--- title: People Are Scaring Parents By Asking How to Microwave Turkey description: Young adults have been pranking their parents by asking them how to cook a turkey in the microwave, in order to bait their reactions canonical: https://time.com/5459351/microwave-turkey-prank/ author: Wilder Davies article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-19T22:09:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:08.822Z og:title: People Are Pranking Parents With the Thanksgiving Challenge og:description: 'Call me NOW' og:url: https://time.com/5459351/microwave-turkey-prank/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc36e52d79659c315/698866aa5f570f6f5eb1db0c/microwave-hand-fingers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5103 og:image:height: 2870 og:image:alt: microwave-hand-fingers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Pranking Parents With the Thanksgiving Challenge twitter:description: 'Call me NOW' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc36e52d79659c315/698866aa5f570f6f5eb1db0c/microwave-hand-fingers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Let's All Give Thanks That the Viral Thanksgiving Challenge Is Here to Prank Parents > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Wilder Davies](https://time.com/author/wilder-davies/)  ## Wilder Davies Nov 19, 2018 10:09 PM UTC  Using microwave oven Using microwave oven Getty Images  by [Wilder Davies](https://time.com/author/wilder-davies/)  ## Wilder Davies Nov 19, 2018 10:09 PM UTC Young people today are always getting blamed for “killing” things, like, [cheese](http://time.com/5420369/millennials-kill-american-cheese/), [Applebee’s](http://time.com/money/4806115/millennials-killing-casual-dining/) and [divorce.](http://time.com/5405757/millennials-us-divorce-rate-decline/) This Thanksgiving, Millennials may have unwittingly stumbled upon their latest victim: dinner guests. At least, that is what the prank #turkeychallenge has convinced many moms and dads across the country. This past weekend, younger people have been scaring their parents by asking them how to cook a turkey in the microwave, in order to bait their outraged reactions and share them on Instagram and Twitter. The responses have been beautifully varied. Some parents warned about the dangers of food-borne illness, others feared that a frozen turkey would possibly explode in the microwave. Others were less focused on safety, instead reserving concern for how unpleasant microwaved turkey would taste. While the USDA says it [technically can be done](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/poultry-preparation/turkey-alternate-routes-to-the-table/CT%5FIndex), cooking a whole, frozen turkey in the microwave is probably not the best idea. Turkey is known for being chronically undercooked, and the dangers of consuming it are very real. Last Thursday, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) [reported the first death](http://time.com/5449862/first-death-salmonella-outbreak-raw-turkey/) from a salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey. But the challenge is all in good fun. See a sampling of responses below. > [](https://twitter.com/DorothyScales2/status/1062912869921120256) > [](https://twitter.com/Cassidy%5FOMealia/status/1063229946779324416) > [](https://twitter.com/brookeftucker/status/1062899199677816832) > [](https://twitter.com/chrisstuard23/status/1062874162367213570) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5459351/microwave-turkey-prank/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5459351/microwave-turkey-prank/"},"headline":"Let's All Give Thanks That the Viral Thanksgiving Challenge Is Here to Prank Parents","datePublished":"2018-11-19T22:09:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:08.822Z","description":"\"Call me NOW\"","url":"https://time.com/5459351/microwave-turkey-prank/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime","Holidays 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc36e52d79659c315/698866aa5f570f6f5eb1db0c/microwave-hand-fingers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Wilder Davies","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/wilder-davies/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc36e52d79659c315/698866aa5f570f6f5eb1db0c/microwave-hand-fingers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"microwave-hand-fingers","caption":"microwave-hand-fingers","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5459351/microwave-turkey-prank/","name":"Let's All Give Thanks That the Viral Thanksgiving Challenge Is Here to Prank Parents"}}]}] ```