkey fresh for longer, you will need to freeze it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For this, you should tightly wrap the turkey in aluminum foil or plastic wrap. As an alternative, you could also keep the turkey in an airtight container or keep it in a Ziploc bag.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nIf you do decide to keep it in a freezer bag, make sure to squeeze the air out of the bag before sealing it. This will help to prevent freezer burn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, write the date of freezing on the packaging and place it in the back of the freezer until it is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wrapping It Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Now you know exactly how long you can let turkey sit out without worrying about the meat spoiling. As long as you follow the advice I have mentioned here, you can guarantee that you and your family can stay safe!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a bit of a tricky question to answer. While you can let turkey sit out on the counter before cooking, you shouldn’t leave it out for longer than two hours. And, on a warm day, the turkey shouldn’t be left out for more than an hour. When I was working as a chef, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13583"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13692,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583\/revisions\/13692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13583"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmastercentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=13583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}