How to quickly defrost chicken without a microwave: ways and tips

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Frozen chicken is the most popular convenience food. Each hostess always keeps one or two carcasses in the refrigerator in order to cook a delicious dinner in a hurry one day. And of course, sooner or later they face one problem. The chicken is completely frozen, it is evening in the yard, dinner is urgently needed. How to quickly defrost chicken without a microwave, let's consider together.

Problem and solution

In principle, defrosting meat quickly is not a big problem. But how to do it right? Is it possible to guarantee that after thawing the bird will retain all its qualities? In the freezer, all the water in the meat turns into ice. And if these crystals quickly melt? As you can see, there are a lot of questions. Of course, judging by the classical canons, you need to get the meat out of the freezer in the evening. Let's start with the recommendation of professional chefs.

The classic way

Neither inUnder no circumstances should the product be exposed to heat. The chicken is determined on the bottom of the refrigerator and left in this form until the morning. Usually by this time it is quite possible to cut it into pieces. There are a number of other things to consider.

• Once the chicken is out of the freezer, remove the cling film.
• Put on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Fairly low temperature promotes slow defrosting. The structure of the meat will not be disturbed and the chicken will look like from the counter. And after standing overnight in its own juice, it will acquire a natural smell. The result was achieved and the meat retained its beneficial properties as much as possible. What if there is no time to wait? How to quickly defrost chicken without a microwave? There are several solutions to this problem.

In fast track

It is not always possible to wait 8-10 hours. Often the picture is as follows. Early in the morning, the hostess remembers that she needs to cook dinner from chicken, which has not yet left the freezer. That is, ahead is not a night, but literally a few hours. In this case, the technology remains the same, but instead of the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, you need to choose a kitchen table.

If you want to further speed up the defrosting process, then make several cuts over the entire surface of the carcass. The more of them and the longer they are, the more warm air will get access to the chicken meat. If you are looking for a simple, but not the fastest way, then pay attention to it. The only negative is that the cuts can spoil the look of the bird if you are preparing it forbaking.

Defrosting in cold water

We keep looking for the best way to quickly defrost chicken without a microwave. If there is little time, but there is a couple of hours left, then you can use the following method.

• Take the bird out of the freezer.
• Pour cold water into a large pot and lower the carcass into it so that the water completely covers.
• After about two hours you can start cooking.

But very fast defrosting still won't work. That is, you need to use this method if there is a couple of hours left. In this case, the bird must be left in a plastic wrap. The meat then will not be saturated with water and will fully retain its taste.

Kitchen helper, multicooker

She helps out housewives in any situation. With her help, cooking becomes easy and relaxed. If you need an answer to the question of how to quickly defrost chicken without a microwave, then you can assume that you have already received it.

• Retrieve the carcass.
• Put it on the stand.
• Install the appropriate program and wait 10 minutes.

Indeed, a very convenient and fast way. If your chicken is not whole, but in pieces, then the process will go even faster. No need to try to speed up cooking as much as possible due to primary processing. If the meat is partially cooked, it will lose its juiciness. Therefore, the quality of the cooked dish will lose its charm. If you have tried chicken at a party, but it is at homedoesn't taste as good, it's possible that you're making this mistake.

The oven helps out

This unit is available in almost every housewife. Thawing a chicken is the least of what it can help with. But there are some nuances here. If you are preparing a carcass for subsequent deboning, then you should handle it as gently and carefully as possible. Overcook it in the oven and it will cook on the inside and dry out on the outside.

• Place a wooden board on a baking sheet and place a bottle on it.
• Place the chicken on top of the bottle and send the structure to the oven.
• At a temperature of 180 degrees, you need to withstand the carcass for about 5-10 minutes.

The bird is perfectly treated with heat from all sides and does not burn. But you need to keep track of time. That is, check the bird every two minutes, and as soon as it becomes soft, immediately stop heating and proceed to butchering the carcass.

Using a steamer

Since it may be necessary to quickly defrost chicken at home at any time, it is worth exploring all the ways. Almost every housewife has a double boiler. Some of them are old aluminum. Others have a modern one, with timers. But this does not play a special role. The main thing is that they perfectly know how to defrost meat. What you need:

• Remove the chicken from the packaging and place in the steam basket.
• Put it on the topmost tier. Your task is not to cook, but to defrost.
• Pour the minimum amount of water into the container. That is, approximately 1/4 of the volume of the bowl.
• Selecting the manual heating function, if we are talking about a modern steamer.
• You can adjust the time manually. But even in this case, there is a risk of scalding the meat a little. How long to defrost chicken? It all depends on its size and weight. Usually, 8 minutes is selected in automatic mode.

And if you have an air grill at hand

It would seem that this unit is not at all suitable for solving such problems. Put the chicken in the pan - and it will immediately fry on top in the same manner. But no, in an airfryer you can really prepare meat for cooking in an emergency.

• Place the bird in the roasting sleeve. This will distribute the heat evenly.
• Set the temperature around 50 degrees.
• Set a timer for 6 minutes. In this case, the airfryer lid should be slightly ajar.

The method is really very convenient. But keep in mind that under the influence of high temperature, tender meat loses some of its properties, it turns out less juicy. In a restaurant, the chef will never resort to a quick defrosting method. Otherwise, the number of satisfied customers may decrease.

Emergency method

If there is absolutely no time, you have to make some concessions. Of course, it's good when everything is done according to technology. But if you have returned home, where a hungry family is waiting for you, and no one has guessed to take out the chicken, then the question is already posed point-blank. howto quickly defrost a whole chicken? Immersing her in hot water.

We note right away that experts do not recommend using this method. When immersed in hot water, protein coagulation occurs in the upper layers of the meat piece. Whether to use this method, everyone decides for himself.

• Leave the carcass in a plastic bag.
• Pour hot water into a saucepan and put the chicken in it.
• As the water cools, you need to change it to a hotter one.
• After 10 minutes, the carcass can be removed and start cutting.

This method has a lot of disadvantages. Many chicken recipes emphasize that the carcass must be thawed in advance. And this is not surprising, because with the method discussed above, the meat turns out to be dry and tough. Do not forget that you cannot repeat the defrosting procedure several times, and regardless of the method used. In this case, you will not get tasty and tender meat.

What can be cooked from chicken

Chicken recipes are in every housewife's cookbook. Tender meat cooks very quickly and goes well with cheese and vegetables, with rice and any other cereal. The most popular options are:

• Noodle soup.
• Chicken baked whole on a baking sheet.
• Rolls of chicken breast or thighs with cheese or other stuffing.
• Fried chicken legs in a pan.
• Breast baked in sour cream.

The list is endless. But so that all these dishesturned out perfect, you need to know how to properly defrost the chicken. It is from this that the failures of novice housewives grow. They gain in time but lose in quality. Today we have considered enough ways, each of which is good in its own way. You can choose the one that will be more convenient in a particular situation.

Instead of a conclusion

So, if we talk about the correct defrosting, then there is no hurry. The meat should lie at a minimum positive temperature. At the same time, he should be given as much time as he needs. It is then that it will retain all its qualities. If you want to cook the perfect bird, follow this recommendation.