How to quickly defrost chicken thighs. How to defrost poultry at room temperature

Chicken is the most popular meat product on our table. Every housewife has a carcass of this bird in reserve in the freezer. It happens that the guests suddenly came suddenly and you need to cook something tasty, spicy, original, but on hastily. The chicken will be the lifesaver. And how to quickly defrost a chicken, you will find out right now.

Let's discuss all options

Almost every woman faces the question of how to quickly defrost chicken at home. If the carcass of a bird lies in the freezer for at least a couple of days, then it can be beaten on the road, but not cooked in any way.

It turns out that defrosting chicken is whole science. One wrong action, and all the fibers, muscles of the meat are destroyed, and the original taste is lost. To prevent this from happening experienced housewives and cooks have invented several ways to rid the chicken of the ice crust:

classical;
in water;
on air;
by using kitchen gadgets.

In order to properly defrost the chicken carcass and not spoil its taste in advance, let's consider each of the methods in detail. You can try everything for the sake of experiment practical methods and then choose the best one for you.

Classic in detail

How to quickly defrost chicken without a microwave? This question constantly flashes in the global network. Previously, our ancestors somehow managed without kitchen gadgets. Let's try it too. In addition, the classic way of defrosting meat, according to the hostesses, is recognized as the best.

In a broiler, we are attracted by the most tender meat and muscle tissue. AT fresh chicken carcass contains a certain amount of moisture. Under the influence of low temperature, this moisture is converted into ice. Simple laws of nature. If you use intensive defrosting and temperature contrast, the ice can damage the fibers and structure of the meat. As a result, we will get porridge that cannot be presented to the table.

So that the chicken carcass does not suffer, it must be thawed in a day. The algorithm of actions is simple:

Remove the chicken carcass from the freezer.
We release it from the packaging.
Remove by-products if necessary.
Now put the chicken carcass on a dish and put it on bottom shelf into the refrigerator.
In 24 hours the bird will melt naturally. And most importantly, it will retain its appearance and original taste.

Not always in the head of a woman is kept information about the timely defrosting of meat. Sometimes it has to be done spontaneously. In this case, you can perform all the same steps, only make chaotic cuts on the surface of the chicken carcass. The deeper and longer they are, the sooner the poultry meat will defrost. The only negative is that the presentable appearance of the chicken will be hopelessly spoiled, and it is no longer possible to bake it in its entirety. There is a way out - cut the carcass into portioned pieces and cook according to your favorite recipe.

Around one water

Many housewives use water to speed up the process of defrosting chicken meat. Indeed, with such simple way You can literally turn a block of ice into meat in one hour.

To do this, the bird carcass is placed under running water and left until completely defrosted. If you have 2-3 hours at your disposal, then the chicken can be put in a deep basin and poured with water at room temperature. Important condition- Change the water every half an hour.

But hot water is strictly prohibited. A sharp temperature contrast can play a cruel joke on a chicken carcass. Hot water will steal the natural taste and aroma of poultry meat. This method of defrosting cannot be considered suitable and harmless.

Particular attention in this context should be given to chicken fillet. This dietary, low-calorie and delicious product we often use to prepare salads or appetizers. If you plan to just boil the fillet, then you do not need to defrost it.

It is enough to slightly warm the water, salt it, and then lower the breast. In this mode, you need to cook the product until fully cooked.

For frying or stewing chicken fillet needs to be defrosted. The best option is the classic way to get rid of ice. You can resort to water procedures. And even better - take a fresh-frozen product.

Under the influence of air

Classic defrosting method chicken carcass implies the effect of the minimum positive temperature in the refrigerator. If you need to double this process, you can leave the poultry outside.

Put the chicken on a dish and leave it on the table. The temperature difference will be about 20 °, therefore, the carcass will defrost two to three times faster. In this case, you can also make cuts on the skin, but remember that the appearance will be spoiled. If you want to bake the whole carcass, then still give preference classical way defrosting.

Let's resort to the help of a kitchen gadget

Of course we are talking about microwave oven. Basically, these devices are equipped with special functionality. You can choose the weight of the product, and the smart gadget will calculate the duration of the heat treatment on its own.

When choosing this method of defrosting poultry meat, consider a few points:

the chicken must be removed from the package;
so that the skin does not dry out, it can be covered on top with food paper or film;
the average defrosting time for a 1.5 kg carcass varies from 9 to 13 minutes;
study the instructions for the microwave oven, especially pay attention to the power of the device;
after 4-5 minutes, the bird carcass must be turned over.

