Can I roast chicken thighs from frozen?

[BroccoliSpears]

I know it always says to defrost thoroughly before cooking, but I forgot to take them out of the freezer.

Can I bung them in from frozen? Lower heat, longer cooking time?

If not, why not?

I wouldn't tbh. Would be afraid they wouldn't be done properly. Have you a microwave? Defrost them in that.

FCIS website says

"Do not cook frozen chicken in the microwave or in a slow cooker. However, chicken can be cooked from the frozen state in the oven or on the stove. The cooking time may be about 50% longer."

I think it'll be fine.

Broccoli, can you post a link? I'd be interested to read that (I'm always forgetting to take stuff out of the freezer)

Here

(Ours was fine by the way. Took a lot longer though. 35ish mins from chilled; about an hour and a half from frozen.)

why are you not meant to defrost a chicken by leaving it on a counter? on a plate of course.

Just the risk of contamination I suppose. Plus if you put it in the fridge it doesn't warm up QUITE so much, so stays chilled and therefore, not growing wee nasty bugs.
I have never quite been sure about cooking things from frozen, but I forgot to take the chicken thighs out of the freezer last night so thanks for the tips! I shall now go and make red thai chicken. From frozen. Gulp

No

The British Frozen Food federation seems to think that:

There are three safe ways to defrost food:
In the refrigerator
In cold water
In the microwave*

So i'd vote against longer cooking time! Better to be safe than sorry...

more here: www.thenewiceage.com/the-cold-facts/storing-defrosting-and-cooking-frozen-foods-safely

Alex

I always defrost chicken portions inc. thighs in the microwave - lowest heat poss shuffling every 5 mins...

Would'nt do it with a whole one though...

To cook it you need to get the whole lot to X degrees (70? can't remember). To eat it you don't want to burn the outside or dry it out so cooking it for longer on lower makes absolute sense. After all, if you cook it from the fridge that's about 5 degrees, if cooking from room temperature that's 21 degrees. Frozen is only 10-15 degrees the other way.

I thought there was a risk of salmonella poisoning with frozen chicken. Don't you have to wait until it's completely defrosted before cooking it?

Well, if you can cook frozen chicken nuggets, I don't see why you can't cook frozen fresh chicken.

I use my common sense and cook them for longer at a lower temperature, often covering with tin foil to keep in the moisture in and take it off to brown the skin at the end.

I probably wouldn't do it for a large volume of frozen chicken frozen in a big mass but I try to freeze food in portions so that it defrosts or cooks more quickly.

Thread is 3 years old!

- never spotted that

Hello everyone. I came from a family of 9 children. And to add to this topic, I cook frozen chicken thighs and drum sticks all the time. A simple rule is this... 300 degrees for 3 hours in a standard oven and dinner is ready. I add my garlic powder and salt to them while frozen. Depending on the oven you can safely eat them between 2 - 2 1/2 hours but myself I begin my other dishes at the 2 1/2 hour point. They have always turned out great and no one has ever gotten sick in any way from cooking this way. The simplest way to remember this is 300 for 3 hours. I put them in and go out knowing my dinner will be fine.

Enjoy!