How Long Is Frozen Chicken Good For

There’s a reason why chicken is a substantial meal in most homes: it’s healthy, it’s versatile, and even the fussy eaters will likely be willing to eat it. Nevertheless, chicken also has a high risk of bacterial contamination, so correctly preparing, storing, and cooking it is essential. If you’re not sure how long frozen chicken is good for or how to defrost that frozen chicken safely, here are some tips to keep your chicken fresh and, even more importantly, safeguard yourself and your family from getting sick.

 How Long Can Your Chicken Stay Safe?

According to USDA and US Food and Drug Administration, raw chicken, whether breast wings, can stay for around 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator. If not cooking it immediately, the chicken will go bad after two days. The best option of preserving it is to freeze and can stay good for 9- 12 months. For cooked chicken, it can stay good for 3 -4 days.

Cooking extends its shelf life than storing it when raw in the fridge. But the chicken will last longer if stored in the freezer and can stay in good quality for four months. A whole chicken can stay in the fridge for up to 2 days before cooking it. After this, you should cook it or transfer it to the freezer. You can store the whole chicken in a freezer for up to 1 year before its quality lowers.

Best Freezing Tips

• Always ensure you set the freezer at zero degrees F to retain the meat’s flavor, texture, color, and micronutrient content. The temperature may go off if power is out or if you leave, the doors opened for long. Therefore, it’s wise to avoid any interference with the temperature setting.
• It’s best to use the right containers for storing your meat. You can use aluminum foil, plastic wraps, and others. Consider using vacuum sealers to remove as much air as possible from your chicken before freezing it. Removing air prevents your meat from freezer burns and flavor deterioration.
• Airtight packaging is critical to freeze chicken successfully. As you store whole chicken, remove and rinse the giblets and pat dry with a paper towel. Trim away excess fat, tightly wrap the meat, label the date, and freeze chicken separately with the giblets.
• It’s best to chill your cooked chicken before freezing it. Please put it in a wide container, uncovered, and place it in the fridge to cool. Later, transfer into the freezer. Cooling prevents the temperature from rising and causing other foods to defrost.
• The containers or wraps you use should be waterproof to hold the meat’s moisture and avoid spilling it to other foods and causing a foul smell in the fridge.
• Freeze your chicken as quickly as possible to maintain it at the best quality. To freeze the meat faster, place on the floor or against the freezer wall, which is the coldest part.
• To prepare for any power outage, keep an appliance thermometer in your fridge and freezer to monitor the temperature.
• If the power will be out for some days, locate block ice, bags of ice, or dry ice and place it in the freezer with the meat too.

Things that Might Cause Trouble

• Power blackout for several days can make the meat spoil. A full freezer may stay frozen for about two days and a half-full freezer for almost a day.
• If you keep the door open, it will interfere with the temperature setting. For your meat quality, ensure the temperature remains at 0 degrees F. The meat will stay safe as long as you don’t interfere with the temperatures.
• With a power outage, temperatures rise and initiate the thawing process; this leads to bacterial growth on the meat and multiplication, compromising the flesh’s quality.

Can Chicken Go Bad in A Freezer?

The chicken can spoil in a freezer if the conditions of preservation are not favorable.  Some of them include;

• Failure to maintain temperatures at 0 degrees F
• There was contamination during the preservation and handling of storage bags.
• If the chicken was already contaminated when purchasing
• When there is a power outage for more days and the chicken thaws

How to Tell if Frozen Chicken is Bad?

There are several ways to tell when your frozen chicken has spoilt;

1. Change of chicken’s color: frozen chicken has a lovely pink coloration. But if spoilt, it turns gray. The fat on it also gets a distinct white color, but it turns yellow when it expires. If you note these colors, the meat is no longer safe for consumption.  Change of color and becoming a bit darker is due to metmyoglobin, a chemical reaction when myoglobin in the flesh gets exposed to oxygen.
2. Chicken small: smelling chicken is an indication it’s already expired. The chicken will have a pungent smell that’s close to rotten eggs.
3. The chicken gets slimy: when you touch, you realize it’s a bit sticky. The sliminess still exists even after washing, and therefore you should throw away.
4. Its past expiration date: if the written date on the package sample has passed, you should dispose of the meat.
5. It’s sitting in a frozen puddle: it means the package started to thaw at some point. You probably compromised the freezer’s temperature, and it’s no longer safe.
6. Package ripped: a ripped meat package may have freezer burns. If there is too much damage, the meat may be unsafe as it’s exposed to air, causing oxidation.

Is Expired Frozen Chicken Safe to Eat?

Expired frozen chicken isn’t safe to eat. To detect if the chicken is harmful, check the “best by date” and look for spoilage signs like smell, texture, and color.  Besides, for “use-by” dates, product dates don’t always cite home storage and use after purchase. “Use-by” dates usually mean the best quality and are not safety dates. However,  even if the date expires during home storage, a product should be safe, wholesome, and of suitable quality, if handled appropriately and kept at 4

° C or beneath.

Check the accompanying refrigerator charts for storage times of dated products. If the product has a “use-by” date, observe the date. If the product contains a “sell-by” date or lacks a date, handle it following the chart’s times. Meat can develop an off odor, flavor, or appearance due to harmful bacteria. If the poultry has set such characteristics, you should not use it for quality reasons.

