It'll be just fine. You just hastened the thawing process.

Like daisy said . I would use it.

I do the same thing.
Sit on the counter at bedtime and wake up in the morning and there I was,
still on the counter and cold to touch.
Lou

I would toss it. That chicken was in the danger zone for too long according to everything I have read. I have a friend who always thaws her meat on the counter, she also often has stomach bugs, upsets etc as do her children. I have read that we get minor cases of food poisoning far more frequently then we think.

-Robin

If it was still good and cold when you got up, I sure would use it....but I wouldn't do the 5 hour slow cook thing....it will remain even longer in the danger zone before it really gets hot.
I would cook it at 450 for about 45 minutes.
Linda C

I would not even think twice about using it. Go for it!

And since I have done the same thing, the next time you take a frozen item out to defrost on the counter, toss a towel over it to help keep the cold in. No worries if you forget to put it in the fridge before bed and it will absorb any water from the defrosting.

I wouldn't be on the fence at all. I would eat that chicken and enjoy it.

Jim

When you do something that you have to remember to undo before bed.....put a hat on. You will have to remove the hat before going to bed.....and then you will remember.
another trick I often use is to put my watch on my right wrist...and something I ask...."what was it I was supposed to remember?" LOL!
We won't mention the number of times I have left the hose on all night.......
Linda C

I'd eat it too, no problem!
I do that intentionally all the time. As long as it was frozen solid to start with and still very cold in the morning, it's fine.

Oh, and to remember...I write a post-it note and stick it on my bathroom mirror, where I brush my teeth just before bed! Works every time..........as long as I remember to write the note! LOL

Deanna

Thanks for the memory tips. I need all I can get!

Frequently, when I go upstairs for something, I think of another reason to be up there. Then I get all the way back downstairs before I remember what I first went up for. I don't know if wearing a hat will help in that situation though.

Jim

I'm another who uses my bathroom mirror for all my post-it notes and reminders. Thank heavens it's big enough so I can still see myself in the middle!

I would think the chicken would be okay as long as your kitchen isn't in the tropics!

SharonCb

Because commercial chicken carries such an enormous load of bacteria (Salmonella and Campylobacter) on the skin, leaving it at room temperature for that long period, allows the bacteria on the skin to multiply despite the chicken feeling cold. Me, I wouldn't eat it, but then I avoid commercial chicken.

I would have taken its temperature in a few places, just under the skin. Under 40 deg everywhere and I would have kept it.

(And then two hours later it would still be bugging me and I would most definitely throw it out.)

I expected most people here to say it's ok. But I also has the same immediate thought as Linda C - no sticky chicken.

I also would use the high heat method. Something to remember though if you have another case similar to this. Do not go by smell! You can't smell the bacteria that potentially could kill you.
I, however, think the chicken will be fine.

I'm someone who has always, always thawed their meat on the counter, against all the advice saying never do that, and I've never had a problem. My mom has done it for all her 89 years and I've done it my whole life as well. I've taken things out of the freezer before work and then cooked it 9-10-11 hours later all the time - not in the heat of summer, but at other times, sure.

If it were a hot, hot summer day and your house was an oven and the chicken sat out all night and was warm when you discovered it, I might hesitate, but you said it was still cold so I'd cook it.

I've done the same exact thing myself. I can't tell you how many times we put something in the microwave and then forgot about it overnight - we do that rather than leave it out on the counter and risk one of our cats deciding to help themselves to a bit!!

Lisa

I would have cooked it right away. Just putting it in the fridge won't stop bacteria. Not even possible for me to guess over the Internet. I go by smell if I wonder. I used to have a cat that was a perfect judge... I'd offer a suspect fridge sample and if she wouldn't eat I didn't. I wouldn't trust a dog... except if she rolled in it I'd not eat it.

If you do cook it wash the heck out of it!. Make certain to get under the wings and legs. If the skin is loose pull it off and wash under it. Call me chicken paranoid but I always wash them before cooking. When storing them in the fridge I put them in plastic bags with a good shot of burbon poured over them.

One of the reasons I hate freezing meat is it has to be unfrozen. Most of the time I try to defrost in the fridge so that I recycle the energy used to freeze it... fridge does not work as hard when it has a frozen chunk keeping things cool.

: )
lyra

I'm getting concerned. SLF are you okay?