How Long to Bake Chicken: Times and Temperatures by Cut

How long to bake chicken comes down to the cut. Savour's oven chicken recipes bake most cuts at 220°C (425°F), and the times in their steps run from 12 to 15 minutes for breaded tenders to 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes for a whole 1.8 kg (4 lb) chicken. Chicken pieces are done at 74°C (165°F) in the thickest part, and a whole bird at 82°C (180°F) in the thickest part of the thigh.

Below, we compare the bake times written in 10 Savour recipes, with their boneless and bone-in swaps, doneness checks, rest times and storage notes. The chicken recipes page lists every chicken dish.

How long to bake chicken, by cut

Each time is copied from the recipe's own step, shortest first at each oven temperature. Total time is the stored total: prep, resting and, for the jerk chicken, 4 hours of marinating.

Six of the ten recipes bake at 220°C (425°F). Two of the four at 200°C (400°F), the lemon herb chicken and the stuffed breasts, sear the chicken in a hot pan first. Bone-in pieces take longer: bone-in thighs bake for 35 to 45 minutes, boneless ones for 20 to 25, at the same 220°C (425°F).

None of the ten has a stored total of 30 minutes or less; the tenders come closest at 33 minutes. For quicker weeknights, the 30-minute dinner meal plan lines up five dinners that each take 30 minutes or less.

What oven temperature is best for baked chicken?

The breast recipe's FAQ makes the case for 220°C (425°F): the high heat browns the outside and cooks the inside quickly, so the chicken spends less time in the oven and stays juicy. The thigh recipe's FAQ also names a high oven, such as 220°C (425°F), for crisp skin.

A cooler oven takes longer. Three recipes give the times in their FAQs:

In two recipes, sugar is the reason to turn the heat down. The honey mustard chicken's FAQ says to bake at 200°C (400°F) rather than hotter, in a snug dish, so the honey does not burn. The drumstick rub has brown sugar, and its tip lowers the oven to 200°C (400°F) for the last 10 minutes if the drumsticks darken before they are cooked through.

How long to bake chicken breast

Plain boneless breasts

The Juicy Baked Chicken Breast steps, in order:

1. Heat the oven to 220°C (425°F) and oil a baking sheet big enough to leave space between the pieces.
2. Pat the breasts dry and pound the thick end to an even 2 cm. Slice a breast over 280 g in half horizontally into two cutlets instead.
3. Rub with olive oil and press the spice mix onto both sides.
4. Bake uncovered, smooth side up, for 18 to 22 minutes, until golden and 74°C (165°F) in the thickest part. Cutlets may be ready after 14 to 16 minutes.
5. Rest under loose foil for 5 minutes, then slice across the grain.

Its tips add an optional brine: 15 to 30 minutes in 1 litre of cold water with 3 tbsp (about 50 g) salt, then only a pinch of salt in the rub.

Chicken Breast • Chicken

Juicy Baked Chicken Breast

35 mins4 servings

Sauced, stuffed and breaded breasts

• Baked Honey Mustard Chicken: breasts pounded to 2 cm bake in the sauce at 200°C (400°F) for 20 to 25 minutes, basted halfway. Its FAQ gives 30 to 35 minutes for thicker, unpounded breasts.
• Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast: seared for 2 to 3 minutes per side, then baked for 18 to 22 minutes at 200°C (400°F). Its FAQ allows 25 to 30 minutes without searing.
• Crispy Baked Chicken Tenders: tenders or 2 cm breast strips bake on an oiled rack at 220°C (425°F) for 12 to 15 minutes, unflipped. Its tip says to check the smallest strips after 10 minutes. Its variation air fries them at 200°C (400°F) for 8 to 10 minutes, flipping halfway; see air fryer cooking times and temperatures.
• One Pan Lemon Herb Chicken: its FAQ swaps the thighs for breasts, seared for 3 to 4 minutes per side and roasted for 12 to 15 minutes.

More dishes built on this cut are on the chicken breast recipes page.

How long to bake chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings

Bone-in thighs

Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs bakes the thighs skin side up on a wire rack over a foil-lined sheet at 220°C (425°F), for 35 to 45 minutes without flipping. They are patted very dry first ("dry skin is what makes it crisp", the step says) and seasoned partly under the skin. They are done when the skin is deep golden and the thickest part, not touching the bone, reads at least 74°C (165°F).

Chicken • American

Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs

50 mins4 servings

How long do boneless chicken thighs take?

Four recipes give a thigh time in a step or a variation:

The chicken thigh recipes page collects the other dishes that use this cut. Chicken thighs instead of breasts gives the cut swaps in 11 Savour recipes.

