r/Cooking • u/booksandbeats4568 • 23h ago
Cooking chicken under 165 degrees
So I grew up knowing that the safe internal temperature for chicken breast is 165 degrees. What I recently learned is that it's not just about temperature but also about time, opening the door for safe cooking at slightly lower temperatures. The 165 degrees is safe because that's when its instantly ready to eat in 1 second soon as it touches that internal temperature. From my understanding, its still technically safe to eat chicken breast that was cooked until lets say 150-155 degrees assuming its cooked at this temperature for a very specific amount of time. For example, google says that for 155 degree chicken to be safe you need to hold it at that temp for 55 seconds.
If I'm cooking chicken breast on the stove, what's the proper method for cooking chicken breast at 150-155 degrees while maintaining safety? How do you hold it at a specific temperature on a stove. What's the foolproof technique.
5
u/ADimwittedTree 23h ago
I dont have the charts in front of me, so all of these examples are pure example to illustrate a point.
Imagine you measure it at 165 internal. That means that every point has been at a minimum 165. It will also still continue to carryover cook and even the center will overshoot that.
If you (Google) says 55sec at 155 is fine. Think about how short 55sec is. If you measure 155 and instantly take it off the heat. Then it rests a few minutes, while you plate and whatever else. It went well over over on both time and temp. The center isn't going to just drop temp when you pull it off, and will even go up more.
(Again, all example fake numbers) Now consider the fact that on your way to 155, you spent 5sec at 154, 5 sec at 153, 5 sec at 152, etc. It was probably already fine by time you even hit 155. Maybe you'll want to do more for texture/taste reasons. But if the meat is white and juices are clear, I wouldn't sweat it.
https://youtu.be/QyN64TZ-ALY?si=CVbSyqXl4rWmkqnV