I am a very busy person who also tends to be lazy at times. So when I can make a lot of food, freeze it, and eat wherever I need to without much fuss, I prefer it over cooking every single time from scratch.

This includes one of my favorite food of all time, grilled chicken. I love eating grilled chicken at least once a week, but I don’t have the time to prepare it every time I want it.

So can you freeze grilled chicken?

According to USDA, which is a Food Safety and Inspection Service, you can freeze grilled chicken. Not only that, you can keep your grilled chicken in the freezer for about  4 to 6 months without them getting spoilt.

Read More: can you freeze grilled steak

How to Freeze Grilled Chicken

Freezing a lot of grilled chicken all at once can save you a lot of time and energy. All you would need to do is thaw and reheat your chicken when you want to eat it.

So to go through the process of freezing your grilled chicken, you have to prepare it, grill it, and then freeze it.

Let me show you what I’m talking about in detail.

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Grilling Your Chicken

Let’s say you are grilling chicken breast because it’s easier to freeze, as it is usually boneless. So I’ll share the recipe I use to make mouthwatering grilled chicken.

These are the ingredients you will need:

• Chicken
• Ginger paste
• Cumin powder
• Red chili powder
• Hung curd
• Garlic paste
• Powdered black pepper
• Coriander powder
• Masala powder
• Lemon zest
• Salt

First, you need to pound your chicken so that it becomes tender and even. Now take all the ingredients listed above, accept the chicken, and mix them well to make your marinade.

Then add your chicken breast to the mixture and make sure the chicken is well-coated. Now refrigerate the chicken mixture for at least 4 hours or overnight to marinate.

Preheat the grill with the highest heat and brush the grates with oil. Now you get to take your chicken out of the marinade and start grilling.

Grill each side of your chicken breast for 2-3 minutes or until each side is cooked properly. You can cover up your grill when you grill the chicken for better results.

Take your chicken off of the grill and repeat the same process with all the breast pieces you need to freeze.

Cooling and Flash Freezing

It’s better to freeze your grilled chicken the day you grill them. This is because it stays fresh if you do so.

But you can’t just start the freezing process right after grilling your chicken. First, you need to cool down your chicken before you move on to the next step.

Freezing hot or even warm chicken is a complete no-no. You need your chicken to be cool to the touch before you flash freeze it.

After you cool off your chicken, you need to flash freeze it in the refrigerator.

To do that, put your grilled chicken pieces on a tray with a baking sheet over it, and place the tray in the coldest part of the refrigerator. Keep the chicken there for about an hour to flash freeze.

Bagging

The most important part of freezing your grilled chicken is bagging. You need to get some freezer-friendly plastic zipper bags to freeze each chicken piece.

Take the chicken out of the refrigerator, wrap them in aluminum foil individually, and start bagging each piece in a small plastic bag.

It is better to bag your chicken individually because you can easily grab a single plastic bag or more depending on your need when you need to eat it.

This way, you can easily take out as much as you need compared to opening and resealing the bag every time you need chicken.

Sealing

The sealing part is easy, as you just need to seal your plastic bags tightly while you let out all the excess air.

Even though it’s easy, it’s one of the most important parts because you need to get the air out of the bags, or it will make your chicken suffer from freezer burn. And you do not want that!

You can use your hands to create pressure to take out the excess air, or you can take a much quicker and more efficient route, which is using a vacuum sealer.

Labeling

You need to label each of your plastic bags with the name of the food and the date of freezing so that you know when it was frozen.

If you don’t do this, you might easily forget the date and eat the chicken even when you shouldn’t

Freezing

The last step will be to freeze your grilled chicken in the freezer after you are done bagging and sealing your chicken.

You need to make sure that the temperature of your freezer is either at freezing or below that so that your chicken doesn’t get freezer burns.

Stacking your plastic bags neatly on a tray inside your freezer to avoid any further complications.

How to Reheat Your Frozen Grilled Chicken

When you take your chicken out of the freezer, you need to thaw it in the refrigerator for a few hours. You can do this the night before you need to reheat and eat it.

There are five ways you can use to reheat your frozen grilled chicken, all of which will be explained by me in a bit.

Oven

Take out your chicken from the refrigerator and start preheating your oven to 160 degrees Celcius or 325 degree Fahrenheit.

Wrap your grilled chicken in aluminum foil and add a bit of stock water for each piece of chicken. Now put that into the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Keep your chicken in the oven for longer if you need to. If you want a crispy outer layer, you can broil you chicken.

Microwave

Use a microwave-safe bowl and pour some stock or water into your chicken. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and add a few holes to let the steam out before placing it in the microwave.

Heat your chicken for about 30 seconds with half the power on and take intervals to heat it for 30 seconds till the chicken is really hot.

Skillet

Put water or stock in a pan and use medium heat to warm it. When the water starts getting hot, add your chicken and put on the lid to keep in the moisture.

Keep heating the chicken for two or three minutes, then flip it once before cooking for two or three minutes more.

Repeat the same process till your chicken is completely hot. You can turn the heat up if you want the chicken crispy on the outside.

Steamer

After setting up the steamer bring the water in the steamer to a gentle boil. You need to steam your chicken for at least three to four minutes.

If it is not hot all the way through, you might need to steam your chicken for a few more minutes till it’s hot.

Air Fryer

Preheating the air fryer to 180 degrees Celcius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit, start brushing you chicken with butter or oil.

Place all your chicken pieces in your air fryer in a way that they don’t stick to each other. Then heat them for five to seven minutes till it’s thoroughly hot.

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Final Words

So can you freeze grilled chicken? The answer is yes, you can freeze grilled chicken for about 4 months or more if you freeze it properly. It not only saves you so much time and effort, but you also get to enjoy delicious grilled chicken every time you feel like eating it without having to make it from scratch.