Can I brown chicken the night before cooking?

reverie

Sorry if this has been asked a million times before, have tried to search (not just the last weeks posts either, promise!) and can't seem to find the answer.

Am cooking a chicken casserole thingy tomorrow night in oven (too much for slow cooker), can I brown the chicken tonight put it in the fridge and then cook tomorrow evening?

Thanks so much.

Lusignan

I wouldn't - if you partially heat it, the bacteria will love it and will breed with gay abandon. Best to cook it from start to finish in one go.

emilyt

No definately not.
Will be just the right temperature for all those nasty little germs to breed. Please don't risk it.

reverie

Thanks both. Will take your advice and they'll all just have to wait a bit longer for dinner tomorrow. (Better that than sickness as the alternative.)

However, now I am paranoid.. I opened the chicken thighs packet in my haste, have tightly clingfilmed it and put back in fridge, but notice that it says "once opened use immediately". What do I do now? Can I cook them tomorrow night? Do I need to make casserole tonight and warm up tomorrow? If so, how and won't that poison anyone!?

Oh gosh, I have bacteria paranoia!

emilyt

They should be fine as long as they are kept in the fridge.
I would use them.
Hope this helps

janeawej

oh yes definately use it! that is realy just to cover themselves,