Meat Temperature Chart: Safe Temps for Every Protein
A five second thermometer read replaces every cut-it-open-and-look trick you have ever used. Here is the chart, including the part about carryover nobody mentions.
The short version
- Chicken is 165F everywhere, but thighs are better at 175F. Safety and quality are different numbers.
- A steak keeps cooking after it leaves the pan. Pull 5F early and let the rest happen on the board.
- Ground meat needs a higher temp than the whole cut it came from, because grinding moves surface bacteria inside.
- The thermometer goes in the side of a thin cut, into the center of the thickest part.
Every trick for telling when meat is done without a thermometer exists because someone did not own a thermometer. Poke tests, juice color, cut it open and peek: all of them are guesses, and one of them ruins the crust you spent ten minutes building.
A $15 instant read thermometer replaces the entire folklore. The chart below is the numbers to read it against, and it is built on pull temperatures: meat keeps cooking after it leaves the heat, so the number on the probe in the pan and the number on the plate are not the same number. Pull short, rest, and the carryover lands you on target.
The one place there is no wiggle room is anything ground. A steak can be blue in the middle because bacteria live on the outside where the sear kills them. A burger’s middle used to be outside, and it needs the full 160F.
The Meat Temperature Chart
Pull temperatures, not final temperatures. The meat finishes cooking while it rests.
Steak doneness, center of the cut
- 125F
- Rare
- 130F
- Medium rare
- 140F
- Medium
- 150F
- Medium well
- 160F
- Well done
- 5-10 min
- Rest, thick cuts
| Protein | Pull at | Final temp | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast | 160F | 165F | USDA line. Past 170F it turns to chalk |
| Chicken thighs | 170F | 175F | Safe at 165F, but collagen melts higher |
| Ground beef | 160F | 160F | Grinding moves bacteria inside, no rare burgers |
| Steak, med-rare | 125F | 130F | Carryover adds about 5F while resting |
| Pork chops | 140F | 145F | The old 160F rule died in 2011. Pink is fine |
| Salmon | 120F | 125F | Flakes but still silky. 145F is cafeteria fish |
| Whole turkey | 157F | 165F | Big mass carries over hard. Probe the thigh |
Pull temp is when it leaves the heat. Final temp is after resting. The difference is carryover, and it is bigger the thicker the cut.
The Meat Temperature Chart
Safe internal temperatures for every protein, steak doneness from rare to well, and the carryover cooking numbers nobody accounts for.
Questions people ask
What temperature does chicken need to be?
165F in the thickest part, per the USDA, and that number is not negotiable for safety. But it is a minimum, not a target for every cut. Breasts are best pulled at 160F and carried to 165F by resting. Thighs are safe at 165F but noticeably better at 175F, because the extra heat melts the connective tissue that makes dark meat worth eating.
What temperature is medium rare steak?
130F at the center. Pull it from the pan at 125F and let carryover finish the job during a five minute rest. Rare is 125F, medium is 140F, medium well 150F and well done 160F. Every number is the resting temperature, not the in-pan reading.
Can pork be pink in the middle?
Yes. The USDA dropped whole-cut pork from 160F to 145F with a rest in 2011, and at 145F a chop is lightly pink and dramatically juicier. The old fear was trichinosis, which has been functionally eliminated from commercial American pork. Ground pork still needs 160F like all ground meat.
Why does ground meat need a higher temperature than steak?
Bacteria live on the surface of meat, and searing a steak's surface kills them, which is why a rare interior is safe. Grinding mixes that surface all the way through, so the middle of a burger has to reach the same temperature the outside of a steak does: 160F.
Where do I put the thermometer?
Center of the thickest part, away from bone, which conducts heat and lies to you. For a thin cut like a chop or a burger, go in from the side so the probe travels through the middle instead of poking past it. A five second read beats every poke test and juice color trick ever invented.
What is carryover cooking?
Meat keeps cooking after it leaves the heat, because the hot outer layers push heat toward the cooler center while it rests. A thick steak climbs about 5F on the board, and a whole turkey can climb 8F or more. Pull everything short of its target and let the rest finish it, or your medium rare is medium by the time you slice.