If you don’t master cooking the chicken, you can get into some serious health issued, as you can develop food poisoning. Here are some tips on how you can tell if the chicken is done and how to properly cook the chicken.
Thermometer
Source: Great Food
This is the easiest solution. To get it right, you have to put the thermometer into the thickest part, and the perfect temperature for a cooked chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. for a roast chicken, the perfect temperature is 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are stuffing it, then the temperature should be 170 degrees Fahrenheit, and to get that temperature right, you need to place the thermometer in the center of the body hollow.
If you are roasting chicken breasts, the temperature is 170 degrees.
Shrinking
If you don’t have a thermometer, there are some other things you should look into to know when the chicken is properly done. As it is slowly cooking, it should be slowly reducing its size. If the chicken hasn’t shrunk yet, then it is not cooked yet.
Color
Source: Southern Living
Cut the chicken in half, and if a pink juice comes out, that means that you should leave it on much longer. If there is a white or a clear juice, that is the perfect time to get the chicken out of the pan.
Cut it
Cutting the meat is something you shouldn’t do if you don’t want to rip your meat apart. But in some cases, you just have to do some slicing in order to see how much more it requires to cook. Use a knife and fork to pull apart the thickest region of the chicken, and if you see a pink color, that means that the chicken isn’t done.
Texture
Source: Today
If the chicken feels all squishy and rubbery, that your meat isn’t properly done. It should be solid, but not too firm. If it’s too tight, that you have overcooked your chicken.
Bones
If you haven’t pulled out bones out, you should be careful not to undercook your poultry. You should try and put your knife through the meat to reach for the bone – if is going with a breeze and there are clear juices, then you are done. If there is a pink color around the bones, don’t panic. In some cases, as in case of a tender chicken, the reason that there is still pink color around the bone is that the meat near it has hemoglobin. That cooks to a solid pink shade at the end.
Time
Source: Clifton at Home
If you are still not certain about your chicken, the average cooking time might help you.
Roasted chicken’s average cooking time is between 30 minutes to 2 hours. Chicken patties take 30 minutes, and the entire stuffed chicken requires 2 hours. Bone-in legs take 50 minutes and the skinless thigh without bones takes 20-30 minutes.
If you are grilling it, boneless skinless thigh takes around 5 minutes, while bone-in legs take 16 minutes for every side.
Breaded chicken requires somewhere 20-35 minutes. If you are making chicken nuggets or tenders, that the average time is 20 minutes, and stuffed chicken breast takes 35 minutes.
