Cooked Chicken Temperature

How to take a cooked chicken temperature with a guide to roasted chicken temperature and the safe chicken internal temperature:

This cooked chicken temperature guide has been kindly reproduced with kind permission by Molly Stevens from her book All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art. By taking readings of the chicken temperature you can ensure it is safe to eat and avoid illnesses caused by eating undercooked chicken such as salmonella or campylobacter enteritis (food poisoning). Chicken that has not been refrigerated properly can cause listeria monocytogenes or staphylococcus aureus which causes similar health symptoms. Ensuring that your roasted chicken temperature reaches safe levels can reduce the risk of these illnesses. Please note that the chicken temperature guidelines below are for internal temperatures and are for Celsius.

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Molly advises getting the temperature right for a cooked chicken not just for safe eating but also for taste. An overcooked chicken loses much of its flavour and juiciness while an undercooked bird is unappealingly pink and rubbery and possibly even unsafe.

She continues by saying that with practice you can use your senses to tell if a chicken is cooked and that you can then use an instant thermometer like a probe thermometer, digital thermometer or thermapen to take a roasted chicken temperature internally. Such sensory clues that your roast chicken is cooked and that you need to take the internal temperature include the smell of the roast or the sight of pale juices running through a fork when you pierce the underside of a thigh. If there is red from the blood of the chicken cavity the chicken needs more time to cook. Oven temperatures and cooking times can vary from bird to bird so these measures and checking internal temperature of a chicken are important.

Another way of testing the juices from a cooked chicken is to insert a meat fork or wooden spoon into the cavity of the chicken and tilt it forward. If the juices in the cavity are mostly clear with a few darker red streaks then this is an indication that your chicken is ready to have its internal temperature taken.

The chicken drumsticks skins in a cooked chicken should be shrunk back around the knobby ends and the drumstick can be wiggled in its socket and feel loose.

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Roasted Chicken Temperature

Internal chicken thigh temperatures should be at 170 degrees Celsius or more in roasted chicken if you prefer firmer meat though those who prefer juicy chicken prefer 165 degrees. Salmonella bacteria does not survive above 160 degrees Celsius. Her book, All About Roasting, discusses the various cuts of white and dark meat and the temperatures to enjoy the cuts to suit various tastes and how pre-salting a chicken can prevent overcooking a chicken even at higher temperatures.

Chicken Internal Temperature

A chicken internal temperature should be done with the chicken cavity facing you. Insert the instant read thermometer probe into the inside of the cooked chicken thigh, between the thigh and breast. Do not hit the leg socket but instead aim for the meatiest part of the thigh. Molly Stevens suggests taking two or three readings and taking careful note of the lowest temperature just in case you are taking the temperature of the bone or a fat deposit. She also suggests double checking the thicker end of the chicken breast near to the neck opening to ensure it is 170 degrees.

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Read and view photos of How To Carve a Chicken.

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