Can frozen chicken be cooked immediately or does it need to be thawed?

Placing chicken in the freezer for storage is convenient, but then the question arises, how to cook this frozen chicken? Do I need to defrost it before adding it to the soup? This is not necessary, especially if the product has been properly prepared.

When freezing is not a problem

What is proper preparation? The answer is extremely simple: before putting it in the freezer, you need to clean the chicken from any remaining feathers, cut it up, and if you want less fat, remove the skin. For main courses, it is recommended to remove the meat from the bone. Then the pieces need to be put into different containers or bags, the expiration date must be signed and placed on the shelves.

Advice
The drier the surface of the future workpiece is after rinsing and the less “juice” has time to leak during the freezing process, the better the quality of the semi-finished product.

This pre-prepared product does not need to be defrosted - just put it in cold water and cook. This will not affect the taste or quality of the finished dish.

What does ice affect?

Frozen chicken cooks in the same way as chilled chicken, with one exception: the meat will take longer, on average 1.5 times, to cook completely. And yet the soup will be on the table much faster than when defrosted.

The second nuance: the ice chicken also cools the water and prevents it from boiling longer. Accordingly, if you cook soup in a slow cooker, set the operating interval 1.5-2 times longer, otherwise the chicken will not be cooked or the broth will not be saturated.

The chicken in the slow cooker must be boiled - since the device heats up slowly and then simmers the soup (due to this you get the “out of the oven” effect), there remains a risk that harmful microorganisms will multiply in the meat and then not die. Therefore, the magazine purity-en.htgetrid.com recommends choosing the “Multi-cook” program or first “Cooking”, letting the chicken simmer, removing the foam, and then activating the “Soup” cycle.

Advice
Don't rely on the timer entirely, and use a fork to test the chicken for doneness. A raw product will be more difficult to pierce; juice will be released from the puncture, which will immediately produce foam.

When should you defrost chicken?

There are several cases when defrosting is required:

• when the frozen portion is too large, you need to let it thaw slightly, separate the required amount, and immediately put the rest back in the freezer;
• when the skin has not been removed first, and it is of no use in the dish (for example, you need a dietary dish with a minimum of fat);
• when the portion is frozen so that it does not fit into the dish and sticks out above the water;
• if you plan to fry or stew chicken, excess juice will ruin the dish, so it is recommended to let the meat thaw and drain, then rinse, dry with paper towels and cook.

Important
Repeated freezing is strictly prohibited, which is why it is so important to divide the chicken into portions in advance. Otherwise, it is preferable to use the entire stock for cooking at once, for example, by making neck, back and wing soup, brisket salad and stewed potatoes with leg meat.

How to defrost correctly

After thawing, the chicken will not lose its taste or shape if you follow simple recommendations:

1. Thaw the product slowly, preferably in the refrigerator or on the balcony.In the microwave or oven there is a high risk of drying out the meat or even baking it. This will have a negative impact on the final dish. In the room is a good option if there are no cats/dogs and the air is cool enough, otherwise the chicken will go stale soon after it melts. A good place is a window sill on the north or west side.
2. Remove the product from the bag, film, and remove it from the container onto a plate - this will speed up defrosting.
3. Do not force defrosting with a jet of water: these meat splashes are not hygienic and the meat will become watery.
4. Place the chicken in a rimmed bowl; quite a lot of liquid will drain from it. It will be bad if everything spills on the products below.
5. To protect the chicken from pets while thawing on the counter, cover the product with a microwave hood.

Feel free to buy chicken for future use and freeze it. In this form, it retains all its useful qualities for 2 to 5 months under standard conditions in the freezer. It is not necessary to thaw the bird before cooking - for soup, add the chicken without defrosting. This is extremely convenient if you need the dish today for lunch and not tomorrow for breakfast.