How long will it take to cook a 11.4 lb. turkey? Does it take longer if you stuff the turkey??

Question

It's the first Thanksgiving I'm cooking by myself.

Answer 1

There should be a paper with the turkey that has basic instructions on it. Figure it's 3 - 3 1/2 hours unstuffed at 325, 3 1/4 - 4 1/2 hours stuffed (at 11 lbs closer to the lower end of the range). It's best if you DON'T cook the stuffing in the bird, though, because it often does not reach a safe temperature of 160 in the center of the stuffing.

Temp is more important than time. 180 in the thigh (the "standard" temp given, actually I'd say more like 175). Then let it rest a bare minimum of 15 minutes before carving.

Check out http://www.turkeyhelp.com for better and more detailed instructions about how to cook a really good turkey.

Answer 2

OK.........This is deceptively simple so you can take it or leave it, that's up to you. My daughter is a professional chef, she taught me this and it's the best system I've ever used (and I've been cooking since before most of you were born.) If you do it this way you CAN stuff your bird. You gotta use a covered roaster with a rack in it for this. Stuff the bird, (leave the gibs in the bag and in the bird), tie the legs together, (do not use a twist tie), dry it off well, rub it down with olive oil, sprinkle with black pepper, mix 1 tablespoon of Cavenders Greek seasoning in half cup of cold water and pour in bottom of roaster, put bird in and cover it, put in 200 degree oven, that's right I said 200 degrees, cook overnight (best) and the house will smell marvelous, or a minimum of 5 hours, (you can't burn it) this is much healthier than browning (I don't do that anymore.) Every inch of that bird will be cooked to the bone, most of the fat will be rendered out, the stuffing will be way above the minimum temp, and you'll have half a gallon of ready seasoned juice in the pan for making gravy, and the skin (which is not all that healthy) will peel off with almost no effort. Variations of this recipe have won every cookoff in this area!

Answer 3

Yes it does take longer with the stuffing 2 3/4 hrs unstuffed and around 3 to 3 1/2 hrs stuffed when you see the legs start to fall away from the sides you know its done.......

Answer 4

http://www.butterball.com/en/main_canvas.jsp?includePage=holidayGuide_2006.jsp&t=Butterball%20Holiday%20Guide&s0=holidayGuide&s1=home

Yes, a stuffed turkey does take longer to cook. Use the cooking calculator to figure it out. It probably will take about 4 -4.5 hours to cook.

Answer 5

Here's a link to my aticle about cooking turkey.

http://www.ahherald.com/food/2003/ft_031127_turkey.htm

Answer 6

go to butterball.com they tell u everything