Chicken that isn’t cooked properly can end up potentially giving you food poisoning; so British chicken firm Birds Eye has issued some guidelines
Chicken is one of the most versatile meats out there and can be even be cooked straight from frozen. However, it is essential that you know how to cook it safely if you have frozen it. Luckily, Birds Eye has issued a number of guidelines to help you with this if you’re unsure. Failing to cook chicken properly can leave you with foodborne illnesses such as salmonella or E. coli. Firstly, if you’ve bought fresh chicken and want to freeze it then you must do so before the use-by date on the pack as well as putting it in a sealed container.
The NHS advises that it’s best to use any frozen chicken up within three to six months depending on the pack’s instructions. Birds Eye goes on to note that if you’re freezing raw or cooked chicken then you need to separate the pieces so you can take out only what you want to cook.
If you don’t know how to defrost chicken, Birds Eye recommends that it’s important to make sure the meat is thoroughly defrosted before cooking – at room temperature or in the microwave using the defrost setting – unless you’re using specially-prepared products. While it is not advised to wash raw chicken because it can splash around and any drips could spread harmful bacteria.
Birds Eye also warns people never to re-freeze raw chicken once it has been de-frosted. It must also be kept in the fridge and used within 24 hours. The food company points out though that it is safe to cook the meat and then re-freeze it – but don’t de-frost and re-freeze a piece of cooked meat more than once.
Also, whenever you do decide to defrost or store raw chicken, make sure it’s covered and in a bowl or plastic food container so that the juices don’t end up in places they shouldn’t be. Always make sure chicken is piping hot before you serve it up: no pink juices, pink middles or cold shoulders, Birds Eye adds.
If you don’t have time to de-chicken then there are a couple of options However, larger pieces of frozen chicken, for example a whole chicken or chicken on the bone, aren’t suitable for these methods. They will never cook properly this way and should always be thawed first.
Below are two ways to cook frozen chicken:
Cooking in the oven
Baking chicken breasts or thigh fillets from frozen in the oven is a super easy way to get delicious, succulent chicken:
- Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.
- Put the chicken pieces on a baking tray in the middle of the oven, for about 45 minutes.
- Turn the pieces over halfway through, and keep an eye on them. Make sure they’re piping hot and that there are no pink bits before serving.
Poaching frozen chicken
Poaching is cooking something by heating it slowly in hot, but not boiling, liquid (usually water or stock for chicken). Note that you shouldn’t put frozen chicken straight into boiling water, and you can’t fry frozen chicken.
- Get a large pan and fill it with enough water or stock to completely cover your pieces of chicken.
- Put the pieces of chicken in the liquid, and use a medium heat to bring the liquid to just-below boiling.
- Keep the liquid just below boiling for about 40-45 minutes.
- Check that the chicken is steaming hot and without pink bits before you serve it.
