1. Take frozen chicken out of the freezer and put it in the freezer. Thawing in the refrigerator takes longer than other methods, but the quality of the thawed food is higher.

To avoid contaminating other foods in the refrigerator with blood from defrosting, place the chicken on the bottom shelf of the freezer. If the packaging of the chicken has been removed, you will have to get a plate or bowl to hold the chicken first.

2. Timing. Generally speaking, if you thaw the chicken in the refrigerator, it takes 5 hours per 453 grams of chicken.

Note: Thawing a whole chicken often takes more than 1 day. Please plan ahead accordingly.

3. After defrosting, remove the chicken from the refrigerator. The chicken will be soft to the touch, and any frost covering it will have melted away.

If you are defrosting a whole chicken, you can use your hands to check for ice crystals in the chicken's abdominal cavity to determine whether defrosting is complete. If there are ice crystals, the chicken will need to thaw a little longer.