Short answer: for 4 to 6 people, buy a bone-in turkey breast of about 4 to 6 pounds. Thaw it in the fridge for about 1 day per 4 to 5 pounds. Roast it unstuffed at 325°F, where the USDA timetable gives 1½ to 3¼ hours for a 4 to 8 pound breast, and take it out when the thickest part reads 165°F (74°C). Rest it 20 minutes and carve.
This is for the small Thanksgiving: the first one in your own apartment, two of you plus a couple of friends, a Friendsgiving where someone else is bringing the sides, or a year when the family is not travelling. Canadian Thanksgiving was Monday, October 12; American Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. A whole turkey for four people means days of thawing, most of an afternoon in the oven and a week of leftovers. A breast is the part most people eat anyway, it thaws in a day or two and it cooks in about half the time.
If you are cooking for ten and want the whole-day schedule, the first-time Thanksgiving hosting plan covers it. This page is only about the smaller bird.
How big a turkey breast to buy
The USDA rule of 1 pound per person is for a whole turkey, where a good share of the weight is bone, back and wings. A breast is mostly meat, so you need less of it. Our rule of thumb is about ¾ pound of bone-in breast or ½ pound of boneless per person, plus a pound if you want leftovers.
| People | Bone-in breast | Boneless breast or roast |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | The smallest you can find, usually about 3 pounds | 1 to 1½ pounds |
| 4 | 3 to 4 pounds | About 2 pounds |
| 6 | 4½ to 5½ pounds | About 3 pounds |
| 8 | 6 to 7 pounds | About 4 pounds |
Bone-in or boneless? Bone-in looks like Thanksgiving when it comes to the table, stays juicier, and leaves you a frame for stock (the stock and noodle soup in our leftover turkey plan works with a breast frame too, just smaller). A boneless roast, usually netted, cooks more evenly, is quicker and is much easier to carve. If anyone at the table only eats dark meat, roast two or three turkey thighs on the same pan; they need to reach 165°F as well.
Read the label before you season. Many supermarket turkey breasts are sold “enhanced” or “basted”, which means a salt solution has already been added and the label says so. Do not brine one of those, and go easy on the salt.
How long a frozen turkey breast takes to thaw
Most turkey breasts in October and November are sold frozen. The USDA gives three safe ways to thaw one, and the counter is not one of them.
- In the refrigerator: allow about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds. A 4-pound breast needs about a day, a 6-pound breast about a day and a half. Once thawed it keeps 1 to 2 more days in the fridge. Put it on a tray; it will drip.
- In cold water: allow about 30 minutes per pound, so 2 to 3 hours for most breasts. Keep it in a leak-proof wrapper, submerge it in cold tap water, change the water every 30 minutes, and cook it as soon as it has thawed. This is the same method as in how to thaw chicken fast, just longer.
- In the microwave: follow your microwave’s defrost instructions for the weight, then cook it immediately.
For Monday, October 12: if a 4 to 6 pound breast is still frozen on Sunday evening, the fridge will not get it there in time for an afternoon dinner. Plan on the cold-water method Monday morning, or roast it from frozen (below). For Thursday, November 26: move it from freezer to fridge on the Monday or Tuesday before.
Still frozen on the day? You can roast it from frozen. The USDA says it takes at least 50 percent longer than a thawed turkey, so a breast that would take 2 hours needs 3 or more. Pull out the gravy packet once it has loosened.
How long to roast a turkey breast, and how to tell it is done
The USDA timetable for an unstuffed turkey at 325°F gives 1½ to 3¼ hours for a 4 to 8 pound breast. That is a wide range on purpose: shape, whether it is bone-in, how cold it was going in and your oven all move it. Treat the time as a schedule estimate and the thermometer as the answer. Bake the stuffing in its own dish alongside; making stuffing the night before has what you can get ready ahead of time.
- Heat the oven to 325°F (163°C). The USDA advises no lower than that for turkey.
- Dry and season. Pat the skin dry, rub butter or oil over and under the skin, then salt (less if it was enhanced), pepper and herbs.
