To cook the chicken today?

[Fourlegsandatail]

Posting here for traffic, I guess the ABU is 'am I being unreasonable to cook the still partially frozen chicken tonight?'

I took a 1.25kg chicken out of the freezer at lunchtime yesterday and put it in the fridge to defrost. I was planning on cooking it at around 6pm tonight to eat at around 7.30pm.

However I've just had a check and it still appears very frozen, there are lots of ice crystals and a thick 'dusting of snow' in the middle of the chicken. I've never had this before and my fridge hasn't gone to a cooler setting so its a bit of a mystery.

Should I take it out of the fridge to defrost on the kitchen side until I cook it later today or should I leave it in the fridge and cook it tomorrow? If I cook it tomorrow it will be quite late - around 7pm before I can get it in the oven - is that to long to leave it in the fridge?

If I cook it today should I spatchcock it or cut it into pieces, would that help? Ideally I want to roast the whole bird.

Or can I defrost a whole chicken in the microwave (why does that feel really wrong?).

I am usually a confident cook but frozen chicken makes me a little nervous!

YANBU - leave it on the side, it will be fine
YABU - cook it tomorrow

Either leave it out of the fridge until this evening or stick it in a microwave for a few minutes on defrost. Or keep it in the fridge till tomorrow. It's perfectly safe in all of these scenarios.
As a rule of thumb, if I plan a stew, I don't care much how defrosted my chicken is as I will be cooking it for long enough for it not to matter at all. For whole chicken roast, I would microwave if it didn't look quite ready by the time I am.

Please don't microwave defrost the chicken! Big no no
Leave it on the side till later

Leave it on a worktop. We dont have any heating on during the day so our kitchen is very cool, but even if it were warmer I'd be fine with leaving it there to finish defrosting and then cook as normal later, and I'd roast it whole as you have planned.

What's wrong with using the microwave on defrost?

I'd be more concerned about what happens after you've cooked it - you need any leftovers to be cool enough to put in the fridge before you go to bed.

You didn’t need to defrost it at all. Just cook it from frozen. When cooking a joint from frozen, you add 50% to the cooking time. And just check the internal temp as you usually would when it’s done.

This comes up on mumsnet all the time, and everyone will jump on and say, “Don’t risk it,” because the majority of people don’t understand good safety.

I’m from a farming family on one side, and the other grandparents were a butcher and a chef, one of my parents is a chef. Trust me, it is absolutely safe to cook a joint from frozen, even a chicken.

I assume it's because the microwave might heat the chicken up unevenly and if it then stands around at room temperature before it's cooked that ups the risk of food poisoning a bit. I have defrosted/finished defrosting meat and fish in a microwave before but immediately before cooking it, so that hasn't been an issue.

I can't see the problem in getting the leftovers into the fridge by bedtime if the chicken is cooked and on the table by 7.30pm. Presumably OP is not in bed by 8.30pm.

How early do you go to bed if food cooked at 7 won’t be cold by bedtime?

Do you have a meat thermometer? As long as the temp reaches over 75 throughout and juices run clear, it will be cooked through. Add 50% extra cooking time to what’s recommended per kg for a fresh chicken. Maybe it’s changed since but that certainly used to be the FSA’s stance on cooking from frozen.

And you don’t generally need to wait for food to cool completely before putting it in the fridge - that’s outdated advice based on older, less effective fridges which struggled to cool as efficiently and led to hot food raising the overall temperature of the fridge. Nowadays it’s safer to chill down hot food as quickly as possible by refrigerating.

Thanks everyone.

The chicken is out on the side and I will factor in potential extra cooking time. I have a meat thermometer so will use that as a final check.

For the poster who was worried about leftovers being too hot they are usually cool within a couple of hours so can be put in the fridge at 9.30/10pm :)

That's the difficulty!

I have gone to bed too late a few times for thos reason. I spoon it into portions in cpld/room temperature storage containers in the hope it will chill more quickly.

You don't need to let left overs cool before putting them in the fridge.

Nothing wrong with defrosting chicken in the microwave

Just leave it out, I always defrost on the side

Read the post two above yours. You don't need to worry about this.

Hi everyone I just wanted to report back that we enjoyed the chicken yesterday and feeling absolutely fine today. Thanks for everyone’s wise advice and reassurance. Having chicken noodles with the leftovers tonight and soup for lunch tomorrow.

Yum yum!