Fresh Whole Turkey at Costco
You can now find Thanksgiving fresh whole turkey at Costco in stock – and once again it’s $0.99 per pound! Find these whole Butterball Tom or Hen Turkeys are fully defrosted and you can find them in the refrigerated cases in the Costco meat department. They range from 12-21 pounds on average.
Costco’s conventional All Natural Whole Butterball Turkeys are gluten free, and raised without hormones on American farms, and offer a high quality turkey for a reasonable price for your holiday meal.
ProTip: In prior years, we do not usually see these whole fresh turkeys sell out – this year for 2023, they sold out of all Butterball turkey at my store in Marina del Rey today (Nov. 20) – this was around 1pm today while I was there in the store. The meat department stated that they did NOT expect more to come in stock. If you have not bought yours yet, you might consider getting it sooner rather than later.
I always encourage members to get these fresh turkeys at least 2 days in advance – while these are sold fresh, from time to time they feel slightly frozen to me (probably just ship and store really cold?) in the refrigerated cases, so it’s better safe than sorry in case it needs a day in the fridge! And remember, Costco is closed on Thanksgiving…so shop before Turkey Day!
Edit to add commentary on fresh versus frozen – I had a few comments and emails on that so I did some research on this, and my takeaway was that basically fresh poultry has a very limited shelf life – when it’s shipped and stored at near frozen (but not fully/deep freeze) they last a LOT longer. So they’re stored and shipped extra cold which can cause the exterior to feel a little frozen. They should not be frozen through and they should never be kept below 26 degrees (to be considered fresh) – and this should defrost overnight in your regular temp fridge. But this is why I thought they felt frozen – because the exterior can in fact be slightly frozen. To be conservative I’d still try and grab mine two days before Thanksgiving if you can, but that’s why they can feel frozen 🙂
Fresh Whole Butterball Turkey at Costco Features
Costco is well stocked right now on a wide variety of whole fresh fully defrosted Butterball Turkey sizes. Hen Turkeys will be roughly 12-14 lbs and Tom Turkeys tend to be about 20-21 lbs, but both come in a variety of sizes. Features:
- Raised without antibiotics
- Gluten Free
- Low Sodium
- Low Fat
- Low Carb
- Low Calories
For a smaller fully cooked Thanksgiving dinner meal, you might also consider the Costco Complete Turkey Dinner Meal Kit.
Read Also: Whole Organic Turkey, Spiral Ham, Whole Foods Turkey
Butterball Turkey Price at Costco
Price Update 2023: Good news, Whole Thanksgiving Turkeys at Costco are the same price they were in 2022 as 2021! Still $0.99 per pound!
Fresh Butterball Young Hen Turkey is Costco Item Number 97705.
Fresh Butterball Young Tom Turkey is Costco Item Number 57513.
How Many Pounds of Turkey Per Person?
The Butterball website offers a turkey calculator as well as this general guide on the packaging.
- 10-18 lbs turkey feeds 6-12 people
- 18-22 lbs turkey feeds 12-15 people
- 22-24 lbs turkey feeds 15-16 people
- 24-30 lbs turkey feeds 16-18 people
Basic Thanksgiving Whole Roasted Turkey Prep
- Remove packaging, neck and plastic bag containing giblets (in neck cavity). Drain juices, rinse and pat dry turkey with paper towels.
- Fill turkey body cavity with quartered onions, carrots, celery, fresh thyme, salt and pepper; turn wings back to hold neck skin in place and return legs to tucked position if they were untucked. No trussing is necessary.
- Brush skin with butter or olive oil, top with salt, pepper and desired herbs/spices.
- Bake at 325. Use the Turkey Cooking Calculator to get an estimated whole Turkey cooking time. Always use a meat thermometer to ensure the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 170.
- Note: It’s suggested to use a foil tent after the turkey is â…” of the way through cooking to prevent dryness.
If you need help with your turkey, you can always call 1-800-BUTTERBALL!
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How is it fresh if it is frozen??
It read … Very cold from refrigeration. Please folks keep your turkeys cooled until preparation. Your tummy will thank you!
They just sold out in Everett WA. Most of Seattle will be out by tomorrow for sure.
Thanks for the post. We got one of the last ones at 12:30pm on Monday.
Wow, really!? Thanks for sharing! Mine had a lot last night when I was there (but that was Marina del Rey, CA so of course a different region) – hopefully they restock them or there will be a lot of disappointed people! Thanks again for sharing, it’s so helpful to people looking for them!