Is it safe to eat freezer-burnt chicken? What caused it? What can you do with it? Let's answer those questions and rescue your chicken breasts by rehydrating them.
It is easy to rescue freezer burnt chicken in broth and spices and then make Mexican shredded chicken for various uses, like enchiladas or burritos.
🐓Ingredients
Freezer burnt skinless boneless chicken breasts—thawed
Onions and garlic
Chicken broth
Tomato sauce
Pantry Ingredients—chili powder, cumin, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper
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I found a bag of those wholesale club chicken breasts in the back of the garage refrigerator freezer we replaced last week. So, this poor meat is dehydrated, tough, and tasteless. In other words, it is already a hockey puck. Time to fix it.
The process has two steps. First, rehydrate and add some flavor with chicken broth, onion, and garlic. Followed by hand shredding to eliminate waste and add more flavor with tomato sauce and spice.
You may use this rescued freezer burnt chicken in any recipe that uses rotisserie or shredded chicken. I recommend Mexican and added those flavors in the second step of the recipe.
👨🍳How to Cook Freezer Burnt Chicken
Part one—rehydration and adding some flavor
Preheat oven to 300°.
Chop onions. Also, you can trim off the worst of the freezer burn.
Add onion, 2 cans of chicken broth, 1 tablespoon crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1 teaspoon salt to a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Mix well, add chicken, and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and move to the oven for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and move the breasts to a plate to cool for 15 minutes. Discard the liquid except for 1 cup. Then shred it by hand.
Part two—adding lots of flavors
Add chicken and all part two ingredients back into the Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until most of the fluid is evaporated.
Remove from heat and use in burritos, enchiladas, etc.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
✔️How to use rescued chicken
I prefer to use it for Mexican, where any "off taste" is covered by the spices. Check out these recipes, like Healthy Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, or Traditional Chicken Enchilada Casserole.
The texture and taste are slightly off, but most people won't notice, especially if it is covered with cheese, great sauces, and flavors—a great way to hide those mild shortfalls.
Look for recipes that allow precooked rotisserie chicken to be added late in cooking, have a robust and flavorful sauce, and cheese is a big plus. They will never know it was freezer burnt chicken.
What is freezer burn?
Freezer burn is just dehydration of meat or other foods. In meat, it is caused by the water in the meat cells freezing and forming ice crystals that damage the cells. The water molecules can then escape the cells. With the water escaping, the taste also goes, and the texture changes. If the package is intact, you will probably see ice crystals in the package.
But even foods without cells, like ice cream, get some ice crystals for the same effect. It may or may not be due to poor storage.
No-frost freezers tend to have more of an issue with freezer burning due to the small temperature changes, which is how they are "no-frost." And the longer the period of time in the freeze, the more likely to have freezer burn.
Is it safe to eat freezer-burned chicken or other foods?
Yes. It is safe to eat freezer-burned food. It is dehydrated, not spoiled. But with the water leaving the cells, the texture and flavor deteriorated rapidly.
Since it is safe, can we rescue it by adding moisture, texture, and taste? We can add moisture, but the taste and texture will be slightly "off." We want to cover that up—an ideal job for Mexican food where we can use shredded chicken for burritos and enchiladas, with lots of flavorful sauce and cheese. On to the rescue,
How to revive freezer-burned chicken
Just cutting off the freezer burn may be acceptable if it is small. But the damage is usually deeper, and most cooking methods will pull water out of the cells. So, just cooking normally rarely gives good results.
Brining the chicken can help rehydrate the meat, and you can add some flavors to cover for the lack of flavor and occasional "off" taste. Brining is passive; if you have more than a little problem, it won't do much.
The meat with significant damage should be discarded, or we can rescue most of it by braising it. If you are unfamiliar with braising, it is heating the meat slowly in liquid in a sealed container to prevent evaporation. So, it's similar to simmering but covered.
❓FAQs
You can not always prevent freezer burn, but here are some things to help.
1) Set your freezer to 0°F and use a freezer thermometer.
2) Never put hot food in the freezer.
3) Use freezer-grade materials and containers. Use freezer paper and buy freezer zip-lock bags, not the cheap, thinner ones.
4) Thicker food, like casseroles, should have several layers of protection. I do a complete plastic wrap and two layers of aluminum foil or freezer paper.
5) Keep as much air as possible out of the storage containers—flatten that zip-lock bag.
6) Leave room for air circulation around packages and use smaller packages.
7) Keep track of how long things have been frozen.
No, this is not a good idea. The cells are severely damaged, and they will not last long frozen.
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Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
📖 Recipe
Freezer Burnt Chicken Breasts Rescue - Shredded Mexican
Ingredients
Step 1
- 4-5 thawed freezer burnt skinless boneless chicken breast
- 28 oz chicken broth
- 2 onions - chopped medium
- 1 tablespoon garlic - crushed
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
Step 2
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup broth - from step one
- onion - most of the onion from step one
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°.
- Chop onions. You can also trim off the worst of the freezer burn.
- Add onion, 2 cans of chicken broth, 1 tablespoon crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1 teaspoon salt to a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Mix well, add chicken, and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and move to the oven for 1 hour.
- Remove from the oven and move the breasts to a plate to cool for 15 minutes. Discard the liquid except for 1 cup. Then shred it by hand.
