Defrosting a whole chicken, don't think I took it out soon enough for tomorrow

[RogueFemale]

I froze a very posh French chicken at Christmas, the day before the eat-by date. Weight 2kg.

I've never frozen and defrosted a whole chicken before.

Posh French chicken enthusiast is coming for dinner tomorrow, and I took the chicken out of the freezer at 11am morning, put it in the fridge, thinking over 24 hrs would be plenty of time. But it's still rock hard, not the slightest hint of defrosting.

Worried, I googled, and discovered that it could take one or two days.

I've now taken it out of the fridge, thinking a few hours out might speed things up (I'll put it back in the fridge overnight), but is this safe?

I've read that you can immerse the chicken in a bowl of cold water (inside a plastic bag) and keep changing the water, but is this going to work with a 2kg chicken?

Help!

You've never defrosted a chicken? 😳

Anyway, simply leave it out overnight, it'll defeat fine & it's safe.

It's only really a problem if you are defrosting in a warm room / during the day with rising temperatures.

Most fridges are too cold to allow defrosting, the meat will be fairly frozen for days.

Enjoy the posh French chicken (I've no idea what that is!)

Agree with Earrings just chuck it on the side to defrost overnight, this is how I defrost all my meat, and we've never been sick.

Cold water is GREAT for defrosting but I'd make it the sink rather than a bowl which will rapidly turn into ice water. And change the water halfway through.

If you do get it defrosted by tonight I'd consider chucking it into boiling water for a minute. I normally do this with fresh chicken and it helps crisp up the skin fir roasting. After that, leave it in the fridge uncovered overnight.

Absolutely. Defrost on the counter overnight unless you sleep with the heating full on and thermostat at over 20. It will be fine.
If you are v anxious take it out when you go to bed so that it only has 8 hours out. In the morning stick your hand inside to see if it defrosted right to the middle. You will be fine.

Personally I don’t leave chicken out to defrost on the counter… too scared of food poisoning for that.
I would keep in the fridge until a couple of hours before it’s ready to cook then immerse in cold water , replacing every 20 mins as described above.

If you have one of those big plastic tubtrugs that will hold loads of water put it in that (in a bag) in cold water. Water transfers heat better than air and it will defrost much quicker but won’t get warm

Huge thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm going with the cold water method as that seems safest. It's in the kitchen sink now (in a plastic bag), and I'll change the water regularly till bedtime, then put it in the fridge overnight, then back in the sink tomorrow a.m. till I get back from work at lunchtime.

@EarringsandLipstick It's a Poulet Noir a.k.a. black leg chicken. They're really good.

You need to learn a bit more about food safety. There is no risk of food poisoning from leaving a rock solid chicken out on the worktop overnight if the heating is switched off. Assess the situation in the morning, OP, and if it seems to be well on the way to being defrosted put it back in the fridge then. I've never used this odd method of putting frozen things in water. I just make sure I take them out of the freezer in good time and defrost them either in the fridge, if I've got a few days in hand, or at room temperature if I want to use it that night. Start off the cooking at a good high temperature to be on the safe side. Then just check excactly as normal whether it's cooked through. It will be fine.