If you notice that individual parts of the chicken have already begun to cook, just cover them with parchment. Another little trick: give the chicken time to "rest". For example, we defrost it for 5-7 minutes at moderate power. Then we leave the carcass of the bird alone for 15 minutes. During this time, the thawed ice crust will begin to thaw. Now you can make another call and subject the meat to heat treatment. This alternation of actions will allow you to defrost the chicken quickly and correctly and without loss of taste.

How can you tell if a chicken is defrosted? There are several signs:

the color of the skin of the bird became uniform;
the skin is soft to the touch, and you can easily press on the meat and muscles;
legs and wings are easy to rotate;
the carcass is at room temperature;
without special efforts you can cut the chicken into portions.

It is one of the most sought after protein foods. You can cook anything from poultry, from the most ordinary broth to the most complex pies.

Nowadays, on the shelves of stores you can find both frozen meat and a chilled product. Various parts available for sale allow you not to buy the whole carcass, but to take only what is required in your dish. If with chilled meat everything is easy and clear, then what about freezing? Before cooking it, it must be brought to room temperature. How to defrost the chicken in this case?

Defrosting in the refrigerator

The most, perhaps the right option preparing a frozen carcass for cooking is its gradual defrosting. In this case, the meat will turn out juicy and fragrant, melting in your mouth.

In order to do everything right, you need to unpack the purchased bird and put it in a deep bowl. This is necessary in order to have a place to collect the liquid that the carcass will release during the heating process.

Place the chicken in the refrigerator, preferably on the top shelf. According to the laws of physics, warm air mainly collects at the top, everyone knows this. The refrigerator in this case is no exception.

Due to the fact that poultry meat will be defrosted gradually, you will achieve the desired result in cooking. It is worth saying that this process can take from ten hours or more. It all depends on the size and weight of the bird. It would be wiser to defrost it overnight in order to get a chilled carcass in the morning.

Defrosting in the microwave

The hostess does not always have time to wait half a day for the meat to defrost in the refrigerator. Rather, that time never comes. What to do in this case? How to quickly defrost chicken? There are several ways to reduce the time it takes to bring the bird to the required temperature. In this case, we are talking about a microwave oven. Every woman should know how to defrost chicken in the microwave.

Take the ice carcass and unpack it. Put the bird in a special dish for the microwave oven and put the latter on the defrost mode. After 10 minutes, remove the meat and turn over to the other side. Load the carcass back and continue until completely defrosted.

Many modern microwave oven models have a special sound signal that it is necessary to turn the product over for further defrosting. If your oven does not have this function, then just watch the time and do not let the bird start to bake.

Defrosting in cold water

Another popular way to quickly defrost chicken is to use water. The prerequisite is low temperature liquids. Pour water into the bowl. Pack the frozen bird in a bag and lower it into the liquid. On average, this defrosting option takes from one to five hours, depending on the size and weight of the carcass.

In this way, you can either defrost the chicken fillet, or bring the drumstick, thighs and other parts of the chicken to the desired state, depending on which part you have chosen for cooking.

If you need to speed up this process, you can put the bird under a stream of running water at a low temperature. In this case, things will go much faster.

Defrosting in hot water

The worst way to quickly defrost a chicken is to immerse it in boiling water. Of course, after a couple of minutes you will get warm soft meat, but after cooking it will become dry and tough.

This method is only suitable for the subsequent preparation of the broth. If you are not interested in ready-made meat, but only need rich broth, then this method is just what you need.

Unpack the chicken carcass and place in a bowl with hot water. After some time it will cool down. You will need to drain it and collect boiling water again. Thus, you will get the desired result quite quickly.

For faster results, place the carcass under a stream of hot water.

Conclusion

Now you know several ways to quickly defrost chicken. It is worth recalling that a carcass that has room temperature is considered completely thawed. It is soft to the touch, and its limbs rotate easily relative to the body. You can easily cut meat with a knife blade without any additional physical effort.

In order for your chicken dish turned out to be as tasty and juicy as possible, defrost the bird correctly and in advance. However, don't overdo it. If the meat is stored for too long room temperature, it just gets messed up. That is why it is so important to plan ahead for the preparation of frozen foods.

Cook with pleasure, and then your culinary skills will be appreciated.

Chicken is the most popular meat product on our table. Every housewife has a carcass of this bird in reserve in the freezer. It happens that guests suddenly come and you need to cook something tasty, spicy, original, but in a hurry. The chicken will be the lifesaver. And how to quickly defrost a chicken, you will find out right now.

Let's discuss all options

It turns out that defrosting chicken is a whole science. One wrong action, and all the fibers, muscles of the meat are destroyed, and the original taste is lost. To prevent this from happening, experienced housewives and cooks have invented several ways to get rid of the chicken from the ice crust:

classical;
in water;
on air;
with kitchen gadgets.

