Meat Doneness Temperature Calculator
Find pull temperature and resting carryover for a target meat doneness.
About Meat Doneness Temperature Calculator
The centre continues to rise after removal because heat travels inward from the hotter exterior. Thicker cuts carry more stored heat, so they overshoot further and must be pulled earlier. Ground meat and poultry require full temperature throughout because contamination is distributed, while whole cuts are only contaminated on the surface.
Formula
Meat Doneness Temperature
Pull temperature = target final temperature − carryover rise during resting
- carryover
- Residual heat continues raising the centre after removal from heat
- resting
- Allows carryover to finish and juices to redistribute
Worked example
With the default values below, Meat Doneness Temperature Calculator returns Pull From Heat At of 58.2. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Meat typeone of Beef or lamb, Pork, Poultry, Fish
- Beef or lamb
- Target donenessone of Rare, Medium rare, Medium, Medium well, Well done
- Medium
- Thicknessminimum 0.5 cm
- 4 cm
- Cooking temperatureminimum 50 C
- 200 C
Results
- Pull From Heat At
- 58.2 C
- Final Temperature After Resting
- 63.0 C
- Carryover Temperature Rise
- 4.8 C
- Recommended Resting Time
- 10.0 min
- Food Safety Note
- Whole cuts of beef and lamb are safe at lower temperatures because contamination is surface only
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Meat Doneness Temperature
- 3Pull From Heat At= 58.2 C
- 4Final Temperature After Resting= 63.0 C
- 5Carryover Temperature Rise= 4.8 C
- 6Recommended Resting Time= 10.0 min
- 7Food Safety Note= Whole cuts of beef and lamb are safe at lower temperatures because contamination is surface only
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 1 decimal place, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- Temperature guidance here is general and educational. Follow your local food safety authority's recommendations, particularly when cooking for children, older adults, pregnant people or anyone immunocompromised.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Temperature guidance here is general and educational. Follow your local food safety authority's recommendations, particularly when cooking for children, older adults, pregnant people or anyone immunocompromised.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Meat Doneness Temperature calculated?
Pull temperature = target final temperature − carryover rise during resting The centre continues to rise after removal because heat travels inward from the hotter exterior. Thicker cuts carry more stored heat, so they overshoot further and must be pulled earlier.
Why does Meat Doneness Temperature matter?
Ground meat and poultry require full temperature throughout because contamination is distributed, while whole cuts are only contaminated on the surface.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 4 inputs: Meat type, Target doneness, Thickness, Cooking temperature. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.