Cooking the turkey too far in advance
Fillipou says another common mistake turkey cooks make is that they tend to cook their turkey too far in advance because they’re nervous about it being ready in time for the big meal, and it ends up getting dry or not being as warm as it should be.
“To fix that you basically want to, depending on how big your turkey is you want to figure out the timing,” he says. “Once you figure out the timing, the best thing to do is to maybe have the turkey done no more than an hour before the meal; to give it an opportunity to rest, and it’ll still hold its temperature and then you can start carving.” Fillipou advises timing your turkey’s finishing time between 40 and 60 minutes ahead of serving time.
Be sure to keep proper food safety in mind. Leaving cooked turkey out at room temperature for longer than two hours ups the risk of your meat becoming a bacterial breeding ground.
You can store cooked turkey in the refrigerator in a covered container, plastic bag or aluminum foil for up to four days or in the freezer for up to three months. Promptly store any leftovers before the two hour window.