How To Defrost Chicken In Microwave?

Say it’s time to cook dinner, but your frozen ground meat got stuck inside your freezer and you don’t have the time to wait and let it defrost naturally.

There are some tactics that will come in handy in this case. To proceed, you have to know how to defrost ground beef in microwave.

Basically, you should follow the proper microwave defrosting user guide to defrost the chicken. If you don’t have one, simply toss in your chicken pieces and use the defrost button to heat each side until the ice crystals melt.

Now, defrosting may seem like a cakewalk! But there are a number of associated things that you need to understand and take care of while defrosting.

Also, it would help if you had a clear idea about the health concerns of eating microwave defrosted chicken.

So, to have a brief overview of all these facts, please read the entire article.

How To Defrost Chicken In Microwave 

Actually, microwave defrosting is the easiest way to defrost the frozen chicken.

Defrosting frozen raw things has definitely become easier with the advent of microwave technology.

If you know how to do it right, it is simply a piece of cake for you!

Now, defrosting can be done in many ways. Usually, most microwave ovens come with a user guide that briefly explains the steps to defrosting any frozen raw food.

You can easily follow these guidelines to defrost your block of chicken.

However, if you don’t have a guide, follow these simple steps to defrost your chicken!

Step One

Remove all kinds of coverings from your chicken. If it is in a plastic or a zip-lock bag or a Styrofoam package, remove it all. 

Check if your chicken is ice-cold or already defrosted a bit. It will affect the temperature settings and time required for defrosting.

Step Two

Now, take your chicken pieces or your block of chicken and place them in a microwave-proof dish.

Usually, glass or ceramic plates can come in handy in these cases. 

Avoid using plastic dishes, any Styrofoam boxes, or aluminium foil.

These can be hazardous! Use dishes that can collect the juice that comes out of your frozen chicken.

Step Three

The most important thing to do beforehand is to measure the amount of chicken you are about to defrost; because this will decide the amount of time you need to defrost the whole chicken. 

Most microwaves with a defrost button ask for the weight of the chicken after you click on ‘Defrost.’ Then, it sets the time and temperature on its own.

Step Four

Put your dish inside the microwave. There is no need to preheat the oven because you are not cooking the chicken. 

Then, click on the defrost button. After two minutes, flip the other side and defrost for another two minutes.

Take special care so that your chicken doesn’t dry out. 

Step Five

If you do not have a defrost button, just use the heating option instead.

First, set the power of your microwave to about 30% and then heat on low. 

Similarly, flip the sides here as well and check how well the defrosting is on each side.

Heating can take more time, and it should take seven minutes per pound of chicken.

Usually, the time depends on the voltage and power of your microwave. 

Step Six

The last step is to take out your chicken and make sure all the ice crystals have melted.

Press the chicken with a finger to check it out for yourself. 

There you go, you defrosted your chicken well! Now, cook it as soon as possible and enjoy your chicken dish!

What Pieces Are Good For Microwave Defrosting?

To be fair, boneless, skinless chicken pieces are best for microwave defrosting.

For this purpose, you can choose chicken breasts. Chicken pieces with bones tend to take more time and disturb the whole defrosting process. 

If you have some chicken with bone to defrost, it is better to try other defrosting methods.

Because microwave heating does not always reach the marrow of the bones, those areas may remain frozen.

Try using cold water to defrost or just keep the chicken thawed overnight.

How To Know If The Chicken Is Completely Defrosted?

The best way to do this is to check the chicken pieces or chicken blocks with your finger.

If you have evenly defrosted the chicken, it will feel warm all over. However, if you have done it unevenly, some areas may feel hot, and others may feel cold.

Press gently on specific regions to feel if the chicken is warm or still ice-cold in places.

If you feel no iciness hitting your finger on any spot, your chicken has defrosted well.

To affirm this, you can cut a piece and examine the cross-section. A correctly done chicken will show no ice crystals on the cross-section.

Does Defrosting Cook The Chicken?

Actually, yes, defrosting the chicken may cook the chicken slowly, to a small extent. After all, you are heating it in a microwave!

After defrosting chicken inside a microwave, you can often see some areas of redness at places after you take it out.

It may be an indicator that your chicken started to cook a bit during the defrosting process. 

To be fair, defrosting is mainly applying heat to your chicken to melt the ice.

Any process of heating will change the nature of the protein in the chicken.

So, when the microwave does its charms, a portion of the protein molecules may undergo denaturation due to the heat.

Ultimately, it can result in your chicken getting cooked in places.

However, the cooking process is too slow here, and it shouldn’t affect your ultimate chicken cooking time or procedure.

But this can cause the bacteria inside the raw chicken to multiply, creating an ambient temperature for them. 

That is why, if you defrost chicken in the microwave, it is best to cook it within two hours of defrosting.

It is better not to refreeze it, and it may affect the colonization of bacteria inside it. 

Is Microwave Defrosted Chicken Safe?

Microwaved defrosted chicken is completely safe. There are some controversies regarding bacterial overgrowth during defrosting.

However, there is nothing to be so worried about! However, it is best to cook the chicken within two hours after defrosting.

To be fair, when we cook something, the heat is kept at a maximum to destroy all the harmful bacteria and other organisms in the food.

Raw foods can harbour microbes. But if you cook it properly at optimum temperatures, the microbes get destroyed.

So, when defrosting in the microwave, if the heat does not reach all places of the frozen chicken evenly, it may remain raw in some areas.

Thus, if the chicken starts to cook in some areas while other parts remain raw, the optimum temperature to kill the microbes is not attained.

Ultimately, the bacteria may multiply and cause foodborne diseases. That’s why it’s best to cook microwave-defrosted chicken within two hours of defrosting.

But if you properly defrost the chicken and all parts remain evenly heated, you can avoid such adversity.

So, follow the steps carefully and double-check them often. You can check while flipping the chicken too.

However, if there are better ways to defrost the chicken, you should definitely try them.

There was a report showing the incidence of Salmonella infection in people who consumed microwave-cooked chicken.

Salmonella typically causes invasive diarrhoea. Actually, raw foods and raw animal products mostly harbour this organism. So, before you consume anything as such, cook it properly.

But there is no direct evidence that can affirm the link between microwave defrosting and Salmonella overgrowth in chickens. So, yeah, you can defrost in the microwave and eat safely!