Weeknight dinners just got easier. There’s no need to thaw chicken breasts when you’re strapped for time. Here’s how to cook chicken breasts from frozen. Yes, directly from the freezer!
Strangely enough, one of the most popular blog posts on this website is the one with instructions for how to cook fish from frozen. That post was revolutionary for me. I had never thought of cooking fish from frozen until I was approached by a company that wanted me to experiment with it. It was such a successful and convenient technique that now I always have frozen fish fillets in the freezer ready to go straight into the oven for a quick dinner.
- Video: How To Cook Chicken Breasts From Frozen
- Can You Cook Chicken From Frozen?
- How Long Do You Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts?
- Preparing Chicken Breasts For The Freezer
- Cooking Frozen Chicken Breasts, Step-By-Step
- Podcast Episode: Cooking Chicken From Frozen
- How To Cook Chicken From Frozen (and Bread It)
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Video: How To Cook Chicken Breasts From Frozen
Can You Cook Chicken From Frozen?
Those quick dinners got me thinking, could I do the same thing with chicken breast? Is it safe? Yes!
I checked with the USDA and sure enough you can cook chicken breasts straight from the freezer. No need to panic about dinner if you’ve forgotten to thaw them ahead of time.
How Long Do You Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts?
When cooking chicken straight from the freezer, you want to cook for 50 percent longer than you would with unfrozen. The average unfrozen chicken breast weighing 5-7 ounces usually takes 20-30 minutes at 350°F. So for a frozen chicken breast, you’re looking at 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breast.
If you are adding breadcrumbs (like in the recipe below), or if you want the chicken to brown more while in the oven, you can cook it at 425F for 30-40 minutes. Note that we are using chicken breasts that are of a medium size, 5-7 ounces. If yours are larger, it will take longer for them to cook.
Preparing Chicken Breasts For The Freezer
When you bring the chicken breasts home from the grocery store, you need to pack them properly. The reason is that when it comes time to cook them you can’t have a big heap of frozen breasts in the pan. They will not cook evenly at all.
When you get your fresh chicken breasts home from the grocery store, put them in a single layer in a freezer bag. Lay the bag flat in the freezer, making sure that there is space around each breast. Alternatively, you can freeze them flat on a tray or plate and then transfer them to a freezer bag. Whichever way you do it, after they’re frozen you can jumble them up and put the bag upright in the freezer. The key is that the breasts stay separated.
These chicken breasts were frozen on a tray and then put in a freezer bag. You can see that even though they were touching in the bag they aren’t really stuck together.
Cooking Frozen Chicken Breasts, Step-By-Step
Step#1
Preheat the oven to no lower than 350°F. If I’m doing breading, as I’ve done with the recipe below, I use a higher temperature, like 425F, to help brown the crumbs.
Step#2
Put the frozen chicken breasts on a pan in a single layer. It’s best to use a broiling pan or a rack over a foil-lined pan. This way, any liquid from the chicken breast doesn’t leak out to steam them. But I’m usually lazy and just use my regular sheet pan. Mine’s this really good heavy-duty one and it works great and is ideal if you’re doing a high temperature like I often do.
Step#3
Doctor them up! Season them with salt and pepper and anything else you like.
If you want to use a sauce (like BBQ sauce), it’s best to wait until the last 10-15 minutes of cooking time so it doesn’t dry out on the chicken.
If you want to do a breading, see the recipe below. But basically, I brush them with mustard (this acts to help stick the breadcrumbs to the chicken). You can use any kind of mustard that you like the flavor of, even honey-mustard.
Why use mustard on there? I use mustard because it’s easier to brush on and have the bread crumbs stick then it would be to dredge frozen chicken breasts in flour and then egg wash. The egg wash freezes to the chicken too quickly and then the crumbs don’t stick. This is a very simple solution.
Then sprinkle on some bread crumbs that have been mixed with a bit of oil to help the browning process. You can also add whatever seasonings you’d like. Italian seasoning with a bit of salt and garlic powder works really well.
Step#4
Bake the chicken breasts for 50 percent longer than they would normally take. Average-sized (5-7 ounces) unfrozen chicken breasts usually take 20-30 minutes at 350°F. So for frozen chicken, you’re looking at 30-45 minutes.
If you’re doing a breading, as I have done in the recipe below, the oven temperature needs to be higher (425F). But it will still take nearly the same amount of time.
