A Guide to Chicken Food Storage and Safety

Chicken is a lot of fun to cook with because it is one of the most versatile ingredients there is. Whether you are new to cooking in general or whether you want to brush up on your chicken food storage skills, here are some tips to make sure your chicken recipes are safe as well as tasty.

Choosing and Buying Chicken

First of all, only buy chicken within its expiration date that feels cold to the touch. Do not buy fresh chicken, which is leaking or damaged.

Chicken is chilled during its distribution to retail stores to keep it cool and fresh. If you need to buy fresh chicken, it is a good idea to make it the last item you buy before heading to the checkout so it does not get warm. Double bag the chicken separately from your other groceries and put it in the refrigerator as soon as you get home, in its original packaging.

Chilling, Freezing and Thawing Chicken

If you are not going to use the fresh chicken within a day or so, you will need to freeze it. When you want to defrost it again, you can either use cold water or a microwave. Alternatively, you can let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator, which is the safest way. You can defrost boneless chicken breasts in the refrigerator overnight but a whole chicken can take up to two days. If you do not need all the defrosted chicken, you can refreeze it.

To defrost chicken in cold water, you need to submerge it, either in a Ziploc bag or its original packaging. Change the water every thirty minutes so it does not warm up. A pound of boneless chicken breasts will take about an hour to defrost in this way and a whole chicken should be done within two or three hours, depending on size.

If you are going to thaw chicken in the microwave, you will need to cook it immediately afterwards because some parts might warm up and start cooking while it is being defrosted and partial cooking does not kill the bacteria.

It is possible to cook frozen chicken on the stove or in the oven but you cannot safely cook frozen chicken in a crockpot or in the microwave.

You can marinate chicken in the refrigerator for a couple of days if you like but if you want to stuff a chicken, it will need to be cooked immediately. Cooked chicken has to reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F to ensure any bacteria are killed.

If you have leftover Kentucky fried chicken after your delicious homemade meal, you should refrigerate it within a couple of hours so it is safe to enjoy the following day.

How Long Does Chicken Keep?

You can store raw chicken parts in the refrigerator for two days or nine months in the freezer. A whole raw chicken is good for two days in the refrigerator or twelve months in the freezer. A cooked whole chicken or cooked chicken parts are fine for up to four days in the refrigerator or you can freeze them for up to four months.

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