# How do you quickly defrost chicken?



## airmide_m

My husband eats chicken once in a while, and we never remember to defrost it ahead of time. I've been defrosting it by putting it in a ziplock baggie and then in a bowl of hot water in the sink. This seems to work great, but it feels so wasteful to use the baggie, and I never seem to have good luck washing and reusing them.

We've tried the microwave but it dries it out too much and it neve quite comes out right.

So I'm wondering if there's a better method I haven't yet thought of.


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## Millie Ivy

Well, I would have said microwave. Do you use the proper defrost function? Maybe putting the chicken in a bowl with a touch of water, covering with a towel,and THEN defrost?
Sometimes microwaves just vary.

I really try to just get the chicken out in the am or the night b4. I know that doesn't help much..


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## stormborn

You can just put it in water and skip the baggie, the result is the same.


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## wendy1221

I just put it in the sink w/ water, then wash the sink.


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## JoyfulMomma

When needed I would throw the chicken in the oven frozen. Came out great!

HTH
JM


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## wendy1221

I have also cooked frozen chicken. It just takes longer.


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## Ms. B. Sprout

Quote:


Originally Posted by *stormborn* 
You can just put it in water and skip the baggie, the result is the same.









Add some salt and bay leaf to your defrosting water & you'll have a brine. Yum.

Though I don't know if a quick defrost will give the brining effect, & a longer brine defeats the purpose of a quick defrost.

Sooo... never mind the brining idea.


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## airmide_m

The chicken doesn't get nearly boiled in the hot water? I guess it would in the baggie if it were going to out of the baggie...

A brine sounds like an interesting idea!

I've tried the microwave, and yes on defrost but it always cooks either too quickly or unevenly. Plus a friend of ours is constantly on one fad diet or another and has decided that microwaves are evil...I looked it up and it made some sense so I've been trying to at least slightly cut down on the microwave usage (it's been *very* slightly so far lol)


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## Lady Lilya

Science shows that the fastest way to defrost something is running cold water (not running hot water, not still hot water, not still cold water, not hot air, not cold air).

I put the chicken in a bowl in the sink and fill it with cold water, then i leave the cold water running in a tiny stream in the bowl. It doesn't take much movement to do the job. Just make sure if you leave the room that the drain of the sink is not blocked by the bowl.


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## kallyn

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Lady Lilya* 
Science shows that the fastest way to defrost something is running cold water (not running hot water, not still hot water, not still cold water, not hot air, not cold air).

I put the chicken in a bowl in the sink and fill it with cold water, then i leave the cold water running in a tiny stream in the bowl. It doesn't take much movement to do the job. Just make sure if you leave the room that the drain of the sink is not blocked by the bowl.

I was going to say exactly the same thing. Alton Brown did an experiment with this on his show Good Eats, and the one defrosted under cold running water was by far the fastest. I do this now whenever I need to defrost something quickly and it works great.


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## Samjm

I'll third the cold running water technique!


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## airmide_m

Wow that's really interesting! Now I'll feel guilty about wasting water instead of guilty for wasting a plastic baggie


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## Lady Lilya

It doesn't take a very strong flow of water to do the job.

I don't worry too much about water going down the drain because I figure all the water on the planet cycles around and it isn't vanishing off the face of the earth.

Perhaps there is a way to put it in a basin of cold water with something to make the water move? Some kind of agitator?


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## charleshughes

*Thawing chicken:*

Chicken is the most delicious food, but should be cooked properly in order to eliminate all bacteria's from it. howtodefrostchicken.com is the best site which gives all details and tips of how to defrost the chicken in a proper and safest way. Some of you may be curious enough as to way microwave defrosting is the best way in thawing the chicken, when other methods like washing in the sink, etc are available. Well the main reason behind it is, you cannot eliminate bacteria just by washing it in sink, but when you try to defrost the chicken in microwave, the waves helps to eliminate all unwanted bacteria present inside the chicken,

giving you the safest chicken to consume. Also it is fast ever method, when you compare it to other methods; and by using microwave you can also reduce the chicken flavor and juice lose Also it is very crucial to wash your hands before and after handling the raw chicken, because handling chicken with unclean hands will further contaminate your chicken more and more. 
You should never frost a whole chicken meat. It looks effective for saving your valuable time, but frosting a whole chicken gives more chance to bacteria to grow well and increase their population, and hence creates more contamination of chicken making it unsafe to consume. Also defrosting the raw meat at room temperature is also dangerous as it helps in growth of bacteria at higher rate, and hence should be avoided by all.


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