How long does that take to cook?
Cooking times cluster tightly, which is why an unfamiliar recipe’s timing is usually guessable within a factor of two.
67% of a roasting a chicken
1 h is longer than 6 of the 9 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| toasting bread | 0.05 h | 20× | |
| boiling an egg (soft) | 0.1 h | 10× | |
| boiling pasta | 0.167 h | 6× | |
| baking cookies | 0.2 h | 5× | |
| a pizza | 0.25 h | 4× | |
| baking a cake | 0.583 h | 1.71× | |
| roasting a chicken | 1.5 h | 0.667× | |
| a slow-cooked stew | 6 h | 0.167× | |
| a brisket, smoked | 12 h | 1/12 | Twelve hours |
Worth knowing
- Roast poultry timing follows a simple rule: 20 minutes per 500 g plus 20 minutes, at 180 °C.
- Low-and-slow cooking works because collagen turns to gelatin between 70 and 90 °C, and that conversion takes hours rather than degrees.
Frequently asked
How long to roast a chicken?
About 20 minutes per 500 g plus 20 minutes at 180 °C, so a 1.5 kg bird takes roughly 80 minutes. Check that the thickest part of the thigh reaches 74 °C.
Why do slow-cooked meats take so long?
Because the transformation of connective tissue is time-dependent, not just temperature-dependent. Raising the heat toughens the muscle before the collagen has finished.