How do I cook chicken safely?

Chicken carries a genuine food safety risk, and almost all of it is managed by two things: reaching a safe internal temperature, and not spreading raw juices around the kitchen. Neither requires overcooking the meat, which is where dry chicken comes from.

Safety

What you'll need

• Meat thermometer
• Separate chopping board
• Kitchen paper
• Tongs (optional)

Step by step

1. Store raw chicken on the bottom shelf of the fridge in a sealed container.Below everything eaten without further cooking, so drips cannot contaminate anything.
2. Do not wash it.Washing splashes bacteria up to half a metre around the sink. Cooking destroys them; washing spreads them.
3. Use a separate board for raw chicken, and wash it immediately afterwards.Colour-coded boards make this automatic. Never chop salad on a board that has had raw chicken on it.
4. Pat the surface dry before cooking.Dry skin browns; wet skin steams. This is the difference between good and pale chicken.
5. Cook until a thermometer in the thickest part, away from bone, reads 74°C.Temperature, not time or colour. Juices running clear is an unreliable test.
6. For breasts, take them off at 72°C and let carryover cooking finish the job during resting.Breast dries out fast past 74°C. Thighs are more forgiving and are better slightly higher.
7. Rest the meat for five minutes before cutting.The juices redistribute rather than running out onto the board.
8. Wash hands, board, knife and any surface that touched raw chicken with hot soapy water.Immediately, before touching anything else.

Tips

• Brining chicken breasts in salted water for thirty minutes before cooking makes a noticeable difference to how moist they stay.
• Thighs are cheaper, harder to overcook and more flavourful than breasts. For most dishes they are the better choice.
• A digital probe thermometer costs very little and removes all the guesswork from this. It is the single most useful cooking purchase for meat.

Common mistakes

• Washing raw chicken — It splashes bacteria around the kitchen. Cooking kills them; washing spreads them to surfaces that are not cooked.
• Judging doneness by colour or clear juices — Both are unreliable. Chicken can be safely cooked and still slightly pink near the bone, and unsafe chicken can run clear.
• Using the same board for chicken and salad — One of the most common domestic food poisoning routes.

Questions people ask