Since a whole chicken includes an entire skeleton, it can be easy to accidentally brush against bone.īone conducts heat differently than flesh. This is true of all cuts of meat, including ribs, pork butt, and pork shoulder. Where To Probe a Whole Chickenįirst of all, you want to avoid touching bone when taking the internal temperature. After about 1 hour, the breasts should be ready. White meat cooks through faster than dark meat, so the lower temperature will prevent them from becoming too dry. For optimum results, set the smoker to 225 degrees. Chicken wings, meanwhile, could be done in 1-1/2 hours, although the meatier ones might take up to 2 hours to achieve the right texture.Ĭhicken breasts require a slightly different treatment. Thighs and drumsticks will be done in about 2 hours, assuming you wait until they’ve achieved an internal temp of at least 175 degrees. If you’re smoking more than one chicken at a time, try to find birds that are more or less the same size. Naturally, a 3-pound bird will be done sooner than a 5- to 6-pounder. However, the chicken will take longer to cook at 250, which allows it to take on plenty of savory smoke flavor.Īt 250, a whole chicken should cook in 3 to 4 hours, depending on size. This is a lower temperature than we would use for roasting. What’s The Best Smoker Temperature To Use For Chicken?įor most chicken parts, we like to set the smoker temperature to 250 degrees. At 175-180 degrees, the thigh meat should have reached the perfect level of succulence. At 165 degrees, the collagen has just started to break down, so the meat will be chewy and slightly tough. The thighs and drumsticks, meanwhile, can withstand higher cooking temps. If you wait too long, the meat will have a consistency that resembles sawdust. The white meat of the chicken breast will start to dry out if it cooks past 170 degrees or so. On the other hand, you don’t want to overcook the chicken either. Since the cooking process might halt before the acceptable waiting period has passed, it’s safer to wait until you hit that 165-degree marker. This means the meat should be safe to eat.Īlthough the same bacteria can be killed off at lower temperatures, the meat needs to maintain the temperature for longer periods of time. At this temperature, the bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses can’t survive for longer than 30 seconds. That means parts of the meat may still be raw, while others could be overcooked.įor best results, chicken needs to cook to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t insert the temperature probe into the right spot, you’ll risk an inaccurate readout. When the breasts register 165 degrees and the thighs 180, the bird is ready. For whole chickens, take the temperature of the breast first, aiming the probe toward the drumstick. This is true whether you’re cooking breasts, thighs, drumsticks, or wings. Always insert the thermometer probe into the thickest portion of the meat.

Whole chicken done temp