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
You should choose chicken, which is within its expiration date and cold to the touch. You should not buy fresh chicken, which is damaged or leaking.
Chicken is chilled in food storage vehicles during its distribution to supermarkets to keep it fresh and stop bacteria from growing. Make cold meat and poultry the last thing you put in your grocery cart when you are shopping before heading to the checkout, so it does not get warm. Bag the chicken separately from the other groceries and refrigerate it as soon as you get home, still in its packaging.
Chicken Basics – Chilling, Freezing, and Thawing
You need to use fresh chicken within a couple of days. If you are not going to do this, it will need to be frozen. To defrost frozen chicken, you can either use a microwave, cold water or the refrigerator. The safest yet slowest way is to use the refrigerator. Boneless chicken breasts will thaw overnight in the refrigerator but a whole chicken might take a couple of days. If you defrost too much chicken in the refrigerator, you can refreeze the surplus.
If you want to defrost the chicken in water, submerge it, still in the packaging or in a Ziploc bag, in cold water. Change the water every half an hour so it stays cold. You can defrost a pound of boneless chicken breasts in an hour or a whole chicken in two or three hours.
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.
You can cook chicken from frozen in the oven or on the stove, as long as you allow it a 50% longer cooking time but do not cook frozen chicken in the microwave or in a slow cooker.
If you want to stuff, a chicken you will need to cook it right away but you can marinate chicken in the refrigerator for up to two days. It is important that cooked chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. This ensures that 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 Can You Keep Chicken?
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.
Fried chicken is a delicious, comforting dish and there are many different ways to prepare it. At SouthernFriedChickenRecipe.com we have pan fried chicken recipes, deep fried chicken recipes, oven fried chicken recipes and lots of chicken articles, tips and tricks to ensure your southern fried chicken comes out wonderfully.
