Roasting Time Calculator: Turkey, Chicken, Beef & Lamb
The turkey is in the fridge, a dozen people arrive at six and the roast has to be rested and ready to carve when dinner goes on the table. Use the tool to pick your roast, slide it to its weight and choose the oven you are cooking in: regular, gas, fan forced or air fryer. The roasting time calculator gives a cook time to plan the day around, the oven setting in °C, °F or gas mark, how long to rest it, and the internal temperature that tells you it is done. It covers:
- Christmas and Thanksgiving birds: a whole turkey, a turkey crown, a duck or a turducken, with the extra time a stuffed bird needs.
- A Sunday roast: chicken, beef from rare to well done, a leg or slow-roast shoulder of lamb, and pork loin or pulled pork.
- A vegetarian main: a nut loaf or a vegetarian wellington, timed to come out hot all the way through.
- An air fryer instead of the oven: the lower temperature and shorter time. We will warn you if your roast is too big for the basket.
- The vegetables that go with it: roast potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and more, timed for the same oven.
Time your roast
What are you roasting?
Oven
Temperature unit
Estimated cook time:
3 hr 30 min
at 170°C in your fan forced oven
- Start checking at 2 hr 50 min
- Take it out when the thickest part of the thigh, clear of the bone reads 74°C (165°F)
- Rest for 30 min before carving
- Oven to table: 4 hr
- These times are for an unstuffed bird. Stuffing the cavity adds 15 to 30 minutes, and the stuffing needs to reach 74°C (165°F) as well.
This is an estimate to plan dinner around, not the minute the roast is done. Ovens run hot or cool and a roast straight from the fridge takes longer, so go by a meat thermometer rather than the clock.
Roasting time from British Turkey. Internal temperatures from the USDA safe minimum internal temperature chart.
Roast Vegetables
The vegetables roast at 180°C, hotter than the whole turkey, which cooks at 170°C, and the gap is on purpose. Most need longer than its 30-minute rest, so put them on a lower shelf at 170°C while it is still cooking. When it comes out to rest, turn the oven up to 180°C to finish them and crisp them up.
| Vegetable | Cut | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Potatoes | parboiled, in chunks | 45 to 60 min |
| Sweet potatoes | in chunks | 30 to 40 min |
| Carrots | halved lengthways | 35 to 45 min |
| Pumpkin | in wedges, skin on | 35 to 45 min |
| Butternut squash | in cubes | 30 to 40 min |
| Beetroot | in wedges | 40 to 50 min |
| Onions | in wedges | 30 to 40 min |
| Garlic | whole bulb, top sliced off | 40 to 50 min |
How the Roasting Time Calculator Works
Each roast starts from a regular oven time per kilogram plus a fixed allowance. A whole chicken takes 40 minutes per kg plus 20 at 190°C, and a turkey 20 minutes per kg plus 70, or plus 90 from 4 kg. The same rules as the oven converter then adjust it: a fan forced oven is set 20°C cooler for the same time, and an air fryer 20°C cooler and a fifth faster. A gas oven reads the regular temperature as a gas mark, which the temperature converter also covers. Internal temperatures follow the USDA: 74°C (165°F) for poultry and 63°C (145°F) for a whole cut of beef, lamb or pork.
Planning Christmas and Thanksgiving Dinner
Resting the roast is part of the plan. A turkey sits under foil for 30 minutes or more, which frees the oven to finish the potatoes, carrots and pumpkin. The oven-to-table figure is cooking plus rest time, so a 6 kg turkey goes in 4 hours before you want to serve. A roast is the traditional Christmas dinner in the northern hemisphere. I live in Australia, where it is often over 30°C on 25 December and nobody wants to heat the house any further, so our family has a Christmas in July instead: we hire a house somewhere cold for the weekend and cook a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How long does a 6 lb chicken take in a fan oven?
- About 2 hours 10 minutes at 170°C (340°F). Chicken takes 40 minutes per kilogram plus 20 in a regular oven at 190°C, and a fan oven takes the same time with the dial set 20°C lower. Start checking at 1 hour 45 minutes, take it out when the thickest part of the thigh reads 74°C (165°F), and rest it for 15 minutes before carving. Convert any oven setting with the oven converter
- How long does a 20 lb turkey take for Thanksgiving?
- About 4 hours 30 minutes at 375°F (190°C) in a regular oven, or at 340°F (170°C) in a fan oven for the same time. The rule is 20 minutes per kilogram plus 90 for a bird of 4 kg or more, and 20 lb is a little over 9 kg. Add 15 to 30 minutes if the cavity is stuffed, then rest it for 30 minutes under foil. Convert oven temperatures between °C, °F and gas mark
- How long do I cook a 6 kg turkey for Christmas?
- About 3 hours 30 minutes at 190°C, which is 170°C in a fan oven or Gas Mark 5 in a gas one. British Turkey times a bird this size at 20 minutes a kilo, with 90 minutes on top once it reaches 4 kg. Check the deepest part of the leg for 74°C (165°F), then rest it for at least 30 minutes while the potatoes finish. Work out how many potatoes you need
- What internal temperature should roast beef reach?
- Take roast beef out at 52°C (125°F) for rare, 57°C (135°F) for medium-rare, 63°C (145°F) for medium and 71°C (160°F) for well done, measured in the centre of the joint. The temperature still rises a few degrees while the beef rests. The USDA sets 63°C (145°F) with a 3 minute rest as the safe minimum for a whole cut. Rare and medium-rare are below this.
- How long should a roast rest before carving?
- Rest a chicken or duck for 15 minutes, a beef joint or leg of lamb for 20, and a whole turkey for at least 30. Resting lets the juices settle back into the meat, so a rested beef joint loses far less onto the board than one carved straight from the oven. Cover the roast loosely with foil to keep it warm without steaming the skin, and use the rest time to finish the vegetables and gravy.
- Can I roast a whole chicken in an air fryer?
- Yes, as long as it weighs 2 kg (4.4 lb) or less, which is about the most a large air fryer basket takes. Set it to 170°C (340°F), 20°C below a regular oven, and allow about a fifth less time: a 1.5 kg chicken takes around 65 minutes. Turn it halfway so both sides brown, and check the thigh reads 74°C (165°F). Open the oven to air fryer converter
- Is pork safe to eat at 63°C (145°F)?
- Yes, for a whole cut such as a loin roast. The USDA dropped its pork minimum to 63°C (145°F) in 2011, followed by a 3 minute rest, and the meat can still look slightly pink at that point. If you prefer pork cooked through with no pink, take it to 71°C (160°F), which adds about 20 minutes to a 1.5 kg loin. Pulled pork shoulder goes further, to about 93°C (200°F).
More conversions
Convert ingredient measurements or fresh fruit and vegetables.
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