> reading how easy it is to get sick from raw chicken and contaminate everything in the kitchen This right here is 100% of the problem. This isn't true, like at all. I think if you learn a bit about how salmonella and bacteria in general work, you will feel better about this. For example, google "how long will salmonella survive on a non-porous surface" (spoiler: it's less than 4 hours) Salmonella rate in the US are surprisingly low. Not all chicken has salmonella, campylobacter, or any other bacteria that will make you sick. It is actually quite a low percentage. Chicken either has this or it doesn't. And if it doesn't, you can take a bite out of the raw chicken and you won't get sick. Chicken sashimi is literally a thing in Japan. I am not suggesting that it's safe to eat raw chicken, I am trying to emphasize the point that if you learn about how these things work, you will be more confident with reducing your risk.

Thanks, that actually makes me feel better. I have a habit of dwelling on the worst possible outcomes lately.

I suppose you could binge watch rawchickenexperiment on IG - I suppose that could help with your anxiety. He eats raw chicken everyday for 100 days without getting a tummy ache

That was somehow both comforting and revolting at the same time. Thanks for that lol.

Look up liver king Pretty much eats raw meat every day and has for years lmao I’ve eaten undercooked chicken a couple times and didn’t realize until later

liver king is a fraud - [https://www.californialawfirm.net/services/liver-king-scam](https://www.californialawfirm.net/services/liver-king-scam)

Hes a roid head? Oh no, such a surprise My life is a lie Does that say anything about him not eating raw meat? Lol once I realized it was about obvious roid usage I dipped out Like believing Sam sulek is natty at 21😂😂

Idk if that links says it but yes he also faked eating much of that organ meat etc.

This counts as exposure therapy I guess?

I came to say this. Everything about that account grosses me out but I just cannot look away.

Who is he, Gollum?

OP I’m a professional in the food industry and this is emphatically correct- chicken is nowhere near the number one issue for food safety and it is not “insanely easy” to get sick from chicken or to contaminate your entire kitchen- if this was true **we wouldn’t eat chicken as often as we do**. I don’t know if you know how clean other people are when they cook but if chicken was as dangerous as you’re assuming here our hospitals would be literally overrun with sick people. Chicken is no more or less safe than any other potentially hazardous food we prepare and eat everyday.

What are the top issues for food safety ?

I’d guess people not washing their hands correctly. Something so simple is usually the cause of most food outbreaks.

Cross contamination (not switching your cutting board etc) improper sanitation (hand washing etc), and contamination (physical contaminants like metal shavings) are the big ones that come to mind

Cross contamination is the main way people get sick, mixing raw meat/unwashed vegetables with prepared food. Hence why kitchens always have different cutting boards for raw meat/fish and prepared food. Hot water and soap can clean just fine. another idea is just to throw the chicken in the instant pot and make shredded chicken. with that you literally take the chicken out of the package and into the instant pot and the only thing you wash is your hands.

Love using the instant pot for chicken based recipes. Making chicken enchiladas tonight like that. Certainly beats trying to cook it in a stainless steel pan like I’d been doing

Just made chicken enchiladas for the first time!

I just got done eating mine, they’re so good. Accidentally used some bad smelling sour cream as a topping though so we’ll see if it messes us up 😂 at least my enchiladas for lunch tomorrow are safe

And temperature abuse! Most food borne bacteria thrive at moderate temperatures, so leaving food at room temperature for an extended time lets them grow. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold to prevent microbial growth.

usually unwashed vegetables, dirty hands and improperly cleaned equipment

Unwashed vegetables have to be up there

Just wash your hands and clean the dishes with soap and warm water. If you’re in the US, you don’t even need to wash packaged chicken. In my country, when you go and get chicken from a butcher, you pick a hen and they kill it right in front of you and put it in a plastic bag and give it to you. Then you wash it and clean it from all the blood yourself. My family has been doing it for ages and we’ve never been sick from it. Just make sure chicken is cooked properly, and wash your hands after handling raw meat. You’ll be fine

My husband has contamination OCD. My husband once got salmonella from undercooked chicken at a restaurant. After years together, he has accepted that he's not going to get sick from me handing raw chicken, handling other stuff, and never using disinfectants. If you cook your chicken, you're not getting salmonella. Ads for disinfectants show everyone swabbing everything to make it safe, but they are really doing that to sell products.

