Is It Safe to Use Frozen Meat in Your Crock-Pot?
With so many people using their crock-pot slow cookers as mega time-savers, this question is a surprisingly hot topic out there on the Internet:
Can you put frozen meat in the crock-pot?
Our short answer … DON’T DO IT!
For those of you craving a little more detailed explanation, here’s the scoop …
We’ve read a lot of buzz about this issue, and even fielded a great question about it from a reader back on our post for 3-Ingredient Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos. So, we know there’s tremendous confusion and debate surrounding this topic, and we wanted to try to clear up some misconceptions and help direct you to safe, reliable information sources.
There are really two questions here: 1) Can a crock-pot cook meat from a frozen state? and 2) Should you cook meat this way?
If you’re like us, then you no doubt have heard people say that it’s perfectly ok to put stone-cold frozen meat directly into the crock-pot. Maybe you’ve even tried it (and lived to tell the tale!). You can certainly find a shockingly large amount of recipes online that call for frozen meat in slow cooker recipes.
So, yes … a crock-pot can cook frozen meat. It will work.
That’s really not the point, though.
The real issue is whether cooking frozen meat in the crock-pot is safe. Reputable cooking sites, cookbooks and food safety resources agree that it’s not a good idea. No matter how many people tell you they’ve done it without a problem, we still urge you not to try it.
For us, it’s just not worth the risk.
Why? Because slow cookers don’t reliably get frozen meat up to a safe temperature (above 140°F) evenly enough or quickly enough. Your meat will likely spend too much time hovering in the danger zone (from 40°F – 140°F), which opens the door for bacteria to flourish. Not yummy … or safe!
This can be a particular problem for people who are considered at higher risk for food-borne illnesses: older people, pregnant women, little kiddos, and people with challenged immune systems (groups which we’ve seen estimated as comprising approximately 20% of the population).
There are numerous issues that you may see people debating in online chats, which they feel can affect how quickly a crock-pot cooks frozen meat: what heat setting you’re using, how old your slow cooker is, what model it is, how big it is, how full your crock-pot is for any given recipe, what the temperature of the other ingredients is when you start cooking, how much liquid is in a recipe … you get the idea. There are way too many variables. And the bottom line is that there’s just no guarantee whatsoever that your recipe will turn out to be both delicious and safe to eat.
We’re not willing to take that risk with our families, and we certainly don’t advise you to take the gamble with your own loved ones.
Instead, thaw your meat over a day or two in the temperature-safe zone of your refrigerator. Or, if you didn’t plan far enough ahead (egads – we’ve been there!), use your microwave’s defrost setting to gently thaw your meat (check it and rotate it to avoid cooking some parts while others remain frozen), and then immediately transfer it to your crock-pot to get it cooking and rapidly up to a safe temperature.
That tiny little bit of extra effort can save you and your family from a miserable bout of food poisoning. We think that’s well worth it!
Now, we know there will be plenty of you who swear you’ve used frozen meat for years with no problem. (Remember – we said this is quite the hotbed of debate, and we’re expecting plenty of controversy.) But after Gretchen’s food safety courses in her master’s program, and Shelley’s experience in professional and cooking school kitchens, plus all of our research, it’s our firm conviction that you’re taking an unnecessary and avoidable risk. That’s why all of our slow cooker recipes call for starting with fresh or thawed meats, and we just want you to be fully educated about the issue.
If you’d like to read more, check out these resources:
• Better Homes and Gardens Year-Round Slow Cooker Recipes by Better Homes and Gardens
• Slow Cooker Revolution Volume 2 by the Editors at America’s Test Kitchen
• American Heart Association Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook by the American Heart Association
• Betty Crocker’s Slow Cooker Cookbook by Betty Crocker
• Cooking Light Slow-Cooker Tonight! by the Editors of Cooking Light
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Slow Cookers and Food Safety
• University of Minnesota Extension: Slow Cookers and Food Safety
• Ohio State University Extension: Reducing the Risk of Food Borne Illness
• Fix-It and Forget-It blog: Can you cook frozen meat in your slow cooker?
Trying to Decide What to Make in Your Slow Cooker Next? How About …
- Crock-Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Healthy Crock-Pot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
- Crock-Pot North Carolina BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
- Crock-Pot Creamy Chicken Corn Chowder
- Crock-Pot Crazy Pineapple Chili
Attention Commenters (Update on 10/29/14):
Because we’ve begun to get many very detailed questions on this post, which require (and deserve!) thoughtful, longer, and more researched and detailed answers from us, our policy regarding comments on this particular post is different from all of our others. Comments on this post will be held in moderation until we are able to answer them as thoroughly and thoughtfully as we always strive to do. Your comments are so important to us and always appreciated! In the interim, you might also find it helpful to contact the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline toll free at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854). The specialists there are friendly, helpful and very knowledgable! Thanks so much, friends! And keep those comments coming!
