Plan on about 1 to 1½ pounds of whole turkey per person , with 1¼ pounds as a very common sweet spot for most holiday dinners.

Quick Scoop

  • For most gatherings, use 1¼ lbs of turkey per person (good servings plus a bit of extra).
  • If you want no leftovers , you can go closer to 1 lb per person.
  • If your crowd loves seconds or you want sandwiches the next day, plan 1½–2 lbs per person.

Simple Rules to Use

  • Light eaters / lots of sides: About 1 lb per person is usually enough.
  • Average Thanksgiving crowd: 1¼ lbs per person works very well.
  • Big appetites / leftovers fans: Go for 1½–2 lbs per person.

Using the popular guideline, the basic formula is:

Number of guests × 1.25 = turkey pounds (then round up).

So for 10 people, you’d look for roughly a 12–15 lb turkey , depending on how much you want left over.

Handy Size Reference (Whole Turkey)

Guests Recommended turkey size
4–6 6–9 lb turkey (≈1–1½ lb per person)
8–10 12–15 lb turkey
12–14 18–21 lb turkey
20 ≈25–30 lb total (often easier as two smaller birds)
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Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.