How long does it take to thaw a 16-pound turkey at 40 degrees F?

Thawing a turkey safely is crucial to preventing foodborne illness, and the process should be done in a refrigerator to maintain a controlled temperature. When thawing a turkey, a safe guideline is to allow 24 hours of thawing time for every 4 to 5 pounds of turkey when kept at 40 degrees F (the temperature for safe refrigerator thawing).

For a 16-pound turkey, the appropriate calculation would involve dividing the weight by 4 or 5 to find the necessary thawing time. At the longer end of the recommendation, a 16-pound turkey would take around 4 days to thaw completely, but at the shorter end, it would be closer to 3 days. The safest approach in practice would consider a full 3 days as more realistic for a turkey of this size, as larger portions may not thaw completely within a narrower timeframe.

Therefore, indicating about 3 days is a practical expectation for the entire turkey to fully thaw at a safe temperature. This timeframe adheres to guidelines that prioritize food safety while accounting for the size of the meat being thawed.