However, if you mishandle the meat, foodborne bacteria can grow and cause food poisoning before or after the package’s date. Chicken has a high chance of causing food poisoning as bacterial such as salmonella and campylobacter may contaminate. You can only eliminate the bacteria after cooking fresh chicken thoroughly.

Therefore, it’s better to avoid eating expired froze chicken as it will have some bacteria.  Even after proper cooking, you won’t eliminate toxins produced by the bacteria, causing foodborne illness. Food poisoning can cause chills, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration. For severe cases, if not well attended to can lead to death.

How to Thaw Frozen Chicken

The method you choose to thaw your chicken should be safe and convenient. You can use a refrigerator and smaller pieces for more massive chicken cuts, defrost them in a bowl of cold water or microwave.  It’s best to avoid thawing your chicken on the counter at room temperature as you are most likely to spread the bacteria on other utensils, increasing the risk of infections.

Another method, like a bowl of hot water, provide favorable conditions for the bacteria to multiply.  Again, avoid defrosting chicken outdoors in a cold room in the house like the basement. Defrosting methods are as follows;

Defrosting in Cold Water

This process is easy to do, and a few steps to observe.

1. Place your meat in a sealed sandwich bag so that water cannot get inside and contaminate the flesh.
2. Place the bad in a large mixing bowl or clean washing-up dish.

• Fill the vessel with cold water and submerge the bag. Make sure the water is cold as using warm water will promote bacteria growth on the poultry.

1. Change your water every 30 minutes.

Depending on the size of the chicken, thawing will take place at different times. Around half a of chicken will take about an hour to thaw. But if it takes longer, continue changing water. You can also add ice cubes to the cold water to bring the temperatures further down.

If you need to cut the chicken in pieces, thaw it partially, remove the meat from the bag and cut it. The frozen core in the flesh will help prevent sliding around when you cut. It also allows for neater and uniform slices. After, place your pieces in a leak-proof bag, seal, and finish thawing.

Thawing in the Microwave

It’s a quick and easy way to thaw poultry. But you must be vigilant when thawing as leaving it there for a more extended period or in the wrong setting can make your chicken unsafe to eat. The method is best for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so avoid thawing whole chicken.

1. Set your microwave to ‘defrost’ or 50 % power to prevent the outside from cooking while the inside remains frozen.

The thawing time depends on the portions of the chicken. If you aren’t sure, thaw for 2 minutes as you pause to check the progress. If the meat is in pieces, halt the process after a few minutes to break the pieces apart. If using this method, you should cook the chicken immediately; the meat can reach the ‘danger zone’ as bacteria breeding temperature is between 40-140 degrees F, Sharp says. Ensure you also cook the chicken before refreezing.

Refrigerator Thawing

It’s the most reliable and safe defrosting method as it requires no hand attention.

1. Move the pound of the ground chicken or a standard package of the chicken breasts from the freezer to the fridge twenty hours before you plan to cook.
2. Place your chicken in a big sealed sandwich bag.

• Place it on a lipped plate or bowl to stop any excess juices leaking onto other food and spoiling it.

1. Leave the plate overnight at the bottom of the fridge.
2. Once you finish thawing, keep your chicken stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours before using it.

Refrigerators set at 35 F take longer to thaw than those calibrated at 40 F. It’s wise to check your fridge setting before you start and know what to expect.

To examine if your chicken is fully thawed, chop a small incision in the thickest part of the breast or thigh. Place your finger; the flesh should be soft, and no ice crystals should remain. If you feel ice crystals or the meat is solid, you will need to continue defrosting.

Cooking Chicken in Frozen State

When you don’t have enough time to thaw your chicken, it’s safe to cook it in a frozen state. However, cooking time will be more by 50% than the recommended time for fresh or thawed meats.  For instance, if raw chicken breasts take 30-40 minutes to cook, expect frozen ones to cook 45-1 hour.

According to Sharp, this method works for recipes like stews, soups. Sharp also explains cooling on a stovetop is no the best. The excess moisture in frozen chicken prevents the browning process, and getting a nice crispy surface. Cooking methods like a long braise, slow cooking, and chicken soup are ideal for frozen chicken. Others like roasting, microwaving led to uneven results where the outside gets more cooked than the inside. Be sure to use a high setting in the slow cooker to raise the temperature faster to prevent your dish stay in the danger zone for long.

How Can You Tell If Thawed Chicken Is Bad?

You will know whether a thawed chicken is lousy if it presents similar typical signs like a change of color, feeling slimy, and even having a foul smell. Another sign is the presence of abnormal growth. If you spot any signs of molds, that’s an indicator your chicken is unsafe for consumption.

Check this too: How Long Is Chicken Broth Good For

Does Freezing Chicken Affect Taste?

Freezing does affect the taste of your chicken, especially if stored for an extended period. The cell plasma in the chicken freezes and turns into ice crystals. Cell plasma contains a high mineral concentration. In its frozen state, it oxidizes fat in the chicken, and this changes the taste.

Conclusion

For you to enjoy a healthy chicken meal, observe the freezing guidelines set. Observe hygiene measures, follow the preservation dates, use the most appropriate thawing method like refrigeration, and always cook your chicken immediately and thoroughly.  These small ways can save you from a lot of harm, especially foodborne illnesses.