Estimate how much turkey or ham to buy, oven time, and fridge thaw time from bird mass.
| Buy | – |
| Cook (min) | – |
| Fridge thaw (h) | – |
Use this roast bird calculator for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a Sunday roast: you know the headcount and you have a frozen bird in the fridge.
Buy mass is people × mass each (0.5 kg per person is a modest serving with a little leftover). Oven time is bird kilograms × minutes per kilogram, plus 20 minutes for lag and rest. USDA stuffed-versus-unstuffed charts will differ. Fridge thaw is about 10 hours per kilogram (roughly a day per 2.2 kg). Drop minutes-per-kilogram for a ham. Minutes per kilogram always refer to canonical kilograms even if you display the bird in pounds. Mass can be kilograms or pounds.
People: How many you are feeding. 8 is a small holiday table.
Mass / person: Meat mass per person. 0.5 kg is a generous plate with leftovers; 0.3 kg is tighter.
Bird in the fridge: Actual mass of the bird (or ham) in the fridge. 5 kg is a medium turkey.
Oven min / kg: Oven minutes per kilogram. 40 is a common unstuffed-turkey sketch; check your chart.
Buy: Total mass to purchase.
Cook (min): Approximate oven minutes including the 20-minute buffer.
Fridge thaw (h): Approximate hours in the refrigerator.
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