Can You Put Frozen Food in a Crock Pot?
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“Is it safe to put a freezer meal in a crock pot?”
“Can I put frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker?”
When it comes to freezer meals, this is a very common question we get from readers and at speaking events. I think it’s a common question because there is a lot of mixed information out there.
Simply put, the answer is no. You should not put frozen food in a crock pot.
I know, we are sad too.
But, before you start giving us dirty looks, you should know we are coming out strong on this because the experts have made it very clear: cooking frozen food in a crock pot is not safe!
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service says, “Always thaw meat or poultry before putting it into a slow cooker.”
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Here’s why: While frozen food can for sure reach its safe cooking temperature with extra time added, a problem arises if it spends too much time thawing out in what the USDA calls the “danger zone.”
The danger zone is defined as the temperature range between 40 degrees and 140 degrees where bacteria grow most rapidly — and can double in number in a matter of minutes. Salmonella and staphylococcus aureus as common culprits and can even contaminate other foods in the slow cooker. While the bacteria will most likely be killed when the chicken reaches 165 degrees (yeah!), the toxins they grow can be heat-resistant (boo!). According to the USDA, these toxins, not the bacteria that produce them, cause food-borne illnesses. (source)
Wondering how to safely thaw a freezer meal? Never fear. We break down the three easy, USDA-approved ways to thaw your food here.
If you forget to thaw your freezer meal recipe or your frozen meat in time to cook it, we have good news for you. You can still safely use an Instant Pot for freezer meals! Because the cooking time is much faster, the food won’t sit in that danger zone for too long. (Score!)
Lastly, if you’re drooling over that Pot Roast image above, you can find it in our cookbook, From Freezer to Table. Happy cooking!
So my husband just flipped his lid on me because he saw me put a frozen steak in the crock pot for tomorrow.
Here’s my take.
I grew up in my parents’ restaurant and was the youngest person in my state at the time to get a food handler’s permit (at age 9), on which I scored 100%. I have passed that same test many times since and have never missed a question.
What I learned is that not all meat is created equal. There is a reason that beef, poultry, pork, and seafood are cooked at different temperatures. Intact red meat (not ground meat) is cooked at the lowest temperature and is even considered safe to eat raw so long as the outside is cooked, because the deeper layers of uncut meat are sterile for much longer than the outer surface. It takes a while for bacteria to infect those deeper layers. The thing with a slow cooker or almost any other method of cooking is that the outside surfaces reach foodsafe temperatures much faster than the interior. It can be 145° outside and still be frozen in the middle. The surface, which is where the bacteria are growing, will run through the danger zone to safe temperatures, almost as fast as refrigerated meat. The deeper layers of interior meat take longer, but also have less bacteria because of the nature of red meat.
Furthermore, the dimensions of the frozen meat also play a factor. The greater the surface to volume ratio the faster cooking meat will travel through the danger zone. A piece of meat that is long and thin will always cook faster than a piece that is closer to a cube. A steak will thaw and cook more rapidly than a roast will. Not that it ultimately makes a difference because of what I have previously described.
The reason that this applies to red meat only is because Pork carries parasites which introduce bacteria to deeper layers of meat, chicken does not have the same densely compact muscle structure as red meat which allows bacteria to migrate inward more quickly, and Seafood is much more likely to develop toxicity then other meats.
TL;DR: Intact red meat is fine to slow cook from frozen because science.
Thanks for your comment Alyssa. Sounds like you’ve learned a lot. Do you mind sharing your sources?
Can a thawed crockpot meal with chicken be cooked the next day and be okay? (I took it out yesterday afternoon but won’t cook it until tomorrow morning…)
It should be just fine. We always teach to think about how long your meal has been thawed in total–both before and after the freezer. Fresh food has about a 5 day life in the fridge. So if you used up your chicken in the freezer meal right away and froze it, then you should have several days left on the other end of the freezer. Does that make sense?
Crock Pot has issued a statement saying it is safe to cook meat from frozen as long as you add at least 1 cup of liquid and cook an extra 2 hours on high and an extra 4 on low (I think).
Thank you for this update. I saw that. I’m just waiting for the USDA to confirm it before we change our recommendation.