Turkey Sizes

One of the concerns that one usually encounters when preparing turkey is figuring out the right turkey size to get. The demand for an answer to this question becomes even larger when Thanksgiving comes around the corner. Some folks just wonder how much turkey they should serve for their guests. Here are a few tips that can help resolve this dilemma.

Typical Scenario

Imagine this pretty common scenario. You walk into the store hoping to find the right sized turkey only to find out that there are several turkey sizes to choose from. You then take a step back counting just how many guests you are expecting. You then have to worry about serving sizes. You're then left wondering how much turkey you have to serve to each guest. The truth is that all these turkey factors do come into play.

Usual Turkey Sizes

The first tip to resolve this issue is to understand the typical turkey sizes you'll find in the store. You usually say large, small, or medium sized turkey when describing turkey size. Such vague terms generally are generally useful. But they're not descriptive enough to give you a good idea just how much turkey you are really are getting.

To give you a good idea here are the typical sizes of turkeys you'll find. First off, you should understand that male turkeys will usually be larger than female turkeys. The smallest male turkey will weigh around five pounds. The largest ones you'll find at the store will usually be around 24 pounds. The smaller female turkeys will weigh around 6.6 pounds. On the other hand, the larger female turkeys will weigh around 12 pounds.

Number of Guests and Serving Size

Two other factors you have to consider are the number of guests you will be expecting and the serving size per guest. Knowing the number of people you expect to feed at dinner will immediately give you an idea just how much turkey you will really have to serve. After that you will have to figure out the actual serving sizes you want to prepare.

The general advice you'll get is to serve from one to two pounds per guest. The actual serving size will really depend on how hungry each guest is. You should also take note that the smaller turkeys will have a smaller meat to bone ratio. This allows you to serve two pounds of turkey per guest. However, in case of the larger birds, about one to 1 and 1/2 pounds of turkey will suffice.