Kitchen and everyday life · First steps · about 10 minutes to learn

Use a Food Thermometer and Cook to Safe Temperatures

A food thermometer tells you when meat, poultry, egg dishes and leftovers are hot enough inside to be safe. You can't tell by looking. This guide gives the USDA safe minimum temperatures and shows you where to put the thermometer.

When to teach it: Watch from about 6, help read the thermometer with an adult from about 8, and check food alone from about 12.

Poultry 165 °F, ground meat 160 °F, whole cuts 145 °F with a 3-minute rest, fish 145 °F.

You'll need

Food thermometer (a digital instant-read type is easiest to read)
Hot, soapy water to clean the thermometer
The safe temperature chart from FoodSafety.gov (the numbers are in step 1)
Oven mitts

Before you start

Wash the thermometer stem in hot, soapy water before and after each use.
Read your thermometer's instructions so you know how deep to push it in. USDA says a digital instant-read thermometer needs to go in at least ½ inch, and a dial instant-read about 2 to 2½ inches.

Step by step

Tick each step as you go if you like; ticks stay on this device.

Know your target numberAll poultry: 165 °F. Ground beef, pork, veal and lamb: 160 °F. Whole steaks, roasts and chops of beef, pork, veal and lamb: 145 °F, then a 3-minute rest. Fish: 145 °F. Egg dishes: 160 °F. Leftovers and casseroles: 165 °F.
Check near the end of cookingStart checking a little before you expect the food to be done. USDA says it's safest to take the food off the heat before you take its temperature.
Aim for the thickest partPush the tip into the thickest part of the food. Keep it from touching bone, fat or gristle.
Go in from the side for thin foodsFor burgers and other thin foods, slide the thermometer in from the side until the tip reaches the center.
Check whole birds in three placesFor a whole chicken or turkey, check the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing, and the thickest part of the breast. Every spot needs to reach 165 °F.
Check mixed dishes in several spotsFor casseroles and egg dishes, check the center or thickest part, then a few other spots.
Keep cooking if it's lowIf any spot reads below the target, put the food back on the heat and check again later.
Let whole cuts restAfter steaks, chops and roasts reach 145 °F, let them sit 3 minutes before you cut or eat them. During the rest, the temperature holds steady or keeps rising, which finishes killing germs.
Clean the thermometerWash the stem in hot, soapy water before you use it again.

Biology

How it works: Why the inside temperature matters, and why color can fool you

Raw meat, poultry and eggs can carry harmful bacteria. Heat kills them, but only when the food gets hot enough all the way through. The outside of a chicken breast heats first and the center heats last. That's why you measure the thickest part.

Time matters too. After a steak or roast comes off the heat, its temperature stays the same or keeps rising for a few minutes, and that extra heat destroys bacteria. Because of this, USDA says whole cuts of pork cooked to 145 °F with a 3-minute rest are as safe as the old advice of 160 °F with no rest.

Color is a poor guide. Ground beef can turn brown inside before it's hot enough to kill bacteria. USDA reports that about 1 in 4 hamburgers turns brown in the middle before it reaches a safe temperature. A thermometer measures what matters: the temperature inside.

Try it: Make your own fridge chart. Write the safe temperatures in big numbers, sorted from highest to lowest, and draw where the thermometer goes in a chicken breast, a burger and a whole turkey. Then cover the numbers and quiz each other.

Keep learning: Science

Teaching it to your kids

Let your child read the number out loud while you hold the food steady.
Before the thermometer goes in, ask them to point to the thickest part.
Cut one cooked burger open together and talk about why you still check the temperature instead of trusting the color.
Give them the job of washing the thermometer after every use.

Tips

Fish is done at 145 °F, or when the flesh is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
Shrimp, lobster, crab and scallops are done when the flesh is pearly or white and opaque. Clams, oysters and mussels are done when the shells open.
Raw ham needs 145 °F and a 3-minute rest. Reheat precooked ham to 165 °F, or to 140 °F if it was packaged in a USDA-inspected plant.
Keep the thermometer in the same drawer every time so it's easy to grab.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Instead
Judging doneness by color.	Use the thermometer every time. Ground beef can look brown before it's safe.
The tip is touching bone.	Pull back a little and move the tip into the meat, away from bone, fat and gristle.
Checking only one spot in a whole bird or a casserole.	Check the thigh, wing and breast of a bird, or several spots in a casserole.
Using the thermometer on raw food, then cooked food, without washing it.	Wash the stem in hot, soapy water between uses.
Cutting into a roast the moment it comes out.	Let whole cuts of beef, pork, lamb and veal rest 3 minutes after they reach 145 °F.

Safe habits

Use a food thermometer for meat, poultry, egg dishes and leftovers. Color and texture aren't reliable signs of safety.
Take food off the heat before you take its temperature.
Wash the thermometer in hot, soapy water before and after each use.

Sources

Free how-to guides for families, with nothing to earn, pass or send in. They follow U.S. rules and sources; your owner's manual, product labels and state and local rules come first.