Tell it when dinner is.
RoastClock runs the clock backward from your serve time. Pick your meat, enter the weight, and get a full timeline — thaw, preheat, cook, rest, carve, serve.
Cooking times are estimates. Always verify doneness with a meat thermometer and refer to USDA food safety guidelines.
How it works
Pick your meat
Choose from turkey, chicken, beef, pork, lamb, or ham. Select the cut and your preferred doneness.
Enter the weight
Type in the weight — in kg or lb. Adjust for stuffed, bone-in, spatchcock, or starting temperature.
Get your timeline
See cook time, oven temp, pull temperature, rest time — or flip to the serve-ready planner and work backwards from dinner time.
Explore by meat
Your go-to meat cooking time calculator for every roast
Getting a roast right can be stressful. You've got guests arriving, sides to juggle, and one shot to get the main dish perfect. That's why we built RoastClock — a free meat cooking time calculator that does more than just tell you how long to cook. It plans your entire timeline backwards from serve time so you know exactly when to start each step.
Whether you're roasting a simple weeknight chicken or preparing Thanksgiving dinner, knowing the right cooking time is only half the equation. The real question is: when do you put it in the oven? RoastClock answers that by calculating backwards — factoring in preheating, cooking, resting, and carving — so your roast lands on the table at the exact moment you want it.
Chicken roast time made simple
Chicken is the most popular roast worldwide, and cooking time depends mainly on weight. A general rule of thumb is about 20 minutes per pound at 400°F (200°C) — so a 3lb chicken takes roughly 1 hour, a 5lb bird about 1 hour 40 minutes, and a 7lb chicken close to 2 hours 20 minutes. In metric, a 2kg chicken at the same temperature runs approximately 1 hour 25 minutes.
Our calculator handles all of this instantly — just enter the weight, pick your oven type, and you'll see exactly when to put it in and when to pull it out. It also adjusts for special preparations: spatchcocking cuts cooking time by about 35%, and convection ovens shave off a few more minutes automatically.
Turkey roast time for the big day
Turkey is the centerpiece of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. At 350°F (180°C), expect approximately 15 minutes per pound for an unstuffed bird — a 12-lb turkey needs about 3 hours, a 16-lb turkey about 4 hours. Stuffed turkeys need roughly 15% longer. All our times are built around USDA guidelines, so they match official safety standards regardless of brand or size.
If you're open to trying spatchcock turkey (our favorite method), cooking time drops by about 35% and the bird cooks more evenly — a 12-lb spatchcocked turkey can be done in under 2 hours.
Safe internal temperatures
Time is only half the story — the USDA safe internal temperature for chicken and turkey is 165°F (74°C), measured in the thickest part of the thigh without touching bone. This applies whether you're roasting in the oven or cooking on a grill, though grill heat is less predictable so monitoring is more important.
RoastClock shows both the target temperature and a "pull temperature" a few degrees lower, accounting for carryover cooking during the rest period. This means you pull the bird out slightly early and let physics do the rest.
Beyond chicken and turkey, RoastClock covers beef, pork, lamb, and ham — each with specific doneness levels (rare to well done for beef and lamb), bone-in adjustments, and stuffed options. Every calculation is sourced from USDA and UK FSA data, cross-referenced for accuracy.
Ready to stop doing roast math in your head? Pick a meat, enter the weight, and let RoastClock handle the rest.