Why use this calculator
Roasting is timed by weight, and the rate differs for every meat: a chicken wants about 20 minutes per pound at a hot 375 F, while a turkey wants 15 minutes per pound at a gentler 325 F so the breast does not dry out before the legs are done.
Get it wrong in one direction and poultry arrives undercooked, which is a genuine food safety risk. Get it wrong in the other and an expensive cut of beef is grey to the edge. This calculator gives a realistic time to plan the meal around, then pairs it with the two numbers that actually determine the result: the internal temperature to pull the meat at, and the resting time that lets the juices settle before carving.
How to use it
- Enter the weight of the joint exactly as bought, including the bone for a bone-in cut, since the bone carries heat and is part of the mass.
- Choose pounds or kilograms to match your scale or the label on the packaging.
- Pick the meat, because each one has its own roasting rate and its own oven temperature built in.
- Choose the doneness you want, remembering that rare and medium apply only to beef and lamb: chicken, turkey and duck are forced to well done here because poultry has to reach 74 degrees Celsius to be safe.
- Read the total time to plan backwards from when you want to eat, and add the resting time before you carve.
What each result means
- Total cook time
- How long to allow in the oven before you start testing with a thermometer. Plan the rest of the meal around it.
- Cook time in minutes
- The same figure in plain minutes, which is easier to set on a timer or a phone.
- Roasting rate
- The minutes per pound and per kilogram behind the estimate, so you can rework it for a different joint in your head.
- Weight
- Your joint in both pounds and kilograms, since roasting tables are published in both.
- Oven temperature
- The conventional oven setting this rate assumes. A fan oven should be set about 20 degrees Celsius lower.
- Target internal temperature
- The reading to pull the meat at, taken in the thickest part away from bone. This is what decides doneness.
- Doneness used
- The doneness actually applied, which is well done for all poultry regardless of what was selected.
- Rest time
- How long to leave the meat loosely covered before carving so the juices redistribute instead of running out.
- Oven to table
- Cooking plus resting, which is the number to count back from when you want to serve.
The formula
The time is a linear rate:
- CookMinutes = weight_lb x minutesPerPound
- Where weight_lb is the weight of the joint converted to pounds at 1 kg = 2.20462 lb, and minutesPerPound is the published roasting rate for that meat at that doneness
Chicken is 20 minutes per pound at 375 F, turkey 15 at 325 F, duck 18 at 350 F, beef 18, 22 or 27 at 325 F for rare, medium and well done, pork 20 or 27 at 350 F, and lamb 18, 22 or 28 at 325 F. Oven to table adds the resting minutes.
How this number is used in practice
Time is an estimate and temperature is a measurement. Two joints of the same weight can differ by twenty minutes depending on shape, whether they went in fridge cold or at room temperature, how accurate the oven is, and how often the door was opened.
A thin flat piece cooks far faster than a thick compact one of identical weight. This is why every professional guide tells you to use a probe thermometer: it costs very little, it reads in seconds, and it is the only way to know what is happening in the centre of the meat.
Resting is not optional either. Muscle fibres contract in the heat and force juice towards the centre, and slicing straight away lets that juice run onto the board instead of staying in the meat. Ten minutes suits a chicken, fifteen a beef or lamb roast, and twenty or more a large turkey.
Internal temperature also carries on rising by several degrees during the rest, which is why the pull temperature is below the final target. Cover loosely with foil rather than sealing it, or the crisp skin you worked for goes soft.
Worked examples
A 5 lb whole chicken
1 hr 40 min at 375 F, then 10 minutes resting
A 3 lb beef roast cooked to medium
1 hr 6 min at 325 F, pulled at 140 F
A 6 kg turkey, unstuffed
3 hr 18 min at 325 F, then 20 minutes resting
When people use it
- Planning a Christmas or Thanksgiving roast backwards from the time you want to serve
- Checking a Sunday roast will be ready before the vegetables are
- Cooking an unfamiliar cut without guessing at the oven time
- Making sure poultry reaches a safe internal temperature rather than a guessed one
- Converting a roasting time between pounds and kilograms
Tips
- Buy a digital probe thermometer. It is the only reliable test of doneness and it costs less than the joint it protects.
