Scared of chicken

[LouiseR]

My mum is making a chicken dish for us tonight and she's left the chicken to defrost on the counter at room temperature. We've always defrosted chicken like this and I do it when i'm at university too and never gotten ill. But recently I read an article about how that's the worst possible way to defrost meat cause bacteria grows.

I realllly don't know what to do, I told my mum what I read and she just said it's fine but now i'm really worried and pretty sure samonella would be worse than a sv! Even if i don't get ill I know i'm gonna be awake all night convinced I am. What would you do??

[KimberlyP]

Honestly, I wouldn't eat it. Chicken has so much bacteria in. I myself am sooo picky about how my chicken is prepared, how it looks, everything. The reason they say don't defrost it like that is because the defrosted part on the outside is going to be left out much longer while the core of the chicken is defrosting. Would you eat an unthawed chicken breast that was accidently left out for say five hours? It's very dangerous. How I defrost my chicken, and all meat, if I forgot to leave it in the frige a few days, because the microwave defrost makes it gross, is I put it in a ziplock plastic bag and place it in cool water, not warm because it grows bacteria the same way leaving chicken on the counter will. It defrosts literally in about an hour so less time than leaving it on the counter and much much more safe.

[LouiseR]

Heyy thanks for the reply! Yeah I know i'm so fussy as well, though I never knew room temperature was bad, I always avoided microwaving cause it goes all runny and starts to cook but apparently that's alright.


It was out for about 3 /3 1/2 hours and then went into the fridge...Online it says it's bad to leave meat out for more than 4 hours.. so maybe this is ok...I think i'm gonna eat the dinner my mum makes but largely avoid the chicken, it'll be diced up and mixed in with veg/rice so she won't notice. Maybe i'll be brave enough to have nibble

[Paisley]

Everyone in my family has always defrosted every kind of meat - including chicken - on the counter. Never had a problem.

As long as it's cooked properly, eat it. You'll be fine. A whole frozen chicken left out 3.5 hours isn't even going to thaw, so it's fine. The problem is when it has thawed and it's left at room temperature, meaning, the meat of the chicken reaches room temperature --- that's when it becomes dangerous.

[Erica1649]

Yeah, we've thawed chicken out on the counter many a time and never got sick (Knock on wood) but as long as the chicken is cooked thoroughly and you wipe all the counters down and stuff that has touched it, you should be safe...

Try not to keep yourself up thinking about the chicken. If it truely doesn't "taste" right to you, then don't eat it, but if it tastes fine and is cooked well, enjoy it and you should be just fine.

[LouiseR]

Thanks for the reassuring replies. I decided to just eat it (possibly ate too much!) and I think I'll be fine. Even off out tonight and tomorrow, maybe I'm on the up
I'm quite odd for an emet when it comes to food, although I worry about it and would like to know things are safe, once food is in front of me it just looks too damn tasty to not eat!

[olschesky]

You will be just fine......i thaw chicken and beef everyday for my husband that way and never gotten sick...my mom did it that way when i was a kid......im a vegetarian now.....not an emet thing though..

[fixxxer2012]

just remember you can never over cook chicken. my wife cooks ours all day in a crock pot, it's the only way i will eat it.

[lizzo]

just remember you can never over cook chicken. my wife cooks ours all day in a crock pot, it's the only way i will eat it.

You can certainly overcook chicken, it becomes dry and chewy. Chicken is meant to be moist.

[fixxxer2012]

You can certainly overcook chicken, it becomes dry and chewy. Chicken is meant to be moist.

I never have. Never have with a turkey either.

[zipity]

My Mom has always done this. For years.

Oh and Salmonella, I've had it. It sucks, but I actually didn't v with it. Apparently its actually not that common with salmonella. Just d.