Safe Chicken Cooking Tip

My strategy for cooking chicken was born out of an indoctrinated fear of  salmonella. It’s taken me an adult lifetime to overcome the tendency to overcook my meat, especially chicken. Free tip –  If your chicken lacks juice, it’s overcooked.

I’ve started using a meat thermometer to tell when my chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit by sticking the thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken. 165 is the USDA recommended temperature to kill the bacteria everyone worries about.

You may get away with overcooking the conventional industry chickens from the grocery store because they’re often times fattier (less exercise) and the meat may be injected with additional salt water to help create a uniform product.  The pastured chickens we raise are leaner and are never injected with salt water, which means overcooking may give a less than desirable final product.