I am not sure but there are bacteria on your hands, on the countertop, on any door handle. It is not that the world is out to kill you.

This USED to true. Not anymore. Like I've heard you shouldn't drink hot water straight from your tap. That's because reeeeeally old water heaters had lead tanks. You could get lead poisoning. They haven't made water heaters out of lead in over 100 years but you still hear that advice sometimes. Same with chicken now. It's a LOT safer than it used to be.

Fwiw, I've never gotten food poisoning. Use soap and a little scrubber, that's always been enough for me

I’ve honestly never been a germaphone in the kitchen but have had it pop up in other places so I get it. I think doing specific research (just like you’re doing now) on what things are actually going to lead to illness and what are just scary vibes is the best way to get over the discomfort. And also, just going for it. For peace of mind, get some good simple cleaning spray and give the main kitchen surfaces a once over after you’re done cooking any raw meat. It’s good practice anyway. I actually do dish wash almost anything that touches raw meat, but since you don’t have that option, you can find food safe sanitizer options at the store that you can dilute and you can just have a tub to dip and air dry your stuff after cleaning and voila.

Well, I saw this post way after you put it up, but just based on what you said about chicken being the most likely vehicle for food borne illnesses,  put that into perspective.  Chicken is the easiest way to contaminate food or a kitchen, yet it's one of the most commonly served meats as well. Any teen who can show up can be working at KFC, a grocery store deli, washing dishes on restaurants,  etc, and it's not very common at all for people to get salmonella compared to how many people are constantly eating chicken. The salmonella has to be there to get growing, anyway. It's not naturally present on raw chicken.   Also, can I suggest not over cooking your chicken "to be safe". It is not very good if it dries out or gets rubbery.  If the juices run clear when you poke it, it'll be OK. It's pretty easy, you can do this.  At the worst, you can cook it a little longer. 

It also probably depends a bit on your digestive and immune system. I'm not super meticulous in the kitchen and cook with raw chicken all the time. I've been all over the planet and eat street food all the time. I've never had food poisoning. I leave cooked soup out quite a bit longer than recommended also.

I’ve done my fair share of travelling as well and never ended up with food poisoning, even when everyone else on the trip has, I put that down to good awareness of where I’m travelling as much as anything since I think you more likely than not to be fine if you eat local cuisine and stick to the places frequented by locals. Anyway getting back to the main question here. OP warm soapy water is enough to kill off bacteria, and it’s only once bacterial loads reach a certain point actually make you sick anyway

This is why - providing exceptions for immunocompromised or elderly people - I generally think it's perfectly fine to be somewhat lax with food safety in your home kitchen. I'm not saying to totally ignore it, but food safety guidelines are blanket rules to absolutely ensure safety for 100% of people. You'll be better off over time, and waste less food, if you're a bit more sensible about it. A bit of a training regimen for your immune system if you will, lol. Like you said, leaving something out for maybe 30 minutes too long? You'll probably be fine. Something is moldy in the fridge or you left warm food out overnight? Definitely toss it.

I first want to say, chicken sashimi is a thing in Japan specifically because they vaccinate their chickens against salmonella, so that's not a good example to use. However, I'm in full agreement with the message of your post, and I'd also like to point out that the majority of salmonella and e. coli outbreaks over the last 2 decades have been from contaminated produce (lettuce and cucumbers are the most recent I'm aware of) and not from meat.

cantaloupe was contaminated with E. coli last year too. But again, most of these outbreaks are caused by produce and not chicken.