Drumsticks and leg quarters

Baked Chicken Drumsticks bakes at 220°C (425°F) on a lined sheet, on a rack if you have one, with space between the pieces "so they roast rather than steam". After 20 minutes each drumstick is turned, then it bakes for 20 to 25 minutes more, until the skin is crisp and deep reddish brown and the meat next to the bone reads at least 74°C (165°F). Its tip says to buy drumsticks of a similar size and check the largest.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken roasts marinated leg quarters (or thighs and drumsticks) on a rack at 200°C (400°F) for 25 minutes, bastes them with marinade set aside before it touched raw chicken, then roasts them for 15 to 20 minutes more. After the 74°C (165°F) check, 2 to 4 minutes under the broiler (grill) chars the edges.

Chicken • Healthy

Baked Chicken Drumsticks

55 mins4 servings

Wings

Baked BBQ Chicken Wings coats 1.5 kg of split wings in baking powder (not baking soda), salt and spices and bakes them on racks over two sheets at 220°C (425°F). After 20 minutes the wings are turned and the trays swapped, then they bake for 20 to 25 minutes more, until crisp with the thickest drumette at 74°C (165°F). Only then are they sauced and baked for 5 to 8 minutes, until sticky.

How long to roast a whole chicken

Herb Butter Roast Chicken roasts a 1.8 kg (4 lb) chicken at 220°C (425°F):

1. Spread herb butter under and over the skin.
2. Fill the cavity with lemon and garlic, tie the legs and set the bird breast-side up on sliced onions.
3. Roast for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, basting once halfway, until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 82°C (180°F) without touching the bone. Cover the breast loosely with foil if it browns too quickly.
4. Rest for 15 minutes, then carve.

For another size, its tip allows about 20 minutes per 450 g (1 lb) at 220°C (425°F), "but always go by temperature, not time." A variation spatchcocks the chicken to roast it in about 45 minutes, and the FAQ notes that the breast is done well before the thigh reaches 82°C (180°F).

Chicken

Herb Butter Roast Chicken

1 hr 45 mins6 servings

How do you know baked chicken is done?

All ten recipes list an instant-read thermometer in their equipment. Government food safety guidance puts chicken pieces at 74°C (165°F) and whole poultry at 82°C (180°F). The same guidance says to push the probe through the thickest part to the middle without touching bone, to check each piece separately, and to wash the thermometer in warm, soapy water before each use.

The recipes measure the thickest part of each breast, the thickest tender or boneless thigh, the thickest drumette on wings and the thickest part of the thigh on the whole chicken. On bone-in thighs, drumsticks and leg quarters, the probe must not touch the bone. The stuffed breasts need 74°C (165°F) in the meat and in the centre of the filling, which, its FAQ explains, sits against raw chicken while it cooks.

Leg meat can go further. The thigh, drumstick and jerk recipes say it is most tender at 80 to 85°C (175 to 185°F), so a few extra minutes do not hurt it. Breasts are the opposite: the breast recipe's tip says to pull them at 74°C (165°F), since every minute past that costs moisture.

The steps also give visual cues: a golden outside on breasts, and deep golden or deep brown skin with clear juices on thighs, drumsticks and jerk chicken. Without a thermometer, the breast recipe's FAQ says to cut into the thickest part and look for white, opaque meat with clear juices, and calls that less reliable. Official guidance on checking by eye matches it: no pink meat, juices that run clear and steaming hot all the way through, with a whole bird cut at the leg between the drumstick and the breast.

Why rest chicken after baking?

The breast recipe gives the reason in its step: 5 minutes under loose foil "lets the juices settle back into the meat instead of running out when you slice it." The roast chicken's FAQ says the same of a whole bird carved straight away.

The rests are 15 minutes for the whole chicken; 5 minutes for the plain, honey mustard and stuffed breasts, the bone-in thighs, the drumsticks and the jerk chicken; 2 to 3 minutes for the glazed wings; and 2 minutes for the tenders. The lemon herb chicken is served straight from the skillet.

Common mistakes with baked chicken

• Covering the pan. The breast, thigh and drumstick FAQs bake uncovered: foil traps steam and leaves the chicken or its skin pale and soft.
• Crowding the tray. "Crowded chicken steams and stays pale instead of browning," says the breast recipe's tip.
• Uneven breasts. The thin end dries out while the thick end finishes, says the breast FAQ, so pound to an even 2 cm.
• Saucing too early. The wing tip warns that the sugar in barbecue sauce burns long before the skin is crisp, so the wings are sauced only after the first bake.
• Wet skin. The tips leave the chicken uncovered in the fridge before baking: seasoned thighs for 4 to 24 hours, seasoned wings for up to 24 hours, seasoned drumsticks for a few hours, and the patted-dry whole chicken overnight.
• Flipping thighs. Skin-on thighs stay skin side up the whole time, says the thigh FAQ; round drumsticks are turned once.
• Reusing the raw board. The breast recipe's tip: a clean board and knife for cooked chicken, never the ones that touched it raw.

How long does baked chicken keep?

Eight of the ten recipes say to refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

Six of the freezer notes say to thaw the cooked chicken overnight in the fridge. The tenders are frozen breaded but unbaked and go straight into a 220°C (425°F) oven for 18 to 22 minutes, until they reach 74°C (165°F).

Browse every Savour chicken recipe