Turkey Cooking Time Calculator
Roasting the bird? Enter its weight to get an estimated roasting time at 325 °F — then finish the job with a thermometer.
Stuffed or unstuffed
Enter the weight and pick stuffed or unstuffed — the calculator applies the USDA per-pound guidance for each.
Time is only an estimate
Ovens and birds vary. A meat thermometer reading of 165 °F is the only real test of doneness — never time alone.
How long to cook a turkey?
An estimate by weight at 325 °F
A turkey cooking time calculator turns the bird's weight into an estimated roasting time. Roasting at a steady 325 °F oven temperature, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service publishes a simple per-pound rule: about 13 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey and about 15 minutes per pound for a stuffed one. Multiply the weight by the right rate and you get the total roasting time, which this calculator splits into clean hours and minutes.
Enter the turkey's weight and whether it is stuffed to get the estimated roasting time at 325 °F.
Multiply the weight in pounds by the minutes-per-pound rate for your stuffing choice. Roasting happens at 325 °F throughout.
Minutes = weight × 13 (unstuffed) or × 15 (stuffed) at 325 °FThe unstuffed rate is lower because heat reaches the centre of the bird faster when the cavity is empty. A stuffed turkey carries cold, dense stuffing in its slowest-heating spot, so it needs a higher per-pound rate to bring the stuffing safely to temperature.
Suppose you have a 12 lb turkey and you are roasting it unstuffed.
Pick the per-pound rate
Unstuffed at 325 °F is 13 minutes per pound.
Multiply by the weight
12 × 13 = 156 minutes.
Convert to hours and minutes
156 ÷ 60 = 2 hours with 36 minutes left over, so about 2 h 36 min.
The roasting time is a planning estimate, not a guarantee. Use it to decide when to put the bird in so it is ready for the meal, then verify doneness the only reliable way: with a meat thermometer. Always check that the thickest part of the breast and the innermost thigh reach 165 °F (74 °C) before you take the turkey out — and if it is stuffed, the centre of the stuffing must hit 165 °F too. Once it is done, let it rest about 20 minutes before carving so the juices settle and the temperature evens out. Start checking the temperature roughly 45 minutes before the estimate, because a bird often finishes ahead of the clock.
The arithmetic is exact, but every oven and every bird is different.
A thermometer is the real doneness test
Oven calibration, the turkey's shape, how cold it was going in, and how often the door opens all shift the real cooking time away from the per-pound estimate. Treat the result as a starting point for planning, never as proof the turkey is safe. The only reliable test is a meat thermometer reading 165 °F (74 °C) in the breast, thigh, and any stuffing — food safety depends on temperature, not on the clock.