How Long To Bake Chicken Per Pound?

If you bought a whole chicken and you're wondering how long you should cook it, a quick way to know the estimated baking time is to find out the weight of the chicken first. Basically, in a 350 oven, baking a chicken can take up to 20 to 30 minutes per pound plus another 20 extra minutes to cook through the whole chicken.

An average whole chicken weighs about 3 pounds so at 350°F (177°C), it will take about 1 hour and 20 minutes to fully cook through it. Below is quick guide on the baking time for a whole chicken:

• At 325°F (163°C), 2 hours
• At 350°F (177°C), 1 hour 20 minutes

Nevertheless, this is only a rough guide as different every oven is different. A better way to check if your chicken is fully cooked is to use a meat thermometer or slice into it and see if the juices run clear. What you want is for the inside of the meat and the juices to be non-pinky.