Once and For All, Here's How to Determine If Chicken's Cooked

While seasoned cooks may be able to tell if chicken is fully cooked by paying attention to visual cues — the flesh should be firm, and the juices should run clear when pierced — it's never a bad idea to take the temperature of your bird with an instant-read thermometer. The question then is, what temperature should the chicken be cooked to?

The answer is a bit less straightforward than you might expect: according to Foodsafety.gov, chicken should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F. That said, this is not the definitive answer; many other reputable sources recommend cooking chicken to lower temperatures so as not to dry out the meat. The majority of recipes from America's Test Kitchen recommend cooking breast meat to a temperature of between 160°F-165°F and thigh to between 170°F-175°F; Harold McGee and Serious Eats's J. Kenji López-Alt prescribe a temperature of 150°F for breast meat and 160°F-170°F for thighs.

The question, then, is which number is best to go by? We tend to shoot for the lower temperature ranges, as they take into account both food science and taste, while the Foodsafety.gov numbers are very conservative. That said, if you, or those you're cooking for, are a part of an at-risk population, the higher temperature recommendation is likely a better choice.