Is acid-marinated raw chicken still safe after several days?
I marinated chicken five days ago in lemon juice, seasoned salt, and garlic powder, is it still safe to cook in the oven?
Best Answer
This would be a bad idea.
Chicken should be cooked 1-2 days after refrigeration according to the USDA and other food safety agencies, and will tend to get noticeably slimy and pungent after 3-4 days in my experience. 5 days is really pushing it.
I understand the rationale for the question - lemon juice can kill the surface bacteria - but that's just the problem, salmonella bacteria don't only exist on the surface of chicken, they're crawling around the interior as well.
In order for this to be considered safe, you would need to be absolutely sure of all the following:
The entire marinade had a pH of significantly less than 4. Lemon juice is considered to have a base pH of 2-3, but that is fresh lemon juice and undiluted. Unless you actually used a pH tester, you cannot be 100% positive of this.
The marinade completely penetrated every part of the chicken that may have been contaminated. This is literally impossible for you to measure.
The chicken itself was relatively fresh before it went into the marinade - unless you got it farm-fresh, you don't know this for a fact, so even if the marinade completely penetrated the chicken, the interior bacteria may have already left behind some nasty protein toxins (which the marinade can't kill because they aren't alive).
If you had said 3 days, maybe 4, I would say, practically, that you'd probably be OK. But any more than that and you're playing with fire.
As the old chef's saying goes: When in doubt, throw it out.
If you are intent on eating it anyway then please, at least be responsible and don't serve it to any guests.
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How long can chicken stay in an acidic marinade?
Since vinegar is fairly acidic, we recommend that you don't marinate your chicken in the mixture for more than 12 hours. You should toss and coat your chicken with your mixture and then refrigerate it in the marinade for up to 12 hours before cooking it.How long can raw marinated chicken stay in the fridge?
For how long can I keep marinated chicken in the fridge? Marinated chicken can be kept in the fridge for 2 days; after that, any uncooked marinade should be discarded.Is marinated chicken good after 3 days?
Information. Most recipes for marinating meat and poultry recommend six hours up to 24 hours. It is safe to keep the food in the marinade longer, but after two days it is possible that the marinade can start to break down the fibers of the meat, causing it to become mushy.What happens if I marinate chicken for 5 days?
There's a food-safety reason to avoid letting meat over-marinate as well: According to Federal Food Safety guidelines, raw chicken should only be stored in the refrigerator for one to two days (pork and beef are safe a little longer). After this, dangerous amounts of bacteria can grow, and you risk getting sick.Yogurt marinated chicken
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Answer 2
The marinade won't have caused any food safety issues of its own -- whether it has "overcooked" in the marinade is another matter.
If it's been in the fridge for the whole period, then I would go by the date on the chicken's packaging, just as if it had been the fridge that long without a marinade.
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