Quick Answer
Plan on 1.5 lb of whole turkey per adult and 0.75 lb per child (0.75 lb and 0.5 lb for boneless breast), then add 25–50% if you want leftovers. The turkey portions calculator at practicalwebtools.com/tools/turkey-portions-calculator turns your guest list into pounds to buy plus per-person sides: stuffing, potatoes, gravy, and cranberry. It runs entirely in this browser tab, and nothing you enter leaves the page.
How It Works
Enter how many adults and children are eating
Choose whole turkey or boneless breast, and how much you want leftovers
Read the pounds to buy, then use the sides table for stuffing, potatoes, gravy, and cranberry
Key Facts
- Whole bird rule: 1.5 lb per adult, 0.75 lb per child
- Boneless breast: 0.75 lb per adult, 0.5 lb per child
- Leftovers switch: none, moderate (+25%), or generous (+50%)
- Pounds to buy rounded up to the next half pound
- Sides per person: ½ cup stuffing, ½ lb potatoes, ⅓ cup gravy, ¼ cup cranberry
- Handles any mix of adults and children, including zero of either
- 100% client-side, no signup, works offline
Frequently Asked Questions
How much turkey per person?
For a whole bird, the classic rule is 1.5 lb per adult and 0.75 lb per child — that purchase weight already covers bones, oven shrinkage, and a normal appetite. For boneless breast, use 0.75 lb per adult and 0.5 lb per child since there is no bone to pay for. A 12 lb bird therefore serves 8 adults with a little to spare.
How big a turkey do I need for 10 adults?
10 adults × 1.5 lb = a 15 lb turkey for dinner with no leftovers planned. If you want moderate leftovers, buy about 19 lb; for generous leftovers, 22.5 lb. If those sizes are hard to find, two smaller birds of the same total weight roast faster and brown more evenly than one giant one.
How much turkey for 20 people?
For 20 adults, plan a 30 lb total purchase weight — that is one very large bird or two 15 lb birds, and the two-bird route is easier to fit, thaw, and roast evenly. If any guests are children, count each child as half an adult, which the calculator does automatically. For 20 people eating boneless breast, you need only 15 lb.
Do children really eat half as much turkey as adults?
Roughly, yes — young children take smaller portions of everything, not just turkey. The 0.75 lb per child purchase weight for a whole bird is the standard planning figure and assumes a bird around 10–14 lb with proportionally smaller bones. For a small gathering of one adult and several children, it still lands within a normal smallest-store-bird size.
How do I account for leftovers?
Multiply the no-leftovers total: the calculator’s moderate setting adds 25% and generous adds 50%. Leftover planning is about total pounds, not appetite at dinner — the same 1.5 lb per adult that feeds one dinner with nothing left will feed a second round of sandwiches when scaled to about 2 lb per adult. Bone-and-shrinkage losses are already inside the base rule.
How much stuffing, potatoes, and gravy per person?
Standard planning amounts: ½ cup of stuffing per person, ½ lb of potatoes (about one medium potato), ⅓ cup of gravy, and ¼ cup of cranberry sauce. For 12 guests that is 6 cups of stuffing, 6 lb of potatoes, 4 cups of gravy, and 3 cups of cranberry — exactly what the sides table computes for your guest count.