How to cook a Turkey in the Microwave

microwaveturkey

I wish to expedite the cooking process of my turkey this year.

How do I cook a full 25 lb. turkey in the microwave?

It must be edible – preferably delicious!

Best Answer

Ok, I‘ll bite.

While according to Today.com Butterball posted a recipe, my contradicting answer is

You don’t.

At least not when you want a whole bird with crisp skin. Like this:

while turkey (Source)

  1. The inner volume of your microwave is most likely not big enough - for the experiment, I checked my freestanding 25l model: inner space is 215.0 x 337.0 x 354.0 mm, and the turntable has a diameter of 315mm. No 25-pound bird will fit in that.
  2. Cooking can therefore be done only in batches and you need to cut and portion the bird prior to any cooking attempt. The time needed to sufficiently heat the different batches (and reheating etc, so that you can serve your party) means you will not save any time.
  3. Microwaves cook, they don’t bake or grill and they are notorious for uneven heating. So to get a food safe bird, you need to plan a lot of extra time to ensure heat distribution which will almost certainly mean you need to overcook parts to get the whole entity to a safe temperature. Plus you don’t get the coveted crisp skin (at least not without a few tricks and even then the results are more dry than crisp, believe me, I tried). This means that it will barely meet the “edible” requirement and “delicious” only to those with rather uncommon preferences or expectations.

So if you have only a turkey and a microwave, I see these options or a combination thereof:

  1. Forget about the classic thanksgiving turkey dinner with the whole bird a showstopper on the table.
  2. Find someone who has a suitably large oven, for a 25 lb bird, you will need one that can hold a 16 inch roasting pan and don’t underestimate the needed height. Alternatively, a grill or barbecue, a turkey fryer or other suitable equipment should do.
  3. Cut the bird in parts, ideally separating various kinds of meat (breast, thigh...), find microwave recipes for the different types and prepare multiple turkey dishes.
  4. Get a significantly smaller bird and follow the USDA’s instructions or the ones from Butterball.
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