Meat Temperature Chart: Pull and Done Temps for Grilling

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Meat Temperature Chart

Take meat off at the pull temperature; resting carries it to the final one.

"Pull at" is when to take it off the grill. "Final" is where it lands after resting.

Shrimp and scallops are done when the flesh turns pearly white and opaque. For steak timing by thickness and heat, our guide on how to grill the perfect steak has the full method.

What internal temp should chicken be?

165°F is safe for every part; dark meat eats better hotter.

USDA sets one number for all poultry: 165°F, measured in the thickest part. White and dark meat still behave differently on the grill.

For a whole bird, the breast decides when it comes off and the thigh tells you whether the dark meat is tender yet. Spatchcocking evens the two out, so both finish closer together.

What temperature should a burger be?

USDA says 160°F for ground beef, and only well-done meets it.

Grinding mixes surface bacteria through the whole patty, so a burger has no safe "rare" center the way a steak does. Pull it at 160°F, not before, since a thin patty gains only a few degrees as it rests.

Ground turkey and chicken burgers need 165°F. If you want a pink burger, the lower-risk route is grinding a whole cut at home right before cooking, but USDA still recommends 160°F.

What are the USDA safe minimum temperatures?

These are the food-safety floors; done can be higher or lower for whole cuts.

USDA publishes these numbers. Treat them as the line you never cross for poultry and ground meat.

Ground meat needs more heat than a steak because bacteria live on the surface. Searing kills them on a whole cut, but grinding mixes the surface into the middle, so a burger has to be cooked through.

Many cooks serve steak and lamb below 145°F because lean muscle dries out past medium. That's a personal choice for whole cuts, never for ground meat or poultry.

Watch out: color is not a safe test. USDA warns that ground beef can brown before it reaches 160°F, while smoked chicken can stay pink at the bone when fully cooked. Only a thermometer tells you.

Dark meat is safe here but gets more tender if you let it climb another 10–20°F.

How much does meat rise while it rests?

Expect 2 to 10°F, more for thick cuts and hot fires.

The hot outer layer keeps pushing heat into the cooler center after the meat leaves the grill. This is carryover cooking.

Thin steaks, chops and burgers rise about 2–5°F. Thick steaks of 1.5 inches or more rise about 5–7°F, and whole chickens and roasts about 5–10°F.

The hotter the grill, the bigger the rise. That's why the reverse sear method lands so accurately: cooking slowly first leaves less heat stored in the outer layer.

Insert from the side on a steak so the tip sits dead center, not near the grate.

Why do brisket and pork shoulder go past 200°F?

Tough cuts need hours of heat to melt their connective tissue.

Hard-working muscles are full of collagen, the connective tissue that makes meat chewy. It breaks down into gelatin after hours above about 160°F, and the meat turns fully tender in the high 190s to low 200s.

Expect a stall around 150–170°F, when evaporation from the surface cools the meat as fast as the smoker heats it. Wrapping in butcher paper or foil pushes through it.

Cook these cuts by feel, not by the number. They're done when a probe slides in with almost no resistance; for ribs, lift the rack from one end and look for a deep bend and a cracking surface.

Leave the probe in the thickest part of the flat so you never have to lift the lid to check.

Full plans are in our guides to smoking a brisket, smoking a pork shoulder and smoking ribs.

How hot should the grill be?

Grill temperature sets the speed and the crust, not the doneness.

• 225–275°F, low and slow: brisket, pork shoulder and ribs.
• 325–375°F, indirect: whole chicken, pork loin and turkey.
• 350–450°F, medium direct: chicken pieces, chops, sausages and vegetables.
• 450–550°F, high direct: steak, burgers and kebabs.
• 550°F and up: a hard sear on steak or the finish of a reverse sear.

Set up two zones so you can sear over the coals or burners and then finish on the cooler side; our guide to direct vs indirect grilling shows the setup. Chicken skin crisps far better at 375–425°F than at smoking temperatures, which our smoked chicken guide explains.

If you need a grill that reaches searing heat, our list of the best grills for steaks compares the ones that got hottest in our testing. On charcoal, our charcoal grill temperature control guide gives vent settings for each range.

Where do you put the thermometer?

Aim for the center of the thickest part, away from bone and fat.

Use a digital instant-read thermometer for grilling and a leave-in probe for long cooks. Bone conducts heat and reads high; fat and gristle read wrong too.

• Steaks, chops and burgers: insert from the side so the tip sits in the very center.
• Whole poultry: check the thickest part of the breast and the innermost thigh without touching bone.
• Large roasts and brisket: check two or three spots and trust the lowest reading.

Connected probes save lifting the lid on long cooks. The Traeger Woodridge Pro app tracked within 2–3°F of our own probes when we tested it. Indoors, the built-in thermometer on the Ninja Foodi Smart XL landed steaks within a few degrees of our instant-read.

You should see: a good thermometer reads 32°F in a glass packed with ice and a little water. Use that test rather than boiling water, since water boils lower at altitude.

How long can cooked meat sit out?

Two hours at most, or one hour above 90°F outside.

Bacteria multiply fastest between 40°F and 140°F, the USDA's danger zone. Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours, or 1 hour on a hot day.

To hold meat hot for serving, keep it at 140°F or above; a towel-lined cooler keeps a wrapped brisket there for hours, but check it. Reheat leftovers to 165°F, whether pulled pork, brisket or chicken.

Rest steaks and chops about 5 minutes, whole chickens and roasts 10–20 minutes, and brisket or pork shoulder 1–4 hours. Never put cooked meat back on the plate that held it raw.

• Grilling a steak: pull 5°F below your doneness target and rest 5 minutes.
• Grilling chicken: take breasts off at 165°F; let thighs reach 175°F or more.
• Making burgers: cook to 160°F and skip the early pull.
• Smoking a big cut: ignore the clock and probe for tenderness from 195°F.
• Serving later: hold at 140°F or chill within 2 hours.

The Takeaway

Respect the safety floors for poultry and ground meat, pull whole cuts a few degrees early, and cook tough cuts until they're tender rather than to a number. A calibrated instant-read thermometer does the rest.