- Into a shallow pan, skin side up, on a rack or on a thickly sliced onion, with a cup of stock in the pan so the drippings do not burn. Those drippings are your gravy.
- Start checking at about 1½ hours. Push an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the breast without touching the bone. If the skin is darkening before the inside is close, tent it loosely with foil.
- Take it out at 165°F (74°C). That is the USDA’s minimum, and Health Canada’s figure for poultry pieces. (Health Canada’s 82°C is for whole birds, not a breast.) A breast taken well past 165°F is the reason turkey has a reputation for being dry.
- Rest it for 20 minutes, then slice across the grain. The rest is when your oven is free for rolls or a tray of vegetables at a higher temperature. If you would rather leave the oven at 325°F, those vegetables can go in an air fryer: convert the oven recipe by dropping 25°F and checking early.
A schedule for a 5pm dinner with a 5-pound breast
Work back from when you want to eat, and buffer the turkey rather than the sides:
- 1:45 — oven on to 325°F; breast dried and seasoned.
- 2:00 — turkey in.
- 3:30 — first temperature check. Check again every 15 to 20 minutes.
- About 4:00 to 4:30 — out at 165°F; tent loosely and rest. Turn the oven up for rolls or roasted vegetables.
- 4:30 to 4:50 — gravy from the pan drippings on the stove; mashed potatoes and green beans finish on the stovetop.
- 5:00 — carve and eat.
If it reaches 165°F early, it simply rests longer under foil. If it runs late, nothing else on the table is waiting on the oven. Scaling the side dishes down to four people is its own small puzzle; halving a recipe covers the parts that do not divide neatly, like eggs and pan size.
Where RecipeScan fits, and where it does not
We make RecipeScan, so take this with that in mind. It is useful when your small Thanksgiving menu comes from several places — a website, a relative’s card, a video — and you want them in one list with the servings set to four, a combined grocery list, and a hands-off Cooking Mode on the day. The free plan keeps up to 3 of your own recipes; scanning recipes from photos and the AI features are Premium.
It does not know your oven or your turkey, and it cannot tell you when the breast is done. The thermometer does that. And if you cook one turkey a year from the same card, you do not need an app for it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a turkey breast take to roast at 325°F?
The USDA timetable gives 1½ to 3¼ hours for an unstuffed 4 to 8 pound turkey breast at 325°F. Smaller breasts sit at the short end, so start checking the temperature at about 1½ hours. The breast is done when the thickest part reads 165°F (74°C).
What size turkey breast do I need for 4 people?
About 3 to 4 pounds bone-in, or about 2 pounds boneless. Add a pound if you want leftovers. That is our rule of thumb, based on roughly ¾ pound of bone-in breast or ½ pound of boneless per person; the USDA figure of 1 pound per person is for a whole bird, which carries more bone.
How long does a frozen turkey breast take to thaw?
In the refrigerator, allow about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds, so a 6 pound breast needs about a day and a half. In cold water, allow about 30 minutes per pound, change the water every 30 minutes and cook it as soon as it has thawed. Do not thaw it on the counter.
Can you cook a turkey breast from frozen?
Yes. The USDA says a turkey can be roasted from frozen, but it takes at least 50 percent longer than a thawed one. Remove any giblet or gravy packet once it has loosened, and check the temperature in the thickest part.
What temperature is turkey breast done?
165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the breast, without touching the bone. That is the USDA figure and Health Canada's figure for poultry pieces. Let it stand for 20 minutes before carving.
Should I cover a turkey breast with foil while it roasts?
It is optional. A loose foil tent for the first part of roasting, then removed, lets the skin brown at the end; or roast it uncovered and tent it only if the skin is browning too fast. Foil does not change when it is done. The thermometer does.
Sources: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Let’s Talk Turkey: a consumer guide to safely roasting a turkey (timetable, thawing, cooking from frozen, 165°F, standing time); the same USDA timetable and thawing chart as reprinted by University of Tennessee Extension (W849); Health Canada, safe internal cooking temperatures.
Get the small-Thanksgiving menu in one place
Save the turkey and the sides, set them to the number of people coming, and cook them step by step.
Download on the App Store