Why It's A Huge Mistake To Marinate Your Chicken On The Counter

How long does it take to marinate chicken? For the best flavor, you'll probably want to aim for at least two hours. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, two hours is the absolute upper limit for how long raw meat can be allowed to sit at room temperature. This drops to just one hour if the temperature is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The agency advises discarding any chicken that may have been left unrefrigerated for a longer period of time, as it may be unsafe to consume. Cooking will not eliminate the toxins created by accumulated bacteria. Do the math: Even if you whisk the chicken straight from the fridge into the marinade, you're flirting with food poisoning if you go over the two-hour limit. Unless, of course, you do the right thing and marinate the chicken where it belongs.

As food scientist Jessica Gavin told Mashed, "If you're marinating, do it in the fridge, not [on] the counter, to prevent bacterial growth." Keeping raw chicken at room temperature, she told Mashed, is a big mistake. In fact, it might make you just as sick as eating undercooked chicken.

Once you move your chicken back to the refrigerator where it belongs, you've avoided the perils of countertop marination and bought yourself a few more hours of time. Just how long do you have, though? The upper limit, as the USDA notes, is 24 hours in most recipes. If you exceed this time, however, the chicken probably won't make you sick. It's when you go over 48 hours that you could be looking at trouble. Raw chicken may start to spoil after just two days in the fridge.

The main reason why you should keep the marinating time under 24 hours as opposed to 48 for most meats has more to do with quality than safety. The acidic ingredients in the marinade, be they lemon juice, wine, or soda, will spend the first day tenderizing the muscle tissue. Once the meat is as tender as it needs to be, the acid will keep breaking it down to the point where it winds up mushy.

If you prefer to prepare your meals in advance, you can certainly start marinating the meat the night before you plan to eat it, but maybe wait until right before you go to bed. Once you've started the process, you must commit to cooking your chicken by dinnertime tomorrow.