Tip: Use an instant-read thermometer when you think the chicken breasts are done. The temperature needs to be 165°F. A thermometer is the safest bet to make sure that they’re done. But if you know what you’re doing and trust yourself, you can cut into the thickest part of one and make sure that it’s not pink inside.
Step#5
Once you discover how easy this is and how delicious the chicken turns out, make plans to try another from-frozen recipe. In fact, my favorite way to cook shrimp is straight from frozen, and frozen lobster tails too. Enjoy! -Christine xo
Podcast Episode: Cooking Chicken From Frozen
Listen to me explain briefly about how to cook this chicken from frozen, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintHow To Cook Chicken From Frozen (and Bread It)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
There’s no need to thaw chicken breasts when you’re strapped for time. You pretty much cook them like normal but add 50% more cooking time.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs (panko crumbs turn out way better, if you have them)
- 1 Tbsp. cooking oil (olive oil, vegetable oil, etc.)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (5–7 ounces each) that have been frozen individually
- 4 tsp. mustard (yellow or dijon)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
- In a small bowl combine the breadcrumbs, oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Set aside.
- Put the chicken breasts on the prepared baking sheet. Spread or brush 1 teaspoon of mustard onto each breast. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, pushing down to help them adhere to the mustard.
- Bake until chicken is 165°F according to an instant read thermometer, 30-40 minutes.
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This post was originally published in April 2017 and was revised and republished in February 2021.
Mary Gardner says
This is nice to know for those nights when I have forgotten to thaw something for dinner. Your recipe sounds great!
Christine Pittman says
Exactly. Thanks, Mary!
luna1580 says
mayo has been mentioned, my favorite variant is to mix mayo with a little minced fresh garlic and some fine chopped fresh herbs (could use dried and garlic powder in a pinch) paint the chicken with that and sprinkle with a mixture of half plain panko and half grated hard cheese: parmesan, asiago, aged gouda, whatever you like. i’ve only done so on fresh breasts but will definitely try it your way.
my freezer method is to buy a megapack of boneless skinless thighs when they’re on sale and plop 1/2lb portions i (i cook for one) into freezer bags with a marinade (which can be as simple as a big squirt of robusto italian dressing or something homemade) when i want to eat one i defrost it in the fridge (or a monitored cold water bath) still in it’s bag. the marinade REALLY flavors it this way and it’s SO easy to have on hand.
cheers :)
Christine Pittman says
Great ideas, Luna! Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Sebastian says
Thank you for the good and informative read. One article and comments below packed with information. I actually cook from frozen on a regular basis so find this article really helpful.
Christine Pittman says
I’m so happy you found it helpful, Sebastian!
Will bovingdon says
Laughable punnery!
Katherine says
I’m wondering why this chicken recipe has so much cholesterol?? 41% seems very high to me.
Christine Pittman says
I agree that it does seem high. But i just did some research and it seems that a chicken breast has about 119mg of cholesterol which is about 40% of the suggested 300mg per day. That’s crazy, right?
Olivia says
To those of you asking why chicken breasts have gotten so big… Read up on what they do to the chickens. They cross breed the chickens and pump them full of so many hormones so that the chickens grow big top halves to have bigger chicken breasts (that’s what sells the most) but it makes it so the chickens can’t even stand up or walk more than a couple steps without getting winded and they have to sit down . Look at the movies Food Inc or Fed Up if you want to see how our food isn’t even food anymore. If you absolutely must buy chicken, go to your local farmers market and buy it from them. Those chickens are most likely raised on a farm where they are able to roam around and actually live their lives as chickens, not crammed into cages or overcrowded Barns… Cage free does not mean cruelty free. Same with other meats…
Nancy Rigoloso says
Thank you so much, Christine, for researching the safety of cooking from frozen. I like your “rule of thumb” about cooking frozen chicken 50% longer. I want to try this with the boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I buy frozen from either Costco, Walmart, or WinCo. You see, my guys don’t like chicken breast because it is dry and grainy, they say. I also buy bone-in thighs and drums fresh when they are on sale, and freeze each piece individually in fold-top sandwich bags. I’m looking forward to trying your technique several ways, including brushing the chicken with a honey-mustard mixture (without breadcrumbs) as a flavorful glaze. I hope it works! What a time-saver! Thanks!
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Nancy! I hope it’s been working out for you!