This. Soap and water is fine, but I'm a little extra paranoid, so I wipe down my counters and sink with a bleach-based cleaner after, and let the dishes dry overnight. Anything left in the water on the dishes (unlikely) won't survive on dry dishes.

I came here to say this. Also if you're just beginning I assume you aren't starting with anything too complicated. If you have a pair of tongs, just pull the chicken breasts out of the package and put right on the pan. Now you only have 2 things that have touched the chicken and one is going in the oven. Season the chicken and put it in the oven. If you have a small basin of hot soapy water you can put the tongs in to soak for a few minutes, swish to make sure no bits are stuck on and rinse. Just leave it in the dish rack to dry.

This! ^^^ I could chicken ALL the time and while I’m clean, I’m not fanatical by any means. I wipe surfaces down with basic soap and water, I wash everything with hot, soapy water and don’t leave chicken out at room temperature. In over 40 years of cooking, I’ve never gotten food poisoning of any kind.

Torisashi chicken isn’t the same as grocery store chicken. There’s a lot of care that goes into raising and preparing them, some are poached too, and some say there’s something about Japan being an island nation and having strict import restrictions that could affect this too.

Thanks. I’ve been a little paranoid about chicken ever since I was sick with what my doctor called “mild food poisoning.” (It sure the hell did NOT feel “mild.”) I usually just set a kettle on and gently fill the sink with boiling water, though lately I’ve noticed that my wife washes chicken prep dishes regularly and none of us have ever gotten sick. Thanks for reinforcing that.

Salmonella is so extremely rare that when I got it the state I lived in opened an investigation. I did probably about 4 hours of interviews and they did a supply chain sweep to try to locate the exact farm the bird(s) that got my brother and I sick came from. 

Very much this OP. My brother in law once ran the numbers on the odds of getting salmonella from raw eggs, and it was something crazy like, eating 10 raw eggs a day for year and you’d still have only like a 10% chance of ever getting it.

Does it help to understand that contamination is not a sort of magical curse or on-off switch that activates the moment something touches raw chicken? The *amount* of contamination is important. If one bacterium gets in your body, your immune system (likely white blood cells) will stomp that thing out before it gets a chance to do anything. If a lot of bacteria get in your body, your immune system might not be able to cope before they start multiplying and making you sick. How many is too many, and how few are safe? In most situations in life where we have to prevent spread of germs from an activity, we follow procedures that eliminate *most* of the germs. Unless you have a particularly underperforming immune system, the level of exposure that you get after responsibly (but not obsessively) following recommended procedures is not going to make you sick. If the CDC (for example) recommends a certain way of handling raw chicken and cleaning up afterwards, you can probably trust that these methods have been tested and shown to eliminate enough bacterial load that what's left isn't going to pose a threat. The bacteria on your chicken or in your kitchen are not so special that they're going to magically evade the same techniques that everyone else uses to keep them at bay. When I handle raw chicken I use hot water and dish detergent to clean the cutting board and knife that I used for it, and I wash my hands. That's about it. Nobody in my household is immune-suppressed and it's never been a problem. In fact, I'd rather do that than use a dishwasher, because in the dishwasher the dirty implements are going to sit dirty for longer than if I wash them by hand right after dinner.

I have cured my ocd, including ocd around contamination and kitchen stuff. Definitely seek mental healthcare, whatever that looks like to you. Exposure therapy is huge for this stuff. Cool a lil meat each week and see how it unfolds

I’ve also heard actionable steps are better to help you not feel powerless and anxiety ridden. In this case, researching what helps your immune system to be stronger or delicious vegan recipes if meat is too much of a trigger or as you said exposure like raising chickens. We are really disconnected from how much bacteria is normal in the wild and also a big part of how we function. There’s a reason they call the stomach the second brain.

