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I accidentally added frozen instead of thawed vegetables to my Chicken Alfredo meal I'm cooking in an Instant Pot (slow cooker mode). It's currently cooking right now, but I'm not sure if I should throw it out.

I didn't add any boiling hot water. I just added some room temperature alfredo sauce, refrigerated heavy whipping cream, thawed chicken, and frozen chopped veggies.

Is this safe to eat?

EDIT: I have not made this recipe before. Usually 7 hours works with plain chicken + room temperature vegetables, and sauce but this is the first time I'm using frozen vegetables. I left it on overnight so I think it's finished now but haven't tried it yet.

ninjaneer
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  • Possible duplicate of [How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/34670/how-do-i-know-if-food-left-at-room-temperature-is-still-safe-to-eat) – Daniel Griscom Jul 25 '16 at 11:42
  • We really can't tell you whether improperly stored/heated food is safe. Basically, if you're wondering if it's safe, it isn't. (I've marked this as a duplicate.) – Daniel Griscom Jul 25 '16 at 11:43
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    @DanielGriscom It wasn't "left at room temperature"... I don't see how this is a dupe. – Catija Jul 25 '16 at 17:09
  • @DanielGriscom this doesn't really relate to room temperature. I'm asking if cooking with frozen vegetables would be dangerous to cook since it'll take longer to raise the temperature to kill the bacteria in the defrosted chicken. – ninjaneer Jul 25 '16 at 19:52
  • The question that you need to answer really is "how long did it take for the pot to come up to the "safe zone" temperature?" This will greatly vary based on the volumes and temperatures of everything else in the pot and what heat setting the pot was on. I add frozen peas and onions to my nearly-finished beef stew all the time without worrying but it's already hot and it takes only 10 or 20 minutes to get back to bubbling. So, how long did it take for your Instant Pot to bring the food up to 140F/60C? – Catija Jul 25 '16 at 20:14
  • @Catija I'm not sure how I'm supposed to check. I cant risk lifting the lid or else it'll take even longer to raise the temperature. – ninjaneer Jul 25 '16 at 23:59
  • You are not sure it it got up to temperature in 6 hours? If it did not get up to temp in 6 hours then yes you have a problem. There is not that much cold in some frozen pees. – paparazzo Jul 26 '16 at 00:02
  • @Paparazzi The OP has not stated what the types of vegetables used or the volume. If all of the stuff that went into the cooker was cold or frozen, it could take a good amount of time for it to reach 140... If it's mostly all hot already and the amount of vegetables is small, certainly it wouldn't take long... but the danger zone is four hours, not six and that includes any time the chicken has spent above 40 cumulatively... not only the time that it spent above 40 while in the cooker. Yes, if it's bubbly after an hour or two, you're probably safe... but otherwise, it's not absurd to worry. – Catija Jul 26 '16 at 00:05
  • Opening the lid for 20 seconds (or even just leaving it ajar slightly) to insert a probe-style thermometer should not greatly impact your heat retention... anyway, you said that this is already completely cooked? So it's a moot point. You know your cooker better than we do... do you think it was hot after an hour? If so, it's probably totally fine... but, really, we have no way of telling you absolutely if you don't know how long it took to come to temperature. – Catija Jul 26 '16 at 00:09
  • @Catija Really? How much vegetables are you going to add to Chicken Alfredo? – paparazzo Jul 26 '16 at 00:24
  • @Paparazzi the point is that neither of us knows and making assumptions is bad for the op's health. You aren't affected but if your cavalier attitude makes the op decide it is safe and it ends up not being so, **I** wouldn't want to be in your shoes. – Catija Jul 26 '16 at 00:29
  • @Catija Cavalier? I certainly could not fill your shoes. – paparazzo Jul 26 '16 at 00:32

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Most slow cooker instruction manuals tell you to put the food in hot for most recipes. For traditional crockery inner pots the list of foods that can be cooked from cold (never mind frozen) is quite short and consists mainly of foods that are stable at room temperature. So you were marginal to start with (less so for some "auto" modes).

If you put the veg in then realised (almost) straight away, just bring it to the boil and carry on cooking. Of course don't use a crockery pot on the stove top or a metal one in the microwave.

If it's been sitting lukewarm for some time you're on your own. It couldn't be deemed safe.

Chris H
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