I completely understand about not using frozen raw meat, but what about pre-cooked frozen meat such as frozen meatballs? I use the frozen meatballs quite often, so just wondering.
Ed, I was wondering the same thing. We often cook a big batch of “taco” meat and freeze in smaller batches. I am curious if I could reheat meat from a frozen state in the crock-pot. I see you have not received a reply and I wonder if you have tried it yet?
Thank you for this! I was so hoping to have dinner ready for my son and I tonite and I don’t own a microwave to defrost. I put the chicken back in the fridge to thaw properly. Perhaps we would’ve been fine, but why chance it. Thank you for a clear and concise explanation. Much appreciated!
I have thrown frozen chicken in a time or two. The last time I did it though, the chicken came out a grey color that I was scared to eat. Today I started googling, and found out it is indeed, not safe! I am glad to see articles clearly stating that this is not ok. There are so many freezer crock pot ideas that at least imply that it is fine to do this. I wish more people would get the correct info and put it out there along with their recipes!
This article makes it CRYSTAL CLEAR now. My mind set was always that my meat is always (temp)done and never did think about or have much knowledge about the danger zone. I thought that if it was at the right temp…we were good. I have even told people how easy it is to just open the pkg and throw it in the crockpot for the day. I know some of them have started doing this too! Geez!!! I just took my venison roast out of the freezer and will put it in thawed. Thank you so much for info. I will certainly start spreading the word!!
Hi Jennifer! Thanks for stopping by! We’re so happy you found us … and especially this post! It’s so important to get everything up to temp and out of that danger zone!
Now, when you share your yummy venison roast recipe with friends, you can remind them to wait until the meat is thawed!
Thanks for spreading the word! 😀 ~G&S
As one who LOVES to use the crockpot – this is so, so SO good to know! I will always thaw first now:)
Thanks again!
If we should not use frozen meat in a crockpot, how would you adapt most of the recipes in the Crockpot Freezer Meals category that so many people are excited about it, including me? One thought I had would be to freeze everything in the recipe together but leave the meat separate.
thanks
Hi Val! Thank you very much for your question! This is a great topic – and one that is often discussed!
Several months ago, I actually called the USDA regarding this very issue! There just wasn’t tons of info out there, and I wanted to make sure that we were giving the absolute best info possible. Here’s what I found out: as long as the food is handled properly before freeing, and is totally and safely thawed before cooking it in the crock-pot, then it’s ok to freeze the meat and veggies together. The key is to thaw the food properly prior to cooking. (Several times throughout our conversation, the gentleman from the USDA re-emphasized the importance of thawing the food completely, safely and thoroughly before adding it to the slow cooker.)
Hope that helps, and thanks so much for the awesome question! ~Gretchen
I had a follow-up question to this. If a recipe calls for placing the freezer meal directly into the crockpot still frozen and I don’t want to risk doing that, how should I adapt the cooking time for the dump chicken I have thawed? For example, if the recipe calls to place the frozen meat and veggies into the crockpot directly from the freezer and cook for 6-8 hours on high (4-6 on low), how long should I cook the food if I have thawed it ahead of time? Thanks for the helpful article and links!
Hi Jenny! If I understand your question correctly, it sounds like you’ve already thawed the entire slow cooker meal, and are placing the completely thawed ingredients into the slow cooker to begin cooking. Right? I’ve honestly never done that, and the appropriate cooking time could vary from recipe to recipe, so it’s a little hard for me to say for sure what amount of cooking time would be appropriate for your exact recipe. However, I would start by testing your recipe at the lowest end of those cook-time ranges, or even slightly less. If you’re home during the day, definitely plant to check the recipe sooner to see how it’s progressing. Luckily, though, one of the beauties of crock-pot recipes is that they tend to be rather forgiving in terms of exact cook times, with relatively large ranges that will work well, so you have a lot wiggle room. Also, I found a couple of articles with charts of slow cooker cook times, that I thought might help you. Check these out: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/slow-cookers-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html and http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t–1273/cooking-with-a-slow-cooker.asp Lastly, I notice that the recipe you mention is specifying 6-8 hours on high and 4-6 on low. That’s highly unusual – typically the cook times would be the opposite (the longer cook time of 6-8 hours would be for the low setting, and the shorter cook time of 4-6 hours would be for the high setting). I’m betting the recipe just has a little typo in it there, and you probably want to flip those times, as it just doesn’t make sense to cook longer on high. I hope all of this helps a little. Good luck!! 😀 ~Shelley