Chicken temp up, then down and then back up?

[Michael Freeman]

I tried to do some chicken thighs. I took them off when they hit 165. They seemed wet and not quite done.

So, next time I let them stay on a little longer. As soon as they got up to about 170, all of a sudden they started slowly decreasing in temp back down to about 160. Then slowing increasing again back up.

What causes this? Anyone ever have this happen before. I've done three different cooks now and they all seem to do this.

So, do I go by the original reading before it starts to decrease? Wait for it to go down and then back up and then go by that temp? I don't want them undercooked, but I also don't want to overcook. So, I'm just trying to figure out how other people do this. I will usually probe two different pieces of chicken when I cook and they both seem to do this.

 

[brady martin]

i use a thermapen which makes it very easy. i just take the meat off the grill and get temp.

i see some people check temp without taking the meat off the grill which might explain your problem. is that what you are doing?

 

[Michael Freeman]

I use the ET-73 so I see the temp of the chicken the whole time. That's why I can see it go up, then go back down, and then up again.

It's almost like it gets to a plateau, and then something happens inside that cools it back down a little before it starts to heat back up.