When it is cooked correctly, chicken can be delicious. However, it is very dangerous if it is raw. It is important to have a few tricks to make sure that your chicken is finished cooking. Take a look at the following tips for cooking chicken.

Use Low Heat and Check it with a Thermometer

It is extremely important that your chicken be cooked all the way through. You need to place the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken and cook it on low heat. When the thermometer reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, the chicken is cooked thoroughly. You should cook it on low heat because when you use high heat, the chicken will cook on the outside and not on the inside. This is the easiest and most accurate way to know that chicken is cooked all the way through but there are other ways you can use for times when you don’t have a thermometer.

Examine the Chicken

There are a few things that you will notice when you see the cooked chicken. It will turn a whitish-tan color and it will shrink. As the chicken meat cooks, it tightens up. It starts to turn white before it is completely cooked so if you notice a change in color but the chicken is the same size, then it probably needs to be cooked longer.

Cut the Chicken at the Thickest Part

If you cut the chicken open at the thickest part, you can look at the meat inside. You don’t need to cut it in half; you can make an incision and look at the center of the meat. If you see any pink, you need to keep cooking. When chicken is completely cooked, it will be white all the way through.

You can also look at the juices. If the juices coming out of the chicken are pink, then it probably needs more time. When your chicken is fully cooked, the juices will be white and clear with no pink at all. When you cut the chicken open, look at the juices to make sure that they are clear or white.

It is important to be able to tell when chicken is cooked all the way through because it can be dangerous to eat raw or uncooked chicken. Using a thermometer is easy and reliable but in case you don’t have one, these other methods will work just fine.