Toni says
I tried this recipe just as written. It was delicious! I will certainly be making this again.
Christine Pittman says
Fantastic! Thanks for letting me know, Toni!
Gail says
Your recipes are so practical, time saving and delicious.
The chicken breasts in my freezer were too large to cook from frozen. In future I will follow your suggestion for pounding before freezing. Why have chicken breasts gotten so large lately??? But I decided to try the recipe anyway with a few mods. First, I separated the small part of the muscle and then cut the large part in half horizontally, giving me 3 pieces of about equal thickness per breast. I used avocado oil with the bread crumbs as it seems to tolerate heat better than olive oil. And I used Amora dijon mustard, the best mustard in the world IMHO! I baked these in a cooler temperature convection oven, 350 degrees, in the top third, which is the hotter part of my oven. I lined my baking sheet with heavy duty foil and then a sheet of non-stick parchment paper. I removed the cooked breasts when the instant read thermometer read 160. We like our chicken well done. But it was still juicy and tender inside, crispy on the outside, and absolutely delicious. Thank you!
Christine Pittman says
Gail, I’m so happy it worked for you. And I have no idea why chicken breasts have gotten so big. It’s weird. Thank you for the compliments as well. They mean a lot to me!
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Amanda Morrison says
Hi,
Which pan or kind of pan it best to use? I have a small convection oven and I normally cover the cookie sheet with foil when I cook.. do I put the small wire rack it comes with on the pan or just put the chicken right on the pan?
Thank you
Christine Pittman says
Amanda, You can put the chicken right on the pan or on the rack. Either way will work. You can cover the pan with foil as well. That won’t affect anything.
Tom says
Christine,
I buy chicken breast at Walmart and I sometimes use them in different ways, from putting them in a Ziploc bag and marinade then shake them up and leave in the refrigerator for 1-2 hrs. I have them fully thawed out, yet with a oven temp of 425 degrees, how much higher can you go without burning them? I have an electric stove, yet prefer gas because it cooks evenly and NON messy, whereas it takes me almost 1hr and 30 mins to cook these AND leg quarters. Yes, the oven IS preheated but WHY is it taking so long for these 2 same foods to cook? I do have used a Pyrex/ Anchor Hocking 11 X 15 glass dish, with 1/2 ” water and covered with aluminum foil, and/or on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet where the rack is in the middle of the oven. How should I attempt frozen chicken breasts or chicken leg quarters in a Crock Pot Slow Cooker?
Christine Pittman says
Tom, You should not try cooking frozen foods in the slow cooker. They end up at a dangerous (bacteria growth) temperature for too long. As to why your chicken is taking so long in the oven, I have no idea. Fully thawed out bone-in chicken pieces should cook within 45 minutes at 425. If it is still frozen it should cook in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Thawed out boneless chicken pieces should cook in 20-25 minutes, frozen is longer, as discussed above.
Cathy says
Under directions i think you left out to season the chicken because it looks like it is in the picture with the mustard spread. I didn’t have mustard so i lightly salted the bottom and put the seasoned breadcrumbs on top. Hope it doesn’t come out too bland.
Christine Pittman says
Cathy, Under step #3 in the blog post it says to season the chicken breasts. In the recipe for breaded chicken at the bottom, it says to season the breadcrumbs.
Raven says
I’m a little confused about what you wrote as you can buy frozen chicken breasts at (walmart) and they specifically say to not thaw before cooking. I.E. throw them in the oven.
I find what works best for me is to pop them in the oven for 20 min at 425 and then cook them on the stove for a few minutes on both sides and chop them up a little bit with the seasoning thrown in the pan. Continuing to chop them if some are cooking faster than others and pulling them as soon as they aren’t pink for the optimum tenderness.
Its SOO easy to overcook chicken into rubber so I prefer to have total control visually.
Maggie says
Thank you! Great and simple recipe!
Raz says
Thank you so much for the recipe Christine. First time I cooked (ever) so I followed the directions exactly. After 40 min there was little pink in the middle so cooked it for 5 min more.
Came out perfect. Moist and delicious.
Christine Pittman says
Raz, That’s great. Thanks for letting me know. I hope you venture into the kitchen again soon!
Angela Ponder says
Make sure when you are preparing to freeze that you pound them down to the same thickness. This way they will cook much more evenly.
Christine Pittman says
Great tip, Angela. Thanks!