Safe Internal Temperature for Chicken, Pork and Beef

Is it done? Every cookout asks that question a dozen times, and the answer is never the color of the juice or a cut into the thickest piece. It is a number on a thermometer, and there are only a handful of them. The safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°F. For pork chops and a whole steak it is 145°F with a 3-minute rest. For a hamburger it is 160°F. That is most of the USDA chart already.

The rest of this article follows one backyard cookout from the fridge to the leftovers the next day, and stops at every point where a thermometer decides something. The numbers come from the USDA chart published on FoodSafety.gov and from USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service; the steak doneness levels come from America's Test Kitchen. The Meat Temperature Calculator holds all of them, in Fahrenheit or Celsius, and compares them with whatever your probe reads.

The chart in one table, before the grill gets hot

Here is the whole USDA list. Look at the rest column first: only whole cuts of red meat, pork and raw ham have one, and it is part of the rule, not a suggestion.

Shrimp, lobster, crab and scallops have no number on the chart: they are done when the flesh turns pearly and opaque. Clams, oysters and mussels are done when the shells open.

Stage one: what goes on the grill, and how much

Before any thermometer comes out, someone has to buy the meat. For a crowd, the Old Farmer's Almanac party planner works with 1/3 to 1/2 lb of raw burger per person and about 1/2 lb of bone-in chicken thighs. For 25 adults that is 8.5 to 12.5 lb of patties, which is what the Party Food Calculator returns once it rounds up to the next half pound.

The plan here is the classic mix: burgers, chicken thighs, a few ribeyes for the people who ask for medium-rare, pork chops, and a salmon fillet. Five foods, four different target temperatures. That alone explains why one thermometer beats any rule of thumb.

Stage two: the burgers, where color lies

Burgers go on first because they cook fast and everyone is hungry. Their number is 160°F, fifteen degrees above a steak from the same cow. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service gives the reason in one sentence: grinding allows any bacteria present on the surface to be mixed throughout the meat. On a whole steak the surface is on the outside; in a patty it is everywhere.

This is also where color fails most often. FSIS puts it plainly: ground beef may turn brown before it reaches a temperature where pathogens are destroyed. A patty that looks done at 155°F is still 5°F short, and the calculator says exactly that if you type the reading in.

How to measure a patty: it is thin, so push the probe in through the side until the whole sensing area sits in the center. That is FSIS advice for thin foods such as burger patties and boneless chicken breasts.

Stage three: chicken thighs at 158 degrees

The thighs take longer. Halfway through, the probe in the thickest part reads 158°F. Close, and not done: every part of the bird, breast, thigh, wing, ground chicken, has the same minimum of 165°F. USDA does not split white and dark meat.

For whole birds and pieces, FSIS says to check the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast, away from bone. There is no rest period for poultry on the chart, so 165°F at the thermometer is the finish line.

Stage four: the ribeyes come off early, on purpose

Steak is where the safety number and the number people actually want part ways. USDA's minimum for whole cuts of beef is 145°F and a 3-minute rest, which lands at medium-well. Anything below it, rare, medium-rare, medium, is a choice about taste, not a safety standard.

The second trick is timing. Meat keeps cooking while it rests, usually by 5 to 15°F according to America's Test Kitchen, and thin steaks climb less than thick roasts. So for medium-rare you do not wait for 125°F on the grill. You pull at 115 to 120°F and let the rest finish the job at 125 to 130°F.

A ribeye reading 117°F is in the pull window for medium-rare. Off the grill it goes.

Other guides print medium-rare a few degrees higher, and you will find charts that put it at 130 to 135°F. The calculator sticks to one source so the pull and serving numbers always belong together, and it flags every level that finishes under 145°F.

Stage five: pork chops, still pink and still safe

Pork has the same minimum as a steak: 145°F, then 3 minutes of rest. The thing that surprises people is the color. FSIS says it directly: if fresh pork has reached 145°F throughout, even though it may still be pink in the center, it should be safe.

Ground pork and sausage are the exception, for the same reason as the burgers: 160°F.

Stage six: salmon, which needs no rest at all

The salmon fillet goes on last because it is quick. Fish has a minimum of 145°F and no rest time on the chart, and FoodSafety.gov adds a visual test that actually works for fish: cook it until the flesh is no longer translucent and separates easily with a fork. A fillet at 140°F is 5°F away.

Stage seven: the next day, everything goes back to 165

Leftovers have one number regardless of what they were the day before: 165°F. The medium-rare steak, the pork chop, the burger, the chicken: reheated, they all aim for the same reading, and so does any casserole made from them. Precooked ham is the one twist. Ham packaged in a USDA-inspected plant is reheated to 140°F; leftover or repackaged ham goes to 165°F.

The whole day, reading by reading

Here is the cookout as a list of moments when someone looked at the probe, with what the calculator answers to each reading.

Cooking in Celsius changes nothing but the digits. The chart prints 74°C for poultry and leftovers, 71°C for ground meat, venison and egg dishes, 63°C for whole cuts, pork, fish and raw ham, and 60°C for plant-packaged ham. Switch the calculator to Celsius and every target, every gap and the medium-rare pull window (46 to 49°C) follow along, rounded the same way the chart rounds them.

Where the probe goes, so the number means something

A correct target is useless with a wrong reading. FSIS keeps the rules short: the thickest part of the food, away from bone, fat or gristle. Thin foods such as patties and boneless breasts get the probe through the side. On a roast or anything irregular in shape, check several places. For poultry, the inner thigh, the wing and the thickest part of the breast.

The thermometer itself matters for the thin pieces. FSIS notes that thermocouple thermometers reach and display the final temperature within 2 to 5 seconds, and that their thin probe can accurately read thin foods such as hamburger patties, pork chops and chicken breasts.

And one thing never counts as a reading: color. Brown burgers can be underdone, pink pork can be safe. The thermometer is the only test that settles it.

Calculators from this article and the rest of today

• Meat Temperature Calculator - USDA safe minimums for every food on the chart, steak pull and serving temperatures from rare to well-done, and a check of your probe reading, in °F or °C.
• Party Food Calculator - pounds of burgers, brisket or turkey, cups of sides, rolls and pies for your guest count, from the Almanac party planner.
• Sugar Substitute Calculator - how much honey, maple syrup, agave or erythritol replaces the sugar in the dessert, with the liquid and oven changes.
• Jet Lag Calculator - days your body clock needs after flying east or west, with a sleep plan based on the CDC Yellow Book.
• RPE Calculator - RPE to reps in reserve, percent of your one-rep max and the load for a target effort.
• Vertical Jump Calculator - jump height from wall marks or flight time, with peak power from the Sayers equation.

For the rest of the kitchen

• Thawing Time Calculator - how long frozen meat needs in the fridge, in cold water or in the microwave.
• Temperature Converter - Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin and Rankine from one reading.
• Egg Cooking Calculator - boiling time for soft, medium and hard eggs.
• Serving Size Calculator - scale a recipe to a different number of people.
• Kitchen Measurement Converter - cups, tablespoons, ounces and grams.
• Meal Calorie Calculator - calories, protein, fat and carbs of a plate from its ingredients.