In order to properly defrost the chicken carcass and not spoil its taste in advance, let's consider each of the methods in detail. For the sake of experiment, you can try out all the practical methods, and then choose the best one for yourself.

Classic in detail

In a broiler, we are attracted by the most tender meat and muscle tissues. Fresh chicken carcass contains a certain amount of moisture. Under the influence of low temperature, this moisture is converted into ice. Simple laws of nature. If you use intensive defrosting and temperature contrast, the ice can damage the fibers and structure of the meat. As a result, we will get porridge that cannot be presented to the table.

So that the chicken carcass does not suffer, it must be thawed in a day. The algorithm of actions is simple:

Remove the chicken carcass from the freezer.
We release it from the packaging.
Remove by-products if necessary.
Now put the chicken carcass on a dish and put it on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator.
In 24 hours, the bird will melt naturally. And most importantly, it will retain its appearance and original taste.

Around one water

Many housewives use water to speed up the process of defrosting chicken meat. Indeed, with the help of such a simple method, you can turn a block of ice into meat in just one hour.

To do this, the bird carcass is placed under running water and left until completely defrosted. If you have 2-3 hours at your disposal, then the chicken can be put in a deep basin and poured with water at room temperature. An important condition is that the water must be changed every half an hour.

How to quickly defrost chicken fillet?

Particular attention in this context should be given to chicken fillet. We often use this dietary, low-calorie and delicious product for salads or snacks. If you plan to just boil the fillet, then you do not need to defrost it.

It is enough to slightly warm the water, salt it, and then lower the breast. In this mode, you need to cook the product until fully cooked.

For frying or stewing chicken fillet must be thawed. The best option is the classic way to get rid of ice. You can resort to water procedures. And even better - take a fresh-frozen product.

Under the influence of air

The classic method of defrosting a chicken carcass involves exposure to a minimum positive temperature in the refrigerator. If you need to double this process, you can leave the poultry outside.

Let's resort to the help of a kitchen gadget

Of course, we are talking about a microwave oven. Basically, these devices are equipped with special functionality. You can choose the weight of the product, and the smart gadget will calculate the duration of the heat treatment on its own.

When choosing this method of defrosting poultry meat, consider a few points:

the chicken must be removed from the package;
so that the skin does not dry out, it can be covered on top with food paper or film;
the average defrosting time for a 1.5 kg carcass varies from 9 to 13 minutes;
study the instructions for the microwave oven, especially pay attention to the power of the device;
after 4-5 minutes, the bird carcass must be turned over.

How can you tell if a chicken is defrosted? There are several signs:

the color of the skin of the bird became uniform;
the skin is soft to the touch, and you can easily press on the meat and muscles;
legs and wings are easy to rotate;
the carcass is at room temperature;
without much effort, you can cut the chicken into portions.

To defrost, it is necessary to remove the carcass from the packaging, put it in a dish suitable for use in a microwave oven, and select the automatic defrosting mode on the device. The process time depends on the given chicken weight and is determined automatically by the device. In this case, the carcass during defrosting will need to be turned over several times, since the microwave oven defrosts it unevenly.

If you do not turn the carcass over, there is a possibility that its lower part, lying in the cup, will begin to cook in the water released during defrosting

Quickly defrost minced meat: effective ways

How to defrost chicken in water

With this method of defrosting, the chicken must be placed in an airtight bag, otherwise all the juices from the bird will go into cold water in which she lies. The duration of the process is also quite long, the chicken will thaw for at least an hour. If the weight of the broiler is over a kilogram, then it will take even longer. The use of hot water for defrosting is simply unacceptable, since the meat from such a procedure will lose its taste and become tough.

You can speed up the process if after upper layer the carcass thaws, cut it with a hatchet into several parts and then defrost in pieces. Naturally, such a method is suitable only for those cases when it is planned to cook broth from poultry and the shape of the pieces is not of fundamental importance, because it is not very convenient to work with incompletely defrosted meat.

Thawing Chicken Naturally

Ideally, it is best to defrost the bird at room temperature, then it will retain all its juices and the taste of the meat will not change during cooking. If you take the carcass out of the freezer at night and put it in the sink, then in the morning you can safely start cutting it. If such a process raises concerns about the safety of meat, then the easiest way is to transfer the chicken from the freezer to the refrigerator, where it is guaranteed to defrost and not deteriorate. This method cannot be called fast, but it is the most reliable.

Knowing how to quickly defrost a chicken, you can even have time to cook a tasty and appetizing meal even with the unexpected arrival of guests. meat dish. The main thing is to know how to do it right. Too fast defrosting of chicken reduces the nutritional value of the product, since during this process a lot of juice rich in vitamins and proteins flows out of it.

