How To Safely Freeze Fried Chicken And Reheat It Later

Like plenty of foods, fried chicken tastes best when it's fresh. Sometimes, though, you've got so much on hand that it has to turn into leftovers. But there's actually nothing wrong with that. For long term leftover storage, it's entirely safe to freeze your fried chicken. If stored properly, those leftover thighs or breasts from your friend chicken sandwiches will be safe to use in future sandwiches for the next several months. In fact, it should take about four months before cooked chicken starts to lose that quintessential flavor. You have to freeze it properly, though.

The strategy isn't to stick your drumsticks into the freezer straight away. Instead, let them cool off on the counter or in the fridge first to avoid a major temperature change which could mess with the food. This is the same for any cooked chicken, from fried chicken to a Costco rotisserie chicken. It helps to separate the pieces of chicken as much as you can so that you don't have to reheat all of them at once. To do this, place them in between layers of parchment paper or wax paper before putting everything into a container. Try to use freezer-specific food storage containers or resealable freezer bags, both of which are designed to sit in cold temperatures for long periods.

To reheat fried chicken, you're basically repeating the whole process in reverse: Take the chicken out of the freezer and place it into the fridge to let it thaw slowly. Thawing at room temperature goes by too quickly, affecting the texture of your fried chicken. The amount of time it should sit in the fridge depends on how much chicken you've got, but a day is considered a safe amount. You shouldn't wait longer than two days.

There are a few reasons why you shouldn't just place warm fried chicken into the freezer. When its temperature changes too drastically and too quickly, it can warm up the temperature of your entire freezer, putting other food at risk. It can also ruin the juiciness of your chicken when it's eventually thawed. Because of that steam and condensation, you might start seeing clear signs that your food is freezer burnt, because freezer burn is caused by air reaching frozen food and evaporating the moisture on its outer layers. Freezer burn won't make your fried chicken unsafe, but it will make it unpleasant to eat, so try to make those fried chicken sandwiches before that happens. Your future self will also thank you if you remember to write down the date you froze the chicken onto the container.