Search for easy, weeknight-friendly recipes, and you’re bound to come across many featuring chicken. It’s no surprise that 75 percent of Americans eat such an easy, versatile protein at least once a week. Many home cooks keep it stashed away in the freezer for convenience, ready to thaw for their next minimal-effort meal.
While freezing chicken is convenient, defrosting it is not—especially if you forget to take it out of your freezer in time. The internet is littered with shortcuts for thawing chicken quickly, but do they really work as fast and as well as they claim to? Can the defrosting method you choose impact how your chicken cooks? And, more importantly, is it safe? Armed with more than 55 pounds of chicken—including chicken breasts, thighs, drumsticks, wings, and ground chicken—I decided to find out.
Why It's Important to Defrost Chicken Correctly
You have two hours until dinner and you’ve forgotten to defrost your chicken. You place a package of frozen chicken thighs in a bowl of hot water in the hopes that the heat will thaw the poultry quickly. No big deal, right?
While this may feel like an acceptable way to defrost chicken, you’re setting yourself up for a serious case of food poisoning by letting your poultry sit in the temperature danger zone, which ranges from 40 to 140ºF (4.5 to 60ºC). According to Meredith Carothers, a food safety specialist with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), this is the temperature that harmful bacteria like salmonella, e. Coli, or campylobacter can multiply and “reach dangerous levels,” which can increase the risk of food poisoning. “Depending on the type of bacteria,” she says, “it can create a toxin that’s heat resistant.”
To prevent foodborne illnesses, the USDA has strict guidelines on how to safely thaw chicken. Though there are many ways of defrosting poultry, there are only three methods the organization recommends: thawing chicken in the fridge, in the microwave, or in a bowl of cold tap water with a temperature of 55 to 65ºF (13 to 18ºC).
How We Tested
To determine the best way to defrost chicken, I tested the USDA’s three recommended methods, along with two other common, even if objectionable, ones: allowing the chicken to sit under cool running water and at room temperature.
Curious to see if the best way to thaw chicken would depend on the cut, and to gather timing data for some of the most common pieces of chicken, I tested different parts: bone-in and boneless breasts, bone-in and boneless thighs, drumsticks, wings, and ground chicken. To ensure consistency in my testing, all meat was frozen as flat as possible in a quart-size zip-top bag. I weighed each cut and portioned them into individual packages that were all a similar shape and size, as how meat is frozen can impact how long it takes to defrost.
Those packages consisted of:
- Two drumsticks, weighing half a pound in total
- Five wings, weighing half a pound in total
- One pound of ground chicken
- One pound of boneless chicken breasts
- One pound of bone-in, skin-on breasts
- Two boneless thighs, weighing about half a pound in total
- A family-size, two-pound package of bone-in thighs
As each cut defrosted, I recorded how long each method took, how hands-off it was, and if the temperature of the chicken ever reached the danger zone, which I tested with an instant-read meat thermometer. If the chicken did hit a temperature in that range, I noted how long it spent within the danger zone before the rest of the cut was completely thawed. I then cooked all the chicken to see whether each method impacted taste and texture.
For the cooking itself, I rubbed drumsticks, wings, boneless breasts, and boneless thighs with salt and olive oil, then baked it on a rimmed baking sheet at 425°F (220ºC). I browned ground chicken in a nonstick pan on the stove. As for the skin-on, bone-in breasts and thighs, I first crisped them in a cast-iron skillet with butter, then baked them in the oven. My results below will hopefully help you determine the best method to defrost your chicken in the time you have—or if you’re better off ordering pizza for dinner.
The Most Common Methods for Thawing Chicken: Tested
Refrigerator
Method
To thaw chicken in the fridge, I removed it from the freezer, placed the sealed package in a container or on a rimmed baking sheet to collect any leaking juices that could cross-contaminate other food, then refrigerated it until thawed. This took about 24 hours on average, though how long it will take will depend on the size of the cut you’re defrosting.
How Safe Is It?
Food safety organizations, including the USDA, Canadian Ministry of Health, and European Food Safety Authority generally agree that defrosting poultry in the fridge is the safest. Carothers explains that a fridge calibrated to maintain a temperature below 40ºF (4ºC) ensures that your chicken will never enter the danger zone, minimizing risk of any food-borne pathogens and making it the safest way to defrost chicken.