How to quickly defrost chicken in the microwave

Microwave - convenient kitchen appliance, which helps to warm up food in a matter of seconds. Frozen meat is no exception. It is simply transferred to a suitable container, set to the "Defrost" mode and wait 5-30 minutes. depending on weight. During this time, the meat becomes soft enough and suitable for any processing, but its taste deteriorates, juiciness is lost. Chicken often thaws unevenly and some parts remain firm.

To make the carcass completely soft, it is turned over every couple of minutes to avoid overheating. This method requires constant monitoring, because otherwise the meat will be baked on top, and inside it will be icy.

It is best to hold the frozen piece of meat in the microwave for only a couple of minutes, and then lower it into room temperature water. So the process of natural defrosting will go faster.

Water bath technology

Many are interested in how to quickly defrost chicken without a microwave. In such cases, it is often used water bath. The product is laid out in a container of a suitable size. Heat-resistant bowl with chicken is placed in large saucepan filled with hot water, put the whole structure on the stove and turn on a small fire. Meat thaws pretty quickly.

Defrost in a warm place

The easiest way is to defrost meat in warm water. To do this, take a large container, where the chicken is placed completely, and fill it with warm water. It is better to defrost the bird directly in the bag to minimize the loss of meat juice. As soon as the water becomes cold, it is poured out and replaced with warm water.

It is highly discouraged to use hot water, it greatly degrades the quality of the product, as it is washed out of it. a large number of useful substances. Piece of carcass, defrosted in hot water, only by appearance will resemble meat, and all of it nutritional value will be lost.

Also, meat can be quickly thawed by placing it for 1.5-2 hours in a warm place, for example, on the surface of the stove, when something is being cooked in the oven.

Quick defrosting with running water

A package with a frozen carcass is sometimes simply laid out under running tap water. The jet should not be strong, the main thing is that the water constantly and evenly flows over the meat. The warmer the water, the faster the defrosting process will go, but it is not recommended to use hot liquid. This method is not suitable for everyone, since few people are willing to spend a large amount of water to defrost chicken.

Defrost minced chicken

unfreeze minced chicken much easier than a whole carcass. It is best to remove the minced meat from the freezer in a timely manner and leave it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. It is convenient to do this at night: in the morning the minced meat will be soft.

If you urgently need to make cutlets, meatballs or meatballs from minced meat, it is thawed in the microwave or in a water bath. It is not recommended to place chopped meat in water, as it will turn into an incomprehensible mess.

In a slow cooker or oven

A slow cooker and an oven are also good helpers in emergency defrosting of food. The frozen carcass is placed in the oven, setting the temperature to about 30 ° C. No need to rush and expose high temperature A: It will only spoil the product.

It is most convenient to defrost meat in a slow cooker when using the “Steam Cooking” mode. The parts of the carcass are laid out on a plastic grate and exposed to steam for a couple of minutes. Then the meat is turned over on the other side and steamed for another 3-4 minutes.

Is it possible to boil or bake frozen chicken

Expose frozen meat heat treatment not recommended, as it negatively affects palatability. For example, broth made from frozen chicken will be cloudy and meat will be tough. Sometimes, for lack of time, they even do this. But you should always be prepared for the fact that the meat inside can remain raw. Therefore, the question of whether it is possible to cook frozen chicken disappears by itself.

At the same time, defrosting meat can be combined with marinating to save time. This not only does not worsen the taste, but also improves it.

It is best to defrost meat in the refrigerator. This way the chicken retains its flavor as much as possible. maximum amount meat juices, but it takes a long time - from 12 to 30 hours, depending on the weight of the bird. A standard carcass, weighing 1800 g, is defrosted on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for a day.
To speed up the process, the frozen carcass can be left on the kitchen table for 2 hours, and then transferred to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. It is impossible to keep meat in the room for more than 2 hours, as it can deteriorate due to the activity of harmful microorganisms.
Before the initial freezing, it is better to divide the bird into parts and pack it in separate bags so that it then thaws faster.
defrosted natural way meat can be stored for a maximum of 3-4 days, minced meat - 48 hours. When using other accelerated defrosting methods, meat must be cooked immediately.

It is not recommended to re-freeze the bird. So the product loses most of the nutrients, becomes tasteless and useless. Each protein molecule is surrounded by water, which easily damages them when frozen. Therefore, with a single freezing, the product loses half of the protein mass, and with a double freezing, almost everything else.

Defrost chicken properly is not difficult. The main thing is to know all the subtleties of this process.