Meat Doneness Temperature Chart

Safe internal temperatures for chicken, beef, pork, turkey, and fish, with USDA guidance in °F and °C.

How it works

Pick a protein. For chicken, turkey, ground meats, pork, and fish, there is one safe internal temperature and the tool shows it straight away. For beef and lamb steaks and roasts, doneness is a matter of preference, so a second dropdown lets you check any point from rare to well done, with a clear flag on which ones fall below the USDA minimum.

Say you are cooking a pork tenderloin. Select pork and you get 145°F, which is 63°C. That number is not a suggestion; it is the USDA's minimum safe internal temperature for whole cuts of pork, checked with a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat away from bone. Chicken and turkey need to hit a higher 165°F because poultry carries different pathogens than red meat, and ground meat needs to be cooked to 160°F even though the whole cut it came from would be safe lower, since grinding spreads any surface bacteria through the whole batch.

Beef and lamb steaks and roasts are the exception where personal preference is allowed. Rare (125°F) and medium-rare (135°F) are both below the 145°F minimum the USDA sets for whole cuts, so the tool flags them, though searing the outside and letting the center reach those temps is standard restaurant practice for a reason: whole muscle cuts do not carry bacteria on the inside the way ground meat does. Medium (145°F) and above meet the minimum. If you want the technique behind getting a good crust while hitting your target temperature, see our guide to searing a steak.

FAQ

Do I need to rest the meat after it hits temperature?

Yes, for whole cuts. USDA guidance for pork, beef, veal, and lamb pairs the 145°F minimum with a 3-minute rest before carving or serving; the rest lets the temperature hold and equalize through the cut. Poultry and ground meat should simply be at their target temperature when you check them; no rest is required for food-safety purposes, though resting still helps juiciness.

Why does chicken need to be 20 degrees hotter than pork?

The two meats carry different risks. Poultry is more likely to carry salmonella and campylobacter on and near the surface and sometimes deeper in, so 165°F is the USDA threshold that reliably kills them. Whole-muscle pork's risk is concentrated on the surface, so a lower internal temperature paired with a rest achieves the same safety margin.

Is an instant-read thermometer accurate enough for this?

A decent instant-read thermometer is accurate to within a degree or two, which is close enough for every number on this chart. What actually causes bad readings is probing the wrong spot: touching bone, going in at an angle that measures the pan's heat instead of the meat's center, or checking a thin cut edge-on. Our meat thermometer guide covers placement and which style to buy.

What about ground poultry versus whole poultry?

Both land at 165°F, so there is no difference between them on this chart. That consistency is one less thing to remember while cooking; the main variable is how you check it, since a thin ground-turkey patty needs the thermometer probed sideways through the middle rather than straight down.