The Results
This method took the longest. As you’ll see in the chart below, the chicken took between 19 and 30 hours to fully defrost, depending on the size and dimensions of the cut.
Microwave
Method
To defrost chicken in the microwave, I removed the chicken from its packaging and placed it on a microwave-safe plate. If your microwave has a “defrost” setting, the USDA recommends using that to thaw chicken. (Some microwaves may also have different defrost settings for poultry, meat, fish, or bread. Choose “poultry” when thawing chicken.) If your microwave does not have a defrost setting, the USDA recommends defrosting the chicken at 30% power.
While defrosting, you’ll want to keep an eye on the chicken, as thin edges will likely begin to cook as the meat defrosts. Use tongs to flip the chicken periodically, about every two minutes or so, to help it defrost evenly. For ground chicken, the USDA even recommends using a spoon or offset spatula to scrape off bits of thawed chicken onto a separate plate. This prevents the chicken from cooking while also allowing the remainder of the meat to thaw more easily.
I used my microwave’s “poultry” defrosting setting, which recommends the amount of time to defrost the chicken based on the weight you enter. According to the manufacturer, my microwave varies between 20 to 30% power during the defrosting process to ensure even thawing. Despite this setting, the edges of my chicken were fully defrosted and beginning to cook before the center even had a chance to thaw.
It's important to note that how long it takes to thaw chicken in the microwave will ultimately depend on your microwave’s wattage. To demonstrate this, I tested defrosting boneless chicken breasts with both my higher-wattage microwave and a lower-wattage one to compare the results, and it took about three times as long to thaw them in a lower-wattage microwave (see details in the chart below).
How Safe Is It?
The USDA considers microwave-thawing one of the safest ways to defrost chicken. You’ll have to cook the chicken immediately after defrosting, however, as the outer edges of the chicken will begin to heat up as it defrosts, bringing it into the danger zone. During testing, parts of the chicken frequently reached upward of 80ºF (26ºC)—well above the recommended limits, but still far from the USDA's recommended temperature for chicken of 165ºF (74ºC). Carothers, however, says this isn’t dangerous if you plan on cooking it immediately. “The time that [the chicken] is spending in the danger zone is not actually long enough for bacteria to reach a dangerous level,” she says.
The Results
The microwave was by far the quickest defrosting method. The smallest cuts, like the chicken wings, took as little as five minutes to defrost, while larger cuts took about 25 minutes. You’ll have to sacrifice taste for speed, though: Each microwave-thawed cut was substantially drier than chicken defrosted using other methods, as you’re blasting the poultry with heat to thaw it.
Cold Water
Method
To defrost chicken using the cold water method, I placed frozen packaged chicken in a bowl of cold tap water. According to the USDA, this method is fine as long as your tap releases water in the 55 to 65ºF (12.7 to 18.3ºC) range. I let the frozen chicken sit until fully thawed, and changed the water every 30 minutes to ensure it remained in that temperature range. To avoid bloating in the water, I kept all the chicken in its plastic packaging.
How Safe Is It?
This method, along with the microwave, are the only two rapid defrosting methods the USDA considers safe. Though this method takes much longer than the microwave (the wings took a mere five minutes in the microwave, whereas the same size package of wings took an hour and five minutes using the cold water method), the USDA still considers it “rapid.”
Depending on the size of the cut you’re defrosting, it may take more than an hour for the poultry to fully thaw. The warmer the water, the faster the thawing. To reduce the risk of food sitting in the danger zone, however, the USDA only recommends using cold water, and advises against thawing food in warm or hot water, as food should not be left out for more than an hour if the temperature is above 90ºF (32ºC). The USDA also advises cooking poultry immediately after defrosting in cold water, as the surface temperature of the chicken may approach the danger zone while it’s submerged.
Carothers recommends changing the water every 30 minutes to ensure that the chicken continues to defrost steadily while avoiding wasting water by having it run continuously. The water will get colder as the frozen chicken sits in it and, after 30 minutes, will become cold enough to hinder thawing. I found this true in my testing: Water would come out of my tap at around 65ºF (18ºC), and as the chicken thawed, the water cooled to about 48 to 50ºF (8.8 to 10ºC).
