Is It Safe?

• According to the USDA, cooking frozen chicken in the oven before it defrosts is perfectly safe. In fact, this method is safer than other methods of preparing frozen chicken. The USDA advises against cooking chicken in a microwave or slow cooker unless it is fully defrosted first. If you don't want to take the time to thaw your chicken completely, baking it is your safest option.

Timing and Temperature

• To safely prepare frozen chicken in the oven, you need to adjust your recipe. Frozen chicken takes about 50 percent longer to bake than fresh or defrosted chicken, so plan accordingly. For example, while a fresh pack of four boneless, skinless chicken breasts may take about 15 minutes to bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, it may take 25 to 30 minutes when they're straight from the freezer. A fresh whole chicken may take 45 minutes at 350 F, but a frozen one can take over an hour. The most important thing is to check your chicken's internal temperature -- this, more than timing, dictates when your meat is fully cooked. Insert a meat thermometer halfway through the thickest cut of meat to take its temperature; it's safe to eat when it reaches 165 F.

Quality Concerns

• Baking frozen chicken may be more convenient than thawing it out first, but it can make a difference when it comes to quality. When cold meat is rapidly heated, like in the oven, it can constrict, giving it a tough and chewy texture. If the meat was not properly wrapped before being frozen, this can make it dry out and lose its flavor. You can tell that this has happened by the appearance of brown spots on the meat's surface. For the best meat quality, you should choose only chicken that was tightly wrapped before being frozen and defrosted before cooking.

Thawing Safely

• If you do decide to defrost your chicken before baking it, you have to do so carefully. The safest way to defrost chicken is to transfer it from the freezer to the refrigerator, which can take one or several days to thaw it out. If you're in more of a hurry, wrap the chicken in a watertight bag and submerge it in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes or so to prevent it from warming up. While it may seem logical to just leave your chicken on the counter or to submerge it in hot water, these methods can cause unsafe bacterial growth, and are not advisable.