How to Re-Cook Rare Turkey - The Best Way

Turkey is a delicious food. It takes a lot of time and effort to prepare and is almost always worth it. Turkey goes a long way and many of us enjoy turkey at family gatherings, especially at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The good thing is that we can prepare and enjoy the turkey at any time of the year. There is no need for celebrations or gatherings to prepare a turkey, although it is certainly a good excuse to do so. Turkeys can be challenging to cook perfectly because the color doesn’t really give away the state of cooking (up to a point).

How can you tell if a turkey is rare? Can a rare turkey be recooked? Yes, you can put the whole turkey back in the oven, covering it to prevent it from drying out. You can also brush it with butter to help keep it moist. If you’re in a bind and need your turkey to finish cooking quickly, it’s best to slice the turkey and cook again. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the turkey cooking process and what to look for to determine if your turkey is cooked through. We will also share with you the processes to follow if your turkey is rare, so you can cook it and enjoy it.

Read on to find out how to re-cook a rare turkey and much more.

A Guide to Managing Undercooked Turkey

Cooking a turkey can be challenging because it often takes several hours and you can’t always tell by looking if the turkey is done or not.

Many turkeys come with an internal thermometer that is supposed to let you know when the turkey is done, but they are not always totally accurate. 

It is important to understand the different means of knowing if a turkey is fully cooked. It’s also just as important to know your options and understand what steps you can take if you find your turkey is seriously underdone.

In this guide we offer you a lot of information.

Cooking a turkey - The initial process

To get you started, we’re going to talk about how a turkey is traditionally cooked and give you some tips that can help you reduce the risk of an underdone turkey.

Let’s start by covering the initial process for cooking a turkey. We’ll look at how to calculate turkey cooking time and discuss some signs to tell when a turkey is fully cooked.

There are many ways to cook a turkey . Some people use pressure cookers and air fryers. There are also turkey fryers that have become increasingly popular. For the sake of simplicity, we will only cover the traditional method of cooking turkey in the oven.

This is the process. 

1. If you’re not sure how much turkey you need, estimate 1-2 pounds of turkey per intended guest.
2. Calculate the cooking time at approximately 13-15 minutes for each kilo of turkey.
3. Start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees.
4. Cook the turkey for 15 minutes at this temperature.
5. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees.
6. Cook the turkey for the right amount of time. For example, a 15 pound turkey would cook approximately 225 minutes (this is almost 4 hours).
7. Let sit outside the oven for 15-20 minutes before carving.

These are very basic instructions. They don’t talk about brining the turkey or adding butter to it. Those are things you can determine at will. These instructions are specifically intended to call attention to approximate cooking times.

It is important that you know and become familiar with these times so that you can try to calculate the cooking time for your turkey.

Signs that a turkey is fully cooked

There are some tell-tale things to look for to tell if your turkey is fully cooked. The most accurate way to know that a turkey is fully cooked is to use a thermometer and check the internal temperature of the turkey.

The turkey should be cooked to an internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit. We recommend that you check the temperature before removing it from the oven, if possible. You can also take the turkey out and check the temperature and replace if necessary.

There are thermometers that allow you to attach them to the turkey throughout the cooking process. You just have to make sure you have a working thermometer that shows you an accurate temperature.

If you don’t have a thermometer, there are other methods you can use to check if your turkey is done. The best place to check the color of the meat is the thigh of the turkey.

You can pierce the thigh (which is usually very meaty) and watch the juices come out. If the juices are reddish or pink, your turkey needs more cooking time. If the juices run clear, your turkey is cooked to perfection.

Don’t overcook the turkey if it needs more time. Please check back periodically as it shouldn’t take much longer if you are close to the time estimates given.

Looking at the juices is the second best way to tell if the turkey is fully cooked or not. We don’t recommend basing your judgment on the colors of the meat specifically, although you may be able to see some pink in the meat if it’s not fully cooked.

However, turkey meat is light in color, so this is not a safe method. We recommend using more reliable methods to check if the turkey is done.

Re-cook a rare turkey

If you perhaps judged if your turkey was underdone, don’t worry. You can cook the turkey again, which is really just finishing cooking it. It looks like recooking because you are placing a cold or rare turkey back into the heat of the oven, but the turkey needs more cooking time to be done and safely edible.

Suppose all the other dishes are done and everyone has sat down for Thanksgiving dinner. You reach to carve the turkey only to discover that it is pink. We have to finish this as soon as possible.

As you run back to the kitchen, take a deep breath and follow these instructions. 

1. We recommend slicing or cutting the turkey. It’s the fastest way to get your turkey back to cooking and to finish it before everything else is ridiculously cold. You can leave the legs and breasts intact and then slice the rest of the meat. This just breaks it all up into smaller pieces so it cooks faster.
2. Place the pieces on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees, checking the meat every 15 minutes until done. Normally, you can take the turkey out of the oven when it is 165 degrees internally. When it sits for about 15 minutes, the temperature will rise to 180.
3. Finish cutting it and serve it. It’s time to eat!

If you follow our instructions on cooking times related to turkey size, as well as the rule of cutting the turkey and checking that the juices are clear, you shouldn’t have to worry about the turkey being underdone.

It’s easy to think the turkey has been in it for 4 hours, it’s done! But don’t rely too much on time being your factor. Best if you can check the temperature of the turkey or at least cut it up to see the color of the juices coming out.

Related questions

We hope you find this guide on how to re-cook a rare turkey helpful in learning how to handle your turkey without cooking. Remember to follow the tips to check your turkey and avoid undercooking problems.

We invite you to take a look at the following section of questions and answers to see if the information it contains may be useful to you.

Can we trust the popup timer?

Although the popup timer can be useful, it is often very inaccurate. Timers sometimes take too long to go off which can make your turkey very dry. There are also times when they malfunction or go off too soon.

Where is the best place to check the temperature?

We recommend checking the temperature in the thickest place. The best place to get a good internal temperature reading is the thickest part of the thigh meat. This will be the most accurate measurement.

What happens if you eat pink turkey?

Keep in mind that the color of the meat itself is not an accurate indicator of whether the turkey is done. The turkey meat may be slightly pink, yet the turkey is fully cooked. It is better to trust the internal temperature than the appearance.