Sous-vide chicken time by thickness calculator

Enter millimetres and the calculator selects the next suitable band in a fixed lookup table, returning both minutes and decimal hours. It is designed for repeatable planning rather than live temperature sensing or food-safety certification. The estimate covers heating time only, so any recipe-specific pasteurization hold, finishing step, handling guidance, and temperature choice must be considered separately.

Measure the thickest part before choosing a time

Place the uncooked chicken on a clean surface and measure the thickest part of the piece you plan to bag. Use the largest measurement when a bag contains several pieces, because the thickest piece controls the heating estimate. Measure the actual vertical thickness rather than length, width, or total weight. If a breast tapers sharply, check more than one point and submit the largest value in millimetres. Pieces folded over one another behave like a thicker piece, so arrange them in a single layer before measuring and sealing. The calculator accepts any finite number greater than zero. A value such as 32 millimetres is assigned to the table band ending at 40 millimetres, which deliberately avoids understating the tabulated estimate. For a measurement exactly on a boundary, such as 40 millimetres, the matching 40-millimetre row is used. Consistent measuring is more useful than false precision, so rounding upward to the next whole millimetre is a practical choice when your ruler is difficult to read.

Understand the fixed-table result

The calculation is a ceiling lookup, not a physical simulation and not interpolation between two rows. The fixed bands end at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 millimetres, followed by one final band for larger positive measurements. Each band has a predetermined heating time. The algorithm scans the rows from smallest to largest and chooses the first maximum that is equal to or greater than the submitted thickness. It returns the original thickness, the selected table maximum, the time in minutes, the same time converted to decimal hours, and a method label. For the open-ended final band, the table-maximum field is omitted because no finite upper boundary exists. Since the table is fixed, identical inputs always produce identical outputs on the website and through the API. The result does not change with date, location, appliance brand, bath temperature, starting temperature, chicken cut, bone content, or bag arrangement; users must account for those factors outside this deliberately narrow estimator.

Use heating time as one part of a safe process

Treat the returned number as a planning estimate for heating, not as a declaration that poultry is pasteurized or safe to eat. Sous-vide safety depends on the relationship among core temperature, hold time, initial temperature, preparation, storage, and the needs of the people being served. Choose a bath temperature and any additional pasteurization hold from a trusted food-safety authority or a validated recipe, then add that hold when the chosen process requires it. Keep raw poultry separate from ready-to-eat food, wash hands and tools after contact, use intact food-safe bags, and avoid leaving chicken in uncontrolled temperature ranges. Bone-in pieces, rolled meat, stacked portions, frozen chicken, unusually large pieces, and equipment with poor circulation can require a different validated method. After cooking, serve promptly or chill according to authoritative guidance before refrigeration. The calculator intentionally does not ask for bath temperature because its contract is a simple thickness-to-table lookup. That simplicity makes automation predictable, but it also means the output should never replace a thermometer, a validated pasteurization schedule, or local public-health advice.