The Results
While not as fast as the microwave, chicken defrosted relatively quickly with the cold water method: All cuts were defrosted in 45 minutes to two hours. This method was also relatively hands-off and didn’t significantly compromise the texture of the cut.
Running Water
Method
To speed up thawing in cold water, many cooks will place their frozen meat under running water. To see if this was the case, I placed a bowl with frozen packaged chicken under cold running water from my faucet and let it sit until fully thawed. Depending on the size of your chicken, this can take anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour. While the USDA doesn’t discourage this rapid defrosting method, there were some serious drawbacks.
First: It’s an incredible waste of water. (A faucet that leaks at just one drip per second releases more than 3,000 gallons of water a year.) Plus, even with the poultry in a plastic bag, this method leads to water that is potentially contaminated splattering all over your sink and counter. This method was also loud: at 78 decibels, the volume of this method is about the same as a running vacuum. Finally, this method was not substantially faster than defrosting packaged chicken in a bowl of cold water, and also had much more uneven results. This is likely because the faucet is focused on just one area of the chicken, causing that one area of the chicken to thaw much faster than the rest of it.
Let Sit at Room Temperature
Method
After taking the chicken out of the freezer, I placed it on a rimmed baking sheet and let it thaw on my kitchen counter. Defrosting times will vary depending on the temperature of your space. I used an instant-read thermometer to check on the surface temperature every 10 minutes, and moved the chicken into the fridge when its temperature reached above 40℉ (4.4ºC) and had been out of the fridge for two hours.
How Safe Is It?
The USDA tells consumers to avoid this method, as leaving chicken at room temperature for long periods of time puts food most at risk for bacterial growth, making this the most hazardous defrosting method. It is especially dangerous if people treat it as a hands-off method; some home cooks may forget they’re defrosting chicken and cook the meat after it’s been at room temperature or sitting within the temperature danger zone for several hours. Though you won’t get sick every time you do something risky like this, Carothers says it can be especially dangerous for at-risk populations like children, pregnant people, and the elderly.
The Results
My home was at 74ºF (23ºC), and my cuts were all defrosted in two to four hours, then promptly cooked. I also took the temperature of the surface area at several intervals, and while some cuts did reach the danger zone, they were not sitting at this temperature for very long. (According to the USDA, cold food should not be left out of refrigeration for longer than two hours if the room is below 90ºF or 32ºC. If it’s above that temperature, it should not be left out of refrigeration for more than an hour.) In order for bacteria to multiply, both conditions (time and temperature) must be met, Carothers explains.
With that said, most home cooks are more likely to take cuts out of the freezer and leave them on the counter for much longer without closely monitoring the temperature of their poultry, increasing the risk of food poisoning. Unless you plan on keeping a close eye on the thawing process by regularly checking the meat’s temperature, it’s best to employ one of the USDA’s recommended thawing methods instead.
What Is the Fastest Way to Defrost Chicken?
Regardless of cut or size, the microwave was unmatched in its ability to defrost food quickly. In the microwave, two pounds of bone-in chicken thighs fully defrosted in 23 minutes, while ground chicken took just 11 minutes to thaw, and the wings took a mere five minutes to defrost.
That speed certainly comes at a cost, though. Because the microwave kicks off the cooking process, the meat is often dried out, sometimes almost to the point of being inedible. This was less noticeable in fatter, juicier cuts like bone-in thighs.
Which Method Produced the Best Results Overall?
While defrosting in the fridge often took a substantial amount of time—sometimes more than 24 hours for larger cuts—the cooked results were the best, regardless of cut.
How Should You Thaw a Whole Chicken
According to the USDA, a whole chicken may take one to two days to thaw. The Chicken Farmers of Canada, the organization responsible for managing chicken production in Canada, estimates that it takes about 5 hours to thaw each pound of chicken in the refrigerator. A four-pound chicken will take about 20 hours to thaw in the fridge; if you know when you plan on cooking your chicken, thaw it at least one day before you plan to cook it. If you’d like to give your chicken a day to dry brine before cooking, thaw it two days before you plan on brining and cooking it.
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