You cut into it, saw something you did not like, and now the whole dinner is on hold. Here is the trail a careful cook walks — the next seven searches, in order, each with the two-sentence answer and the query to run.
One temperature covers every cut and every cooking method. The hard part is measuring it properly.
165°F (74°C) in the thickest part, for every cut and every method — breast, thigh, wings, ground, whole bird. There is no separate number for white and dark meat where safety is concerned.
Thickest part of the meat, away from bone, fat and gristle — bone conducts heat and reads high, so a probe touching it will tell you the bird is done when it is not. On a whole chicken, check the innermost thigh, the wing joint, and the thickest part of the breast.
No — clear juices and white meat are both unreliable. Chicken can run clear well below 165°F and can stay slightly pink at a safe temperature, especially near the bone in young birds.
Time is a planning tool, not a doneness test — but you still need to know roughly how long to budget.
Boneless breasts run about 6 to 8 minutes a side over medium-high direct heat, bone-in closer to 10 to 12 with the lid down. Pound uneven breasts flat first — the thin end overcooks while the thick end is still climbing.
Both are safe at 165°F, but thighs eat better nearer 175-180°F because the connective tissue needs the extra heat to soften. Breast at 180°F is dry — this is why cooking a whole bird to one number always disappoints somewhere.
Two things happen once you pull it off the heat, and both change the number.
Internal temperature keeps rising a few degrees after the chicken leaves the heat, so pulling at 160-162°F and resting three minutes lands you on target. Resting also lets the juices settle instead of running out at the first cut.
Safe. Pink near the bone comes from marrow pigment leaching during cooking, and a smoked or brined bird can hold a pink ring throughout — neither is undercooking if the thermometer says 165°F.
These are USDA FSIS safe-minimum temperatures. A thermometer is the only way to know — every visual test on this page exists to explain why it cannot be trusted, not to replace the reading.
You just walked 7 searches for “chicken done temp”. The extension maps the trail right on your results page — for anything you search, not just the journeys we’ve written.