All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Buying a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner comes with nearly as many questions (not to mention drama) as preparing and serving the meal itself: How big a turkey should I buy? How do I cook it evenly? Should I cook it in parts? Is Kelly still vegetarian? Wait—how much turkey do I need if I want lots of leftovers?
We hear you. We’ve been there. And we have plenty of Thanksgiving turkey recipes to steer you in the right direction. But to determine once and for all just how big a holiday bird should be, I turned to our incomparable team of test kitchen editors for their best turkey-buying and holiday-hosting tips.
First and foremost, know your approximate number of guests before shopping for your turkey. Planning ahead allows you to buy the right size bird with confidence and allows you to calculate the turkey’s roasting time. With the day’s approximations anchored by the turkey’s oven appointment, you can plan the other side dishes accordingly (better yet, outsource those entirely to your guests). And tell yourself that maybe—just maybe—Thanksgiving will run on schedule this year.
How many pounds of turkey per person do I really need?
As tempting as a 20-pound turkey may look at the store, you really don’t need one that large for a six-person gathering. The general rule is 1 to 1½ pounds of turkey per person. If that seems like a lot, remember that a whole bone-in turkey comes with parts that don’t get eaten. “When you buy a whole turkey, a lot of it is bone,” says recipe developer (and former BA staffer) Jessie YuChen. The smaller the bird, the higher that percentage may be. For smaller gatherings, Jessie recommends scaling your amount of turkey to 2 pounds per person to guarantee extra turkey for leftovers (more on that later). “For four to six people, 11 to 13 pounds is a good range,” Jessie says. (Most of our recipes call for a 12-to-14-pound bird.)
Beyond the bones, the total mass of a whole bird accounts for cartilage and less favorable cuts of meat around the shoulders, neck, and back that are better suited for making stock than presenting on a platter. Buying a pound of turkey per person doesn’t mean it’ll yield an equivalent amount of meat.
If you’re thinking about going up a turkey size to guarantee everyone feels well-fed and plenty doped up on tryptophan, contributing editor Amiel Stanek points out that larger birds are more prone to uneven cooking. “In terms of ensuring the breast meat is moist, and the dark meat is cooked through,” he says, “you’re going to get the best results from a 15-pound turkey, max.” If you’re cooking for a large crowd, consider buying two or more moderately sized birds and roast them side by side—or roast one a day or two early and then reheat on Thanksgiving Day.
If a 15-pound bird sounds teeny compared to your guest list, Amiel and Jessie recommend supplementing with a different meat or protein, no matter your party’s size. “I like to do steak or lamb chops,” says Jessie, “which are very festive and a lot easier to prepare than a whole turkey recipe.” Having a second meat on the table provides a backup if you choose a smaller turkey or your bird is on the scrawny side, but it also makes your turkey stretch further. Aim for 1 to 1½ total pounds of protein per person, including your supplementary main, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.
If you’re hosting a smaller gathering, another option is to forgo the roast turkey entirely in favor of a smaller bird—roast chicken or glazed duck make just as nice a centerpiece.
What if I’m cooking turkey breasts?
Turkey breast offers a great solution for home cooks who prefer white meat (and only white meat, thank you very much). They’re also easier to cook more evenly than whole turkey. We recommend using skin-on, bone-in breasts, which have a deeper flavor and tend to stay juicier throughout the cooking process, as opposed to boneless turkey breasts. If you’re cooking for a small group, you could roast two single breasts side by side and store one unsliced, still on the bone, in the refrigerator overnight for next-day sandwiches.
Wondering how many pounds of turkey breast per person you need? Since most of our recipes call for bone-in breasts, the same guidelines apply as above. Plan on 1 to 1½ pounds of turkey breast per person. Because most of the breast is 40 to 50-percent bone and cartilage, you’ll realistically get around half a pound of edible meat per guest—just don’t forget to scale up slightly if you want leftovers.
What if I’m afraid of underserving my guests?
