Frozen Chicken

[SV32]

How is frozen chicken to cook with? I am still buying my chicken breasts from citysuper and it's damn pricey, but just worry that frozen chicken when it defrosts will be all gooey?

[chuckster007]

How is frozen chicken to cook with? I am still buying my chicken breasts from citysuper and it's damn pricey, but just worry that frozen chicken when it defrosts will be all gooey?

Frozen chicken when defrosted is NOT GOOEY, its perfectly fine.

[SV32]

Ok thanks I'll give it a try, does it make a difference how you defrost the chicken? Do you put it in fridge overnight or just leave it out for a few hours? And where does all the water end up going? Or is the frozen chicken flash frozen so there isn't any water?

[Skyhook]

Ok thanks I'll give it a try, does it make a difference how you defrost the chicken? Do you put it in fridge overnight or just leave it out for a few hours? And where does all the water end up going? Or is the frozen chicken flash frozen so there isn't any water?

You can do one of two things.

1. Leave frozen chicken ( Im not sure of the quantity you usually prep ) in its bag or supermarket pack on the draining board of your kitchen sink in the morning ( 1kg ) and it will be 90% thawed out by late afternoon ie 5ish. Obviously the less frozen mass you have the shorter the thaw time. So 200 grams for a single person serve would = 2 - 3 hours I'd hazard a guess.


2. If you have a microwave oven, select the Defrost mode, which will ask you for the items weight, once you dial the weight in, it will do it's thing. Off the top of my head, half a kilo of chicken in the microwave using 'defrost' mode takes 8 minutes to defrost. So, hopefully your microwave has an effective defrost mode to do it. Most modern " recognised " brands do, be it: LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Miele etc etc etc

Also if using a microwave, take chicken out of plastic bag or supermarket pack, and place in a medium to high rim bowl, ( so you dont get water from the thaw making a mess in your microwave, I assume you have assorted plastic splash cover lids, that you can place one of the right size over the top of your bowl to stop any chance of juice spitting and again, making a mess in your microwave. I assume you know how to use a microwave oven ;-).

[newtohk2020]

Sorry to jump in but chicken should never be left to thaw in room temperature, especially from the morning to the late afternoon in the kitchen sink. The risk of bacterial build up is high and salmonella poisoning is real. Chicken should be thawed in a container or bowl on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator to avoid any cross contamination from any potential drippings.

[mrgoodkat]

How is frozen chicken to cook with? I am still buying my chicken breasts from citysuper and it's damn pricey, but just worry that frozen chicken when it defrosts will be all gooey?

Frozen chicken is perfectly fine and has no noticable difference to fresh chicken. A lot of the imported chilled meat products at CitySuper or Wellcome were previously frozen as well. Pay attention to the label.

[HK_Katherine]

I never buy anything but frozen chicken. If I'm cooking breasts I just defrost in the microwave first and go for it. (I'm not a foodie but have never noticed the difference).

[RMDNC]

If you handle the defrosting process properly, frozen chicken is far safer than so called "fresh" chicken. Same for other meats. I'd rather eat frozen chicken from Brazil or the US than fresh China chicken.

[chuckster007]

Just move it from the freezer to the other part of fridge over night to let it defrost. easy peasy la

[Cwbguy]

Have had a lot of success with, to me, a new gadget, the electric pressure cooker, or Instant Pot.

Frozen breast, tomato, carrot, potato chunks, garlic, dash white wine/stock etc. Chuck it all in,(chicken still frozen) and in under an hour you have a great meal, and the chicken does not have the texture of cardboard.