Poultry Doneness

Ground Poultry Safe Temperature

Also: ground chicken safe temp, ground turkey safe temp, minced chicken temperature, turkey burger doneness

Ground chicken and ground turkey must reach 74°C/165°F throughout — the same instantaneous-kill floor as whole poultry, not the 71°C used for ground beef, pork, or lamb.

Ground chicken and ground turkey — used in burgers, meatballs, meatloaf, and taco-style fillings — carry the same pathogen profile as whole poultry (principally Salmonella and Campylobacter), and grinding distributes any surface contamination uniformly through the mass exactly as it does for ground beef. USDA guidance therefore sets ground poultry at 74°C (165°F), the same as whole poultry — it is NOT treated like other ground meats, which are cleared at 71°C (160°F). This is a common point of confusion: cooks who know '160°F for ground meat' from beef or pork under-shoot ground poultry by 3°C/9°F if they apply the same rule.

In photos

Ground Poultry Safe Temperature at 74°C / 165°F. At 74°C, myosin and actin in the ground poultry mass have both fully denatured, moisture has redistributed through the patty or meatball, and Salmonella/Campylobacter are destroyed to a 7-log reduction. Visual cues: Interior is opaque white to pale tan throughout, with no translucent or glassy pink patches, Juices run clear when the center is pierced — not pink or red, Patty or meatball has firmed and shrunk slightly from its raw size, feeling set rather than soft when pressed.

Ground Poultry Safe Temperature in context — the stages just below and above, side-by-side. Ground chicken and ground turkey carry the same pathogen profile as whole poultry, and grinding distributes any surface contamination uniformly through the mass. Target reference 74°C / 165°F.

Ground Poultry Safe Temperature in practice — Turkey burgers. Ground poultry is leaner and more delicate than ground beef, so the margin between 'just safe' and 'noticeably dry' is narrower.

What happens

At 74°C, myosin and actin in the ground poultry mass have both fully denatured, moisture has redistributed through the patty or meatball, and Salmonella/Campylobacter are destroyed to a 7-log₁₀ reduction essentially instantaneously. Ground poultry is leaner and more delicate than ground beef, so the margin between 'just safe' and 'noticeably dry' is narrower — a probe thermometer at the geometric center is the only reliable check, since color (pink-to-white) is an unreliable indicator in ground poultry just as it is in ground beef.

What to look for

Interior is opaque white to pale tan throughout, with no translucent or glassy pink patches
Juices run clear when the center is pierced — not pink or red
Patty or meatball has firmed and shrunk slightly from its raw size, feeling set rather than soft when pressed
Center of a thick meatloaf or large meatball offers even, firm resistance with no cool or yielding core

How to check

Insert an instant-read thermometer sideways into the geometric center of the patty, meatball, or loaf — the thickest and coolest point
For turkey burgers, angle the probe in from the edge to avoid piercing through to the grill or pan surface
For meatloaf, check the center of the thickest cross-section, not near the pan edges which cook faster
Do not rely on color: ground poultry can appear fully white before reaching 74°C, and can retain a pink tinge near the surface above 74°C due to myoglobin chemistry — trust the thermometer, not the eye

Food safety

74°C (165°F) is the USDA minimum for all ground poultry — ground chicken, ground turkey, chicken/turkey burgers, meatballs, meatloaf, and taco-style fillings. This is 3°C/9°F higher than the 71°C (160°F) floor for ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal, because the underlying whole-muscle hazard (poultry-associated Salmonella and Campylobacter) requires the higher instantaneous-kill threshold regardless of grinding. There is no safe 'medium' or pink-served version of ground poultry — unlike whole-muscle poultry pieces, which some traditions serve at lower temperatures with time-temperature pasteurization, ground poultry must hit 74°C throughout with no exception for vulnerable populations.

Carryover & resting

Thin patties (turkey burgers) carry over only 1–2°C off the heat and should be pulled at or very near 74°C. Thicker preparations — meatloaf, large meatballs — can carry over 2–3°C; pulling at 72°C and resting 5 minutes tented is acceptable only if a follow-up probe check confirms 74°C was reached before serving.

The science behind it

Poultry: Safe Internal Temperature
The whole-poultry 74°C floor that ground poultry shares — unlike ground beef/pork/lamb, which use a lower 71°C threshold
Ground Beef Safe Temperature
The most common source of confusion: cooks transfer the 71°C ground-beef rule to ground poultry and under-cook by 3°C/9°F
Campylobacter in Poultry
Alongside Salmonella, the primary pathogen driving the higher poultry-wide safe temperature versus red meat
Color as doneness indicator
Unreliable in ground poultry exactly as in ground beef — a thermometer is mandatory, not optional

Appears in

Turkey burgersChicken meatballsTurkey meatloafGround chicken tacos and lettuce wrapsChicken larb (cooked version)Turkey chili

References

1.USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart (2024)
2.FDA Food Code 2022
3.USDA FSIS: Chicken Liver — Resources for Illness Prevention (fsis.usda.gov/ChickenLiver)
4.On Food and Cooking — Harold McGee

Confidence: high

Notes

Why ground poultry is not '160°F like other ground meat'

Ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal all clear at 71°C (160°F) because the underlying whole-muscle hazard is largely surface bacteria that grinding redistributes — pasteurization at 71°C is sufficient. Poultry carries a distinct, higher-risk pathogen set (Salmonella and Campylobacter can be present throughout the tissue, not just the surface), which is why whole poultry itself requires 74°C rather than the 63°C used for whole-muscle beef/pork/lamb. Grinding poultry does not lower that underlying risk, so the ground form keeps the whole-bird 74°C floor rather than dropping to the ground-red-meat 71°C floor. A recipe or app that silently reuses 'ground meat = 160°F' logic for a ground-turkey or ground-chicken dish will systematically under-cook it.