“Most people put out so many sides that running out of turkey really isn’t an issue,” says Amiel. Even when you have big eaters in your group, you should feel free to take some of your attention away from a cartoonishly large Rockwellian bird and think deeply about your Thanksgiving side dishes (sweet potato casserole, Parker House rolls, honey-glazed brussels sprouts, a truly showstopping green bean casserole). This is where you can customize your selection based on the size, tastes, and needs of your crowd. Serving a few extra friends with plant-based diets this year? Go all-in on mashed potatoes and roasted veggies like balsamic-roasted brussels sprouts, maple-glazed carrots, or delicata squash with crispy onions and pomegranate seeds, and crisp fall salads like shaved fennel with croutons and walnuts and bitter greens with cranberry dressing
Want to show off your baking skills (beyond pumpkin pie, obviously)? Make a big tray of stuffing-flavored biscuits (which are especially delicious the next morning, sandwiching a fried egg). And, of course, you’ve got to have cranberry sauce—either homemade or canned; that’s your prerogative.
What if I’m serving a really big crowd?
If you end up with a massive Butterball bird and are worried about cooking it evenly, consider breaking it down for better control over its cooking time. Spatchcocking turkey (removing the backbone and splaying the bird so that it rests on a single plane over a roasting pan) is a popular move, but Amiel suggests going even further. “Take off the legs and cook them separately from the breasts,” he says. “Slow-roast them the day before until they’re really tender and falling apart, then reheat them while you roast the breasts.” Food director Chris Morocco’s Stock-Braised Turkey Legs recipe is another great option. You could even opt for roasting an extra turkey breast in addition to the whole bird. That way you’ll have plenty of turkey meat for the nibblers—you could even think of it as insurance in case you have an excess of surprise guests or people are hungrier than you anticipated.
Even broken down, that jumbo bird is going to take up lots of oven space. To save precious real estate, take some of the meal prep outside, weather permitting. Separated turkey breasts, thighs, and legs are all great candidates for grilling. Not only will this get you out of the kitchen for a minute (and let’s be honest, anyone cooking a Thanksgiving feast could probably use some fresh air), but it’ll bring smoky flavors to a protein often considered bland.
What if I end up with way too much leftover turkey?
It’s Thanksgiving; leftovers happen. No matter how careful your calculations, your turkey will inevitably compete with a roomful of side dishes, too many too-tasty appetizers, and some adage about saving room for dessert. Fret not! There are worse things than seeing your picked-at adonis wrapped in aluminum foil and jimmied into the refrigerator. If you’re not a fan of repurposing Thanksgiving leftovers, be prepared with some disposable containers and let guests help themselves to a portion to go.
But if you’re in the game (at least partially) because of the leftovers, there are plenty of ways to repurpose that turkey without getting repetitive. First, pack any deboned turkey you think you won’t be able to consume within three to four days in freezer-safe storage bags and stash them away for future use. Look at you! Prepared for February already! Now: “As far as your next couple of days are concerned,” Amiel attests, “cold breast meat turkey sandwiches are the way to go.” That’s because dark meat is slower to dry out, so getting through the white meat should be top priority.
Treat carved dark meat as a flavor-packed, ready-made protein in the days ahead. Chunk it up and mix it into a pot pie; sauté shredded bits in a shawarma spice and stuff them into a pita; simmer it for hours in a kicky turkey chili, then freeze half the batch for a future cold winter’s eve.
And don’t forget about the carcass: Toss the bones and any odds and ends left over from your Thanksgiving meal prep (half an onion, a few celery stalks, a carrot or rogue sweet potato, some lemon wedges, and any herbs you’ve got lying around into a Dutch oven, cover it with cold water and leave it to simmer for an afternoon (at least four hours and up to eight). Once the liquid reduces by about half, strain and portion the stock, then freeze it for future soups, stews, or gravies.
Plan ahead and, dare we say, have some fun with it. The best Thanksgiving meal shouldn’t hinge on how much or how little turkey everyone eats. Keep the Thanksgiving menu simple, enjoy the company, and always—ALWAYS—outsource the cleanup.
This story was first published in October 2021; it has since been updated with further reporting by Hannah Lee Leidy.