- Take the meat out of the fridge 30 to 60 minutes before roasting so it cooks evenly from edge to centre.
- Stuffed poultry takes longer. Allow roughly 5 extra minutes per pound and check the stuffing reaches 74 C as well.
- Bone-in cuts run a little slower than boneless ones of the same weight, so start checking at the time the calculator gives.
- If your oven is fan-forced, drop the stated temperature by about 20 degrees Celsius and start checking early.
- Rest on a warm plate under loose foil. Sealing it tightly traps steam and softens crackling and crisp skin.
What it assumes, and where it stops being accurate
- Rates are for a conventional oven, preheated, with the joint roasted uncovered on a rack or in an open tin.
- The meat is unstuffed. Stuffing adds mass at the centre and needs roughly 5 minutes per pound more.
- The joint went into the oven at or near room temperature rather than straight from the fridge.
- Weight is the raw weight as bought, including bone, and the shape is a normal compact roast rather than a thin flat piece.
- Safe minimum internal temperatures follow published food safety guidance: 74 C for poultry, 63 C with a three minute rest for whole cuts of beef, pork and lamb. Rare beef and lamb sit below that minimum and are a personal risk choice.
Terms used on this page
- Pull temperature
- The internal reading at which you take the meat out, below the final target because it keeps rising while resting.
- Carryover cooking
- The rise in internal temperature that continues after the meat leaves the oven, usually several degrees.
- Resting
- Leaving cooked meat loosely covered before carving so the juices redistribute through the fibres.
- Probe thermometer
- A digital thermometer with a thin spike, read in the thickest part of the meat away from bone.
- Minutes per pound
- The roasting rate for a given meat and oven temperature, multiplied by weight to estimate total time.
Questions people ask
- How long does a roast chicken take per pound?
- About 20 minutes per pound at 375 F or 190 C, so a 5 lb bird takes roughly 1 hour 40 minutes. Check the thickest part of the thigh reads 74 C, away from the bone, and rest it for 10 minutes before carving so the juices settle back through the meat.
- What internal temperature should meat reach?
- Poultry needs 74 C or 165 F all the way through. Whole cuts of beef, pork and lamb have a published safe minimum of 63 C or 145 F followed by a three minute rest. Beef and lamb cooked rare at around 52 C sit below that minimum, which is a personal choice rather than a safe one.
- Why is chicken always cooked well done?
- Poultry can carry salmonella and campylobacter through the flesh rather than only on the surface, so the whole bird has to reach 74 C. Unlike a solid piece of beef, searing the outside is not enough. This is why the calculator forces poultry to well done whatever doneness is selected.
- Should I adjust the time for bone-in cuts?
- Slightly. Bone conducts heat differently to muscle and a bone-in joint usually runs a little slower than a boneless one of the same weight, though the difference is small. Treat the calculated time as the moment to start checking with a thermometer rather than the moment to take it out.
- How long should meat rest after roasting?
- About 10 minutes for a chicken, 15 for a beef or lamb roast, and 20 or more for a large turkey. Resting lets the juices redistribute so they stay in the meat when you carve, and the internal temperature keeps climbing several degrees during the rest, which is why you pull below the final target.
- Do I need to change the time for a fan-forced oven?
- Lower the temperature by about 20 degrees Celsius rather than shortening the time, which keeps the roasting rate roughly right. A fan oven does tend to finish a little sooner even at the reduced setting, so start testing with a thermometer at around eighty per cent of the calculated time.
Use this with
Roasting Time Calculator answers one part of the question. These pick up where it stops: Oven Temperature Converter, Temperature Converter, Cup Converter and Recipe Scaler.
Where these figures come from
This calculation is jurisdiction-neutral arithmetic. No country-specific rules are applied.
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Safe minimum internal cooking temperatures and roasting guidance
- FoodSafety.gov. Safe minimum internal temperature charts and rest times
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Australian and New Zealand metric measures and food safety guidance
Roasting Time Calculator produces an estimate for general information. It is not financial, tax, medical, legal or engineering advice. read the full disclaimer. Spotted a wrong number? Report it and it gets fixed. The form picks up this calculator and the inputs you used.