Freeze This Food

Can You Freeze Chicken?

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Illustration of chicken

Yes. Raw chicken is a freezer staple: a whole bird keeps for up to a year for best quality and cut-up parts for about nine months, according to USDA storage data. The job is wrapping tightly to prevent freezer burn and thawing it safely — in the fridge, not on the counter. Held at a steady 0 °F (−18 °C) it stays safe; these are quality windows.

Can you freeze chicken?

Yes — it freezes well
How long it keeps frozen
Whole bird up to a year; parts about 9 monthsUSDA's best-quality windows for raw chicken; it stays safe indefinitely at a steady 0 °F (−18 °C), but flavour and texture decline over time.
How to freeze it
  1. Freeze chicken before its use-by date, while it is at its freshest.
  2. Leave airtight supermarket packs as they are, or rewrap pieces individually in freezer wrap, pressing out the air.
  3. Overwrap flimsy trays in a freezer bag, since the tray itself is not airtight enough to stop freezer burn.
  4. Label with the cut and date, and freeze quickly at 0 °F (−18 °C) or below.
How to thaw & use
Thaw it in the refrigerator (allow a day per 2 kg / 5 lb), in a sealed bag under cold water changed every 30 minutes, or in the microwave if cooking immediately — never on the counter.
Texture & quality
Freezer burn — dry, greyish patches — is the usual quality problem, and it comes purely from air contact, so airtight wrapping is everything. Chicken thawed in the fridge can be safely refrozen, with some loss of quality; chicken thawed warm should be cooked, not refrozen.

More in this group: Freezing meat & fish

Frequently asked questions

How long can you freeze raw chicken?

For best quality, USDA puts a whole raw chicken at up to a year and cut-up parts at about nine months. Stored without interruption at 0 °F (−18 °C) the bird keeps safe well past those points, but the meat dries and the flavour flattens with longer storage.

What's the safe way to thaw frozen chicken?

Thaw it in the refrigerator, in cold water in a sealed bag changed every 30 minutes, or in the microwave if you cook it right away. Never thaw chicken on the counter, where the surface warms into the bacterial growth range.

Can you refreeze chicken that has thawed?

If you defrosted it slowly in the fridge, yes — refreezing raw chicken is allowed, with a little quality loss. Chicken defrosted in cold water or the microwave should be cooked before it goes back in the freezer.

How do you stop frozen chicken getting freezer burn?

Those dry grey patches come from air touching the meat. Seal chicken in freezer bags or butcher's paper with as much air squeezed out as you can, add an outer bag around thin store trays, and hold the freezer steady at 0 °F (−18 °C).

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