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Tried throwing a whole frozen chicken in the crockpot on low for 8 hours and it actually came out juicy, not dry like I was scared it would
I figured it would taste like rubbery mush based on everything I heard about slow cooking poultry, but after my neighbor in Des Moines swore by it I gave it a shot last Sunday and now I'm wondering if I've been overcomplicating chicken dinners for years, has anyone else been surprised by a frozen protein turning out better than fresh in the slow cooker?
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mitchell.dakota29d ago
Oh honey, I gotta gently push back on the "frozen chicken in a crockpot" thing. The USDA actually warns against putting frozen meat in a slow cooker because it takes too long to get through the danger zone for bacteria growth. That chicken might spend hours sitting between 40 and 140 degrees before it finally hits a safe temp, and that's a recipe for food poisoning. If it worked for you this time, you got lucky, but for real, you should thaw it all the way first or at least brown it in a pan before throwing it in there.
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sage_rodriguez29d ago
Yeah, I actually just watched a segment on this from a food science channel on YouTube. They ran tests with frozen chicken breasts in a slow cooker and the internal temp stayed in the danger zone for like 3 hours before it even started climbing. That bacteria can double every 20 minutes in that range, so even if it tastes fine you're basically rolling the dice. I'm not trying to tell anyone how to live their life, but I'd rather thaw mine overnight or just use an instant pot if I'm in a hurry. Your mileage may vary, but I'll pass on that gamble personally.
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