Your Defrosting Chicken Safely Guide
|
|
|
Chicken Safety Tips
Chicken may be marinated in the refrigerator up to 2 days. Boil used marinade before brushing on cooked chicken. Discard any uncooked leftover marinade.
For more tips like this, visit our Chicken Safety Tips page. |
|
Defrosting Chicken Safely
Handling chicken can be tricky sometimes, but doesn't have to be difficult. Defrosting chicken safely will help to make your cooking experience go smoothly and safely.
Defrosting Chicken Safely
According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, they recommend 3 different ways to defrost a chicken.
- in the refrigerator
- in cold water
- in the microwave
It's never a good idea to defrost the chicken on the counter or other locations other than what is mentioned above. The slowest and safest way to thaw chicken is in the refrigerator. Here are some thawing times for different parts of the chicken:
- Boneless chicken breasts - defrost in the refrigerator overnight
- Whole chickens and bone-in parts - possibly 1-2 days longer
Defrosted raw chicken can be kept up to 2 days in the refrigerator before cooking. And if you decide not to use your defrosted chicken, guess what? I didn't know this, but it's true, you can refreeze it.
Another way to defrost chicken is in cold water in airtight plastic packaging or other types of airtight packaging. Here's the trick though, you should change the water every 30 minutes or so to make sure the water temperature stays cold. Here are some defrosting times:
- Whole chicken (about 3-4 lbs.) - 2-3 hours in cold water
- Other chicken parts (bone-in) - 2-3 hours in cold water
- Package of boneless breasts (about 1 lb.) - 1 hour or less in cold water
If you decide you need to defrost your chicken in the microwave to save some time, just be ready to cook it immediately after thawing. Partially cooked food is a great place for any bacteria that was present to flourish. And any foods defrosted by microwave or cold water should definitely be cooked before re-freezing.
Never cook frozen chicken in the microwave or a crock pot or slow cooker. Having said that, you can cook frozen chicken in the oven or on your stove. The only difference would be that the cooking time will probably be about 50% longer than thawed chicken.
To find out more great chicken safety tips that include info on defrosting, stuffing chickens, safe cooking tips and more, just visit our More Chicken Safety Tips page.
If you would like more information about food safety for meat, egg products and poultry, ust call the toll-free number for the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at:1-800-535-4555
and for the hearing impaired: (TTY) 1-800-256-7072
You can talk with a food safety expert every weekday from 10 am to 4 pm EST or you can listen to food safety recordings 24 hours a day using a touch tone phone.
Information is also available from the Food Safety and Inspection Service Web site. |
Try some of these delicious recipes:
Chicken Asperagus Chowder
Chicken Barley Soup
Chicken Cabbage Noodle Soup
Chicken Rice Soup
Chicken Soup Caribbean Style
Chicken Tomato Cilantro Soup
Easy Chicken Gumbo
Fantastic Chicken Broth
Homemade Chicken Broth
Homemade Chicken Stock
Pueblo Chicken Soup
Traditional Chicken Broth
Traditional Chicken Stock
For a more complete listing of soup recipe ideas, visit my Soup Recipe Index page.
|
