For best quality, taste and texture, keep whole raw chicken in the freezer up to one year parts, 9 months and giblets or ground chicken, 3 to 4 months.Ĭan you eat chicken that has been frozen for 2 years?įrozen chicken (and all frozen foods) are safe to eat indefinitely, but will lose taste and flavor the longer it is stored. If kept frozen continuously, chicken will be safe indefinitely, so after freezing, it’s not important if any package dates expire. Is chicken frozen for 6 months still good? When chicken is frozen that long it can become freezer-burned or dried out.
Raw chicken can last in your fridge for 1–2 days, while cooked chicken can last in the fridge for 3–4 days.Ĭan you eat chicken breast that has been frozen for a year?Īre they still safe to eat? A.: As long as the chicken was fresh when it was frozen and has remained solidly frozen ever since, then yes, it would be safe to eat. Cooked chicken can be stored in the freezer for 2–6 months (1, 2). The way I remember it? “A whole day for a whole chicken.Raw chicken pieces can be stored in the freezer for up to 9 months, while a whole chicken can be frozen for up to one year. ATK’s rule of thumb is to count on 24 hours of defrosting in the refrigerator for every 4 pounds of bird. Defrosting meat in the refrigerator is much safer than defrosting it on a counter, but it takes longer. There’s no safety risk to freezing it longer, but after two months, chicken’s texture and flavor will begin to suffer, no matter how well you’ve wrapped it.įreezing chicken does mean I need to plan ahead when I want to cook with it. This is more likely to affect foods in the door or front area of the freezer. Adams notes that every time the freezer door opens, some cold air escapes and the temperature fluctuates, increasing the risk for freezer burn.
That means preparing the chicken in a way that reduces contact between the chicken’s surface and the air. When I pack chicken for the freezer, I want to minimize this risk. "Moisture leaves the surface of the food, drying out the surface and often leaving it with weird off-flavors and texture." "Freezer burn is not a safety issue, just a quality one," says Paul Adams, ATK’s senior science research editor. The result is a piece of food that’s dry and unappetizing-but still safe to eat. As these ice crystals migrate out of the food, they draw moisture with them. According to the Science Reference Section of the Library of Congress, these crystals seek out the most hospitable (read: coldest) part of their environment, which is usually the side of a piece of food nearest to the freezer wall. But this raises the icy specter of freezer burn.įreezer burn occurs when thousands of water molecules within a piece of meat-or ice cream, or vegetable-form small ice crystals. So the freezer is where I store the majority of a value-pack of chicken until I’m ready to cook with it. Raw poultry keeps in the refrigerator for only two days, and leftover cooked poultry for only three days. Then, I freeze what I’m not immediately using. The best way to score such deals, of course, is to buy chicken in bulk packages. "Oh, these chicken breasts? On sale for $2 per pound," I say, reveling in the impressed nods as my friends take another bite of herb-and-feta-stuffed chicken. Maybe it’s the voice of my coupon-clipping mom in my head, but I love a grocery deal.
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