Turkey thawing

[Dougr]

I thawed out our turkey 4 days to soon in the refrigerator.
Will it still be safe keeping it in the frige?

[PytnPlace]

I'd give it the "sniff" test. If the packaging is sealed tight it should be O.K. for a few days when thawed. But if you don't want to cook it for a few days yet . . . I think I would go ahead and cook it now if it seems O.K. and it's been thawed for a few days already.

[Gretchen]

Leave it in the fridge sealed up. It should be fine if it hasn't been out of the fridge.

[BlueCat]

I'm sure it will be fine.

BC

[Nicholas Mosher]

Yeah, should be ok if it's sealed.

Put it on the bottom shelf as far back as possible.

[Dougr]

Thanks for the good advice! It cooked up nice in the turkey fryer!

[shpj4]

Dougr hello and welcome to DC. The Turkey should be fine since it has not been out of the refrigerator.

[BreezyCooking]

Keep in mind that many - if not all - supermarket turkeys marketed as "fresh" have actually been "chilled" to a degree where they are at least semi-frozen. They are then completely thawed & sold as "fresh", with quite a long "sell by" date. This has been a back-&-forth bone of contention with the USDA for quite a while.

So while you've already cooked your bird & enjoyed it, if this ever happens again, don't despair - it will be fine.