- Add chicken and all part two ingredients back into the Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until most of the fluid is evaporated. Remove from heat and use in burritos, enchiladas, etc.
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Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- It is OK to trim back the worst parts.
- Do as many breasts as you want as long as they are covered by broth.
- Once rehydrated, you can change and spice and use another way.
- Be sure to hand shred so you can sort out any parts with bad texture.
- OK to refrigerate for 2-3 days, but do not refreeze.
- Some breasts are just too far gone for this to work well.
- Limit your usage to recipes that use rotisserie chicken and have flavorful sauces.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally published July 19, 2010. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
JL says
I made 5 spice chicken broth with your idea of dehydrating the chicken. Cooked it, shredded the chicken and we served the broth over budda bowls, it was amazing.
cindy h says
Fantastic solution to lightly freezer burned chicken. I cut off the parts that were so FB as to be white, then followed the 2 steps of the recipe. Took a portion, strained it, and made quesadillas with it, adding cheese and pickled jalapenos. loved it!
Marilyn Lafave says
I do not understand second part of recipe when you have discarded all broth except one cup and then you return chicken to pot with "Step 2 " ingredients. Could you explain this better?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Marilyn,
Welcome to the blog.
You have removed and shredded the chicken at that point and the Dutch oven is empty. Add the shredded chicken and the ingredients listed in part 2 of the recipe (which includes the 1 cup of broth you saved.) Then bring to a boil and then decrease to simmer until the fluid is reduced.
Dan
Karen says
Can all the cooking liquid from cooki g the freezer burnt food be saved to use as a base for soup?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Karen,
Welcome to the blog.
Yep, you can freeze it for 3-4 months or refrigerate for a few days. I don't have a recipe for you though.
Dan
Kathy says
I had quite a large package of freezer burned chicken and rescued them with your recipe. It turned out great. I made two large casseroles of enchiladas. I have one question. You say the chicken can be refrigerated for 2-3 days, but not to refreeze it. My question is, I cooked both casseroles, but we only ate one of them. Can the 2nd casserole of cooked enchiladas be frozen and reheated for another meal? (They're very moist.)Thank You
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Kathy,
Welcome to the blog.
You can absolutely freeze it again in a casserole. Seal tight and I would say 1-2 months. Normally I would freeze a casserole for up to 3-4 months but the meat cells are still damaged - damaged but rehydrated - so they will leak fluid easily so I suggest not freeze for the long term.
I would not refreeze the meat by itself. You are just asking for it to dehydrate again quickly. But in a cheesy saucy casserole... I think that is different.
Glad it worked for you. Thanks for the rating and let me know if you have questions.
Dan
Jill says
Do you think this would work in a crock pot, too? Thanks!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Jill,
Welcome to the blog.
I believe it would work well. Fortunately, I haven't needed to do this for years. I would guess the times would be about double. That is a guess but my guesses are usually fairly good.
Make sure the chicken reaches 165 before shredding. If you do it, please come back a comment so others will know.
Dan
Ed says
Thanks! I managed to freezer burn a 5 pound bag of already frozen chicken breasts. The results were way beyond what I was expecting hence the 5 stars.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Ed,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. It was just something I had to do.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Kate Gilgan says
Yahoo! Thank you for this fabulous resource! I was gifted some wickedly freezer burned chicken breasts and your formula was a winner! I am so very pleased to have found someone willing to save food rather than just buying buying buying more!!
DrDan says
Hi Kate,
Welcome to the blog.
I grew up poor in Iowa. This never happened and you didn't discard food that was safe to eat. I can easily afford to replace it but it is just wrong to me.
I got rid of my large freezer to prevent this sort of thing from happening but still get an occasional touch of freezer burn. I just make sure I do this or a similar cooking method and use it. I won't claim it is the best chicken ever but it is quite good.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
STony says
Our chicken breasts were not that freezer burnt, but had some after being there over 9 months and recipe worked great. I used three cloves of garlic in the first part and about four ounces of tomato sauce and 7 ounces of Pato brand chili sauce with a little less chili powder in 2nd part. We used some, without a lot of the sauce, for tacos tonight and I will make enchiladas out of the rest, using a lot of the sauce. Looks like a lot of other good recipes/ideas on your website. Thanks.
Aimee says
So glad I found this recipe to put some slightly freezer burned chicken breasts to good use! They made such tasty tacos that I don't think I'll ever use beef again! Thanks for the awesome recipe :)
Lida says
This is really good! Especially, like was said, for something that was just going to be tossed anyway. And this is the only recipe I could find worth while for FB chicken. I plan on making homemade tortillas and using the chicken for tacos. Thanks!
Dr Dan says
I glad it worked out for you.
Andy Kintopf says
I made this recipe and put it in your enchilada recipe and also used your sauce recipe. It was so good! Thank you so much!
Alannah says
I found this from googling freezer burned chicken recipe and happened to have all the ingredients on hand so I thought "what the hell, otherwise its garbage". It was so amazing that I'm now making it for the second time with un-freezer burned chicken breasts specially bought for this! Thanks for the great recipe, cheers
Dr Dan says
I looked for other solutions but found nothing so I just winged it. I just had my second meal off it a few minutes ago and was great as leftovers also.
Sage says
Love that you were able to salvage and I am sure it tasted as if it had not been in such bad shape.
Sounds like a grat recipe.
Rita