Minutes per pound, oven temp, rest time and pull temperature for chicken, turkey, beef, pork and lamb.
A 4-pound chicken at 350°F: how long? The recipe says “about an hour and a half,” the guest list says dinner is at seven, and nobody wants salmonella or sawdust. Our free Meat Cooking Time Calculator gives you the roast plan: minutes per pound, total time, oven temperature, resting time, and the pull temperature — for chicken, turkey, beef, pork, and lamb at your chosen doneness.
Roast timing is heat transfer: the oven heats the meat’s surface, and conduction carries heat inward. A bigger roast isn’t proportionally slower per pound — heat penetrates from all sides, so minutes per pound actually falls as roasts get huge — but for typical home roasts (3–12 lb), the per-pound rate is the practical rule. Doneness is really internal temperature: proteins set and juices redistribute at specific temperatures, and the thermometer reading is the only doneness that matters. Time gets you close; temperature gets you dinner.
Pick the meat, enter the weight, choose doneness — the widget returns the full roast plan including the rest.
The three numbers that govern roasting: rate (minutes per pound — 20 for chicken at 350°F, 13 for turkey at 325°F, ~20 for beef at 325°F), oven temperature (the heat source; lower ovens, longer times, more even results), and pull temperature (the internal reading at which you remove the meat). Multiply rate by weight for the estimate: 4 lb × 20 min/lb = 80 minutes. That’s the widget’s core math.
Then comes carryover cooking — the reason the widget lists a rest, not just a time. A roast pulled at 135°F keeps climbing 5–10°F as residual heat moves inward while the surface cools. Resting tented in foil for 10–30 minutes does three things: lets carryover finish the center, lets juices redistribute (cut too early and they flood the board instead of staying in the fibers), and lets the crust set. The rest isn’t waiting — it’s the last cooking step.
Doneness temperatures are food-safety law and texture preference combined. Poultry: 165°F everywhere (USDA) — no medium-rare chicken exists. Pork: 145°F plus rest (the old 160°F rule died in 2011; modern pork at 145 is safe and juicy). Beef and lamb: 125°F rare, 135°F medium-rare, 145°F medium, 160°F well — preference, with carryover doing the last few degrees. Ground meats always 160°F. These are pull temperatures; the thermometer, not the clock, is the instrument.
Key terms:
Time estimates; temperature decides. Always verify the thickest part with a thermometer — never trust time alone.
Weeknight roast chicken, 4 lb, 350°F oven.
Start checking 10 minutes early: an accurate thermometer beats an exact clock every time.
A 14-lb unstuffed turkey at 325°F.
Stuffed birds need ~15 min/lb and the stuffing must hit 165°F too — another reason cooks roast stuffing separately.
A 5-lb beef rib roast, medium-rare, dinner at 7. Rate: 20 min/lb at 325°F → 100 min = 1 hr 40 min. Pull at 135°F internal (it coasts to ~140). Rest 20 min tented. Timeline: oven on at 4:45, roast in at 5:00, out ~6:40, rest to 7:00, carve at the table. The 20-minute rest isn’t dead time — it’s when the Yorkshire puddings bake and the gravy gets made. Professionals plan the rest into the menu; amateurs discover it as a delay.
Second scenario: the pork loin rescue. A 3-lb pork loin roasted to the old 160°F rule comes out dry; the same loin pulled at 145°F and rested 10 min is blushing and juicy. Same rate (25 min/lb → 75 min), different pull temperature, transformed dinner. The 2011 USDA change from 160 to 145 for whole pork cuts is the highest-leverage food fact of the decade — and most home cooks still haven’t heard it.
Third: the leg of lamb for eight. 6-lb leg, medium (145°F): 6 × 22 = 132 min = 2 hr 12 min at 325°F, rest 15. But the leg’s shape is uneven — thin shank end overcooks while the thick sirloin end stays rare. The fix is butterflying (even thickness) or tying, and probing the thickest part only. The calculator’s time assumes a roughly even roast; shape is the cook’s variable.
Fourth: the carryover demonstration. Two identical steaks… no — two 4-lb chickens, one rested 15 minutes, one carved immediately. The rested bird’s juices stay in the meat; the unrested bird’s flood the cutting board — visibly, measurably (about 2–3 tablespoons of juice lost). Same time, same temp, different rest: the rest is a cooking step, not patience theater.
Restaurants: line cooks work from time-temp charts like this calculator — then verify every protein with a Thermapen. The chart plans labor; the thermometer guarantees the plate.
USDA food safety: the pull temperatures here are federal guidance, built from pathogen-kill curves (165°F poultry kills salmonella in <10 seconds).
Competition barbecue: brisket “cooking by feel” is the same heat-transfer physics at 225°F for 12 hours — collagen needs time and temperature.
Industrial ovens: rotisserie lines use core-temperature probes that cut heat automatically — the calculator’s logic, automated.
Sous-vide: the precision-cooker revolution replaced time-estimates with exact temperature holds — then sears for crust. Same physics, tighter control.
Holiday logistics: the turkey timeline (bird in by 2, table at 6) is project management — the calculator is the Gantt chart.
One pattern worth internalizing: plan by time, finish by temperature, serve after the rest. Three phases, three instruments: the clock, the thermometer, and patience.
A short history: roasting time rules predate thermometers by millennia — medieval cooks judged by drippings and smell. The meat thermometer (dial probe, mid-20th century) and the USDA’s 2011 pork-temperature revision are the two modern leaps; everything before was the minutes-per-pound tradition this calculator encodes. Carryover was understood by Escoffier-era chefs who “let the roast repose” — they just didn’t have the thermodynamics vocabulary.
Edge cases and pro tips: high altitude: water boils lower but roasting is dry heat — times barely change, though very lean roasts dry faster. Convection/fan: drop 25°F or cut ~15% of time. Stuffed turkey: add ~2 min/lb and temp the stuffing. Very large roasts (20+ lb): the per-pound rate overestimates — start checking 45 min early. And the sear-then-roast debate: searing adds crust flavor (Maillard), not “sealed juices” — that myth died in food-science labs; rest still required.
When the calculator is the wrong tool: thin cuts (steaks, chops, chicken breasts) cook by minutes-per-side and feel, not minutes-per-pound — use a steak chart. Slow-cooker and braise recipes run on tenderness, not temperature (“fork-tender”). And barbecue brisket/butt: cook to probe tenderness (~203°F internal), where time is measured in hours per pound at 225°F — a different regime entirely.
Meat Cooking Time Calculator: total minutes = weight(lb) x minutes per pound. Chicken 20 min/lb at 350F, turkey 13 min/lb at 325F, beef 18-25 min/lb at 325F by doneness, pork loin 25-30 min/lb at 350F, lamb 20-25 min/lb at 325F. Pull temps: poultry 165F, pork 145F, beef/lamb 125F rare/135F med-rare/145F medium/160F well. Rest 10-30 min tented; carryover adds 5-10F. Verify with thermometer. Source: Sigma Calculator, Meat Cooking Time Calculator, https://sigmacalculator.net/cooking-calculators/meat-cooking-time-calculator/
Cite this page as: Meat Cooking Time Calculator, Sigma Calculator, https://sigmacalculator.net/cooking-calculators/meat-cooking-time-calculator/
Last updated: October 12, 2026