When is poultry done

Overcooked chicken is just like overcooked beef: dry, tough, and less flavorful than properly-cooked meat. Regardless of the type of meat being cooked, the higher the doneness temperature, the more juices will be lost and the less tender the results will be.

Properly gauging the internal temperature of meats, including chicken, is the only way to guarantee safe and juicy results every single time. This instant death for foodborne pathogens is recommended for poultry because even the most stubborn salmonella bacteria will be completely pasteurized at this temperature.

If so, you might need to read our complete guide to chicken temps to brush up on the nuances of bacterial kill times. Leg meat needs to be cooked to higher temperatures than the leaner and more delicate breast meat because it contains more connective tissue that needs time at high temps to dissolve properly. This higher temperature will ensure that the dark meat becomes tender and juicy.

Even at this higher temperature, the meat still appeared quite pink. One common but inaccurate method of verifying the doneness of chicken is to cut into the meat and watch to be sure all of the juices are running clear. When probing chicken over the grill or in the oven, we sometimes look for anything pink in the meat as a clear indication that its not yet properly cooked.

The fact of the matter is that depending upon where you probe your chicken, the color of the meat or juices may never be free of pink, red, or even purple tones. The chickens available at grocery stores that we purchase are usually between 6 and 8 weeks of age. The bone marrow inside of chicken bones is purplish and can often permeate through soft, porous chicken bones pictured at right.

The liquid contained in the mass of a chicken expands during freezing, including the bone marrow. Myoglobin is another culprit for the purple and red colors found in poultry. It is a richly pigmented protein that delivers oxygen to cells to muscle fibers. The more active an animal is, the more oxygen is contained in their muscle, giving it a darker color. Chickens are flightless birds, so the breast meat is never heavily oxygenated. Low levels of myoglobin are why chicken breasts have such delicate white flesh.

The heavily worked legs have darker meat because of higher levels of myoglobin. While chicken is packaged and readied for purchase in a grocery store, myoglobin can tend to pool in the meat fibers. The acidity of the meat can affect its color, too. The higher the pH level lower acidity , the pinker the meat will be.

This is why some chefs use an acidic marinade with citrus or vinegar to help reduce pink colors in chicken meat. But marinades will do little to protect against tinges of pink from marrow and myoglobin.

In that range the connective tissue melts into gelatin. Can I skip the thermometer if the chicken juice runs clear? Despite what you may have read, clear juice does not mean chicken is done. To be extra safe, use a thermometer. Just get one and use it! Does the chicken temp change depending on the cooking method?

What about cooking chicken sous vide? However, cooking chicken at lower temperatures longer kills pathogens just as effectively. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

Use precise geolocation data. During the resting period, you'll see the temperature on the digital probe display continue to rise and then fall. When it completes its rise and eventually dips down to F, it's ready to carve.

Because the temperature of a roasted chicken continues to rise for several minutes after taking it out of the oven, if you pull it out when the breast is F and let it rest for 30 minutes, that breast meat will remain above F for more than the required 8.

Likewise with the dark meat, which will eventually peak at around F, which is more than sufficient for the collagen in the meat to break down, ensuring tender, juicy, flavorful dark meat.

Bear in mind that the times and temperatures above refer only to roasting a whole chicken. It's the overall mass of the whole chicken that allows it to hold those temperatures during the resting time. If you tried roasting an individual chicken breast, it wouldn't work the same way. There is one technique that is perfect for cooking individual cuts of chicken to a certain temperature and holding them at that temperature.

It's called sous vide cooking. With this cooking method, it's a simple matter to heat your chicken breast to F for as long as you want. The added advantage of sous vide is that no matter how long you leave it in the water bath, your chicken breast will never get any hotter than F or whatever temperature you set it to.

This ensures juicy, tender breast meat with minimal effort. Department of Health and Human Services. Updated May 11, Baldwin, Douglas E. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.