About
About Chicken Temp Guide
Chicken Temp Guide helps home cooks read a food thermometer and compare the number with U.S. home-cooking guidance for poultry.
What does this site do?
- Compares a thermometer reading with 165°F (74°C), the USDA home-cooking minimum for all poultry.
- Shows where to place the probe for breasts, thighs, drumsticks, wings, whole chickens, ground chicken, and stuffing.
- Links to FoodSafety.gov and USDA FSIS references so you can check the guidance.
What does it leave out?
- It doesn't promise food is free of risk. Temperature is one part of safe food handling.
- It doesn't estimate cooking time, and it doesn't use weight, oven temperature, color, or photos.
- It doesn't calculate lower-temperature holding times.
- It doesn't diagnose foodborne illness or give health advice.
How the checker compares readings
The checker uses one number for every cut: 165°F in °F mode and 74°C in °C mode. 74°C is the Celsius figure FoodSafety.gov publishes. The exact conversion of 165°F is 73.89°C, so using 74°C keeps Celsius checks on the cautious side.
It accepts readings from 0 to 212°F (0 to 100°C) with up to one decimal place. Switching units clears the reading instead of converting it. Everything runs in your browser.
Sources
The checker uses public guidance from USDA FSIS and FoodSafety.gov. See the sources and measurement guidance.
Questions about using the checker
For reading errors and unit changes, see the checker questions and answers. For food-handling questions beyond the tool’s scope, use USDA FSIS’s official contact information.