cooking time for roasting turkey
Roast the turkey: The rule of thumb for cooking a turkey is 13 minutes per pound. So our 16-pound turkey was estimated to cook in about 3 1/2 hours.However, some factors like brining the bird, cooking with an empty (un-stuffed) cavity, and leaving the legs un-trussed will contribute to much faster cooking. Prepare the turkey for roasting: Thirty minutes to an hour before roasting, take the turkey out of the fridge. 2  Remove any packaging and the bag of giblets (check in the body cavity and in the neck cavity). 3  Set the turkey breast-side up on the roasting rack and let it sit while the oven preheats.