Internal Temperature Chart for Every Meat (Safe Temps, Pull Temps, Resting Rules)

One chart, every protein, no more googling "is 145 safe for pork" while your hands are covered in raw chicken juice.

Every kitchen has a version of this moment: hands full, timer beeping, and a half-remembered number rattling around from somewhere — is chicken 165 or 180? Is medium-rare 130 or 135? Was that pork number always this low, or did that change?

Most of that confusion isn't really about memory. It's that "safe" and "good" are two different questions with two different answers, and most charts only ever give you one of them.

The Full Searchable Chart

Pull Temp vs. Serve Temp: Carryover Explained

This is the single most misunderstood part of cooking with a thermometer, and it's the reason so many roasts end up overcooked despite someone technically "following the temperature."

Meat keeps cooking after it leaves the heat. The surface and outer layers are hotter than the center, and that heat continues migrating inward for several minutes after you pull it — this is carryover cooking, and how much it adds depends almost entirely on size and cooking method.

• A thin steak or chop: 2 to 3°F of carryover. Barely worth planning around.
• A thick steak or roast under 5 pounds: 5 to 10°F. Pull it that far below your target.
• A large roast — prime rib, whole turkey, a big pork shoulder: 10 to 15°F, sometimes more. The bigger the piece, the more heat it's holding, and the longer that heat keeps migrating inward.
• A reverse-seared steak is the exception. Because it climbs slowly and evenly instead of being blasted from one side, there's very little temperature gradient left to drive further cooking — carryover after the sear is only about 2 to 3°F even on a thick cut.

The chart above gives you serve temperature — what you actually want on the plate. For anything bigger than a chop, that means pulling it off the heat before the thermometer hits that number, and trusting the rest to finish the job.

Resting Times by Size

Cut Size	Rest Time	Why
Thin steak, chop, or fillet	3–5 minutes	Lets juices redistribute from the center back toward the edges.
Thick steak (1.5"+) or small roast	8–10 minutes	Longer carryover needs longer rest to stabilize.
Large roast (prime rib, pork shoulder)	20–30 minutes	A big piece holds enormous residual heat and needs real time to settle.
Whole turkey or chicken	20–40 minutes	Also makes carving dramatically easier — a hot bird falls apart under a knife.

Where to Actually Put the Thermometer

1. Aim for the thickest part. That's the last part to reach temperature, so it's the only reading that guarantees the rest of the piece is at least as done.
2. Avoid bone. Bone conducts heat differently than muscle and will give you a falsely high or low reading depending on the cut.
3. Avoid large fat pockets. Fat heats differently than muscle too, and a probe sitting in a seam of fat is measuring the wrong thing.
4. For a whole bird, probe the inner thigh near but not touching the bone — it's the slowest part of the whole bird to cook through.
5. For a steak, insert from the side, not the top, so the tip sits in the true center rather than passing through both the top and bottom surfaces on the way in.

Choosing a Thermometer

Instant-read (digital probe you insert and remove): best all-around choice for steaks, chops, and checking as you go. Look for one that reads in 2 to 3 seconds — the slow ones tempt you to leave the probe in too long and let heat escape.

Leave-in probe with a wired or wireless display: the right tool for anything going into an oven or smoker for an extended time — roasts, whole poultry, low-and-slow cooks. Set it and walk away instead of opening the door repeatedly to check, which just extends your cook time.

Dial thermometers are the least accurate of the three and are genuinely worth retiring if you still have one. They're slow to respond and often off by several degrees — enough to matter on poultry specifically.

Common Temperature Mistakes

Questions People Actually Ask

What temperature is chicken safe to eat at?

165°F at the thickest part, measured away from bone. This applies to breast, thigh, whole chicken, and ground chicken alike — 165°F is the food-safety minimum across the board, though thighs and legs taste better cooked to 175–180°F.

What temperature is pork safe at now?

145°F with a 3-minute rest, for whole cuts like chops, tenderloin, and roasts — the USDA lowered this from 160°F in 2011 once research confirmed trichinosis risk was effectively eliminated at the lower temperature. A little pink in the center is normal and safe. Ground pork still needs 160°F.

Why do you pull meat off the heat before it reaches the target temperature?

Because carryover cooking continues raising the internal temperature for several minutes after the meat leaves the heat source, especially on larger cuts. Pulling 5 to 15°F early, depending on size, accounts for that rise so the meat lands on target once rested.

Is medium-rare salmon safe?

The USDA safe minimum for fish is 145°F, but many chefs and home cooks prefer salmon cooked to 125–130°F for a more tender, less dry texture, accepting a higher — though still low — risk in exchange for better texture. This is a personal choice rather than an official safety recommendation, and pregnant people, young children, and anyone immunocompromised should stick to the USDA minimum.

How long should meat rest after cooking?

3 to 5 minutes for a thin steak or chop, 8 to 10 minutes for a thick steak or small roast, and 20 to 40 minutes for a large roast or whole turkey. Bigger cuts hold more heat and need proportionally more time to redistribute their juices.