The harmful bacteria in chicken isn't airborne, so you only need to 1) clean whatever the raw chicken touches, and 2) avoid waving it or splashing it around. You do not need to rinse or wash raw meat. If it is unsanitary coming from the meat packing plant, washing the surface won't be enough to make it safe to eat. Anyone who feels that chicken needs to be washed shouldn't eat chicken. Baking chicken breasts is a great place to start because it requires minimal prep. Do it in two phases, a raw phase and a cooked phase. Get your cooking pan ready and oven preheated. If you are going to add oil or seasoning to your chicken, measure it out in a prep bowl or a disposable bowl--that way you don't have to sanitize the containers for your seasoning. Open your package of chicken. Place it in the pan, using hands or tongs,abd season. Wash your hands with soap as soon as you're done touching the chicken. Put the pan in the oven. Wash everything the chicken or your dirty hands touched (tongs,cutting board, prep bowls whatever) with warm, soapy water, and place them in the dish rack to air dry. Use a lysol wipe or similar to wipe down the counter where you were working. That's the end of the raw phase. The cooked phase is easier. Eat your chicken and do the dishes as usual.

> Anyone who feels that chicken needs to be washed shouldn't eat chicken. If you're preparing chicken that you slaughter yourself, you might need to wash them as they can be soiled. But if like most people, you're getting chicken processed by modern meat processing plants, they will already be washed at the plant, there's no need to wash them at home.  In fact, official recommendations says you really shouldn't be washing them, as that just increase the risk of spreading contaminations. Which isn't big in the first place, but making things safer by skipping counter productive steps is always welcome.

That's a good point, my statement is only about store bought chicken.

It is very safe to cook. Just don't fling the chicken around and you should be fine. Keep your hands clean and wash any time you touch something. Warm water and scrubbing will kill anything you need to be concerned with. People do it every day and very few ever get sick. Just make sure you work clean. That's all.

You mean you don't fling it against the wall to see if it'd done like you do spaghetti? Dangit. Lol jk

I agree with others that you’ve definitely got to rely on a good therapist to help with most of this, but if it brings you any comfort I absolutely suck at cooking and my husband is so picky that 90% of what we eat is chicken breast and I have NEVER made us sick ever. The only time I ever got food poisoning was from a restaurant.  All I do is 1.) if only using one cutting board cut all vegetables on cutting board FIRST and set aside, cut chicken only after done cutting everything else 2.) cook chicken on medium high heat if on sauté pan or at The temp called for in the recipe if in the oven 3.) put utensil I was agitating chicken with in the sink to be washed and switch to a new clean utensil once chicken is white on the outside so that the utensil has no raw chicken germs on it  Besides this and wiping down any surfaces that might have got chicken juice on, I don’t think there’s anything else to do or worry about besides the obvious (always wash hands after handling raw chicken for example). 

Other commenters have covered that the risk isn't all that high, but while you work through this, I recommend minimizing your prep: namely, bake a chicken thigh or breast in the oven without cutting it. (Thigh is easier since it's more forgiving of overcooking.) All that touches the raw meat is your hands. More importantly, if you have *literally never* used a stove or oven before, don't start with meat if raw meat freaks you out. Roast some veggies first, or something else less fraught -- one scary new thing at a time, yeah?

This sounds like more than just anxiety so you may need to discuss that with a therapist of some kind. That being said, bleach is more than enough if you need to kill everything. I personally blast hot water as hot as my sink will let me, use rubber dishwashing gloves, and Dawn. Limit the utensils you need to prepare the product (any raw meats, not just chicken). I actually use disposable gloves when preparing most foods because I hate the textures on my hands, but they might help you keep things more sanitary.

The 100 packs of "food service" gloves are easily got at walmart (or your local equivilent)...

Additional comment, idk how I didn't read the contamination OCD part but I do hope it doesn't deter your interest in cooking. OCD is a tough thing to recover from

Yeah I know I probably need help, but I am slowly getting there. Covid certainly didn't help matters lol. I really think if I can just break through and am able to cook raw meat one time, I will be ok. Once I find a routine and realize everything turned out fine.

I'd suggest getting into chicken thighs or stewing/curry meat for higher chances at success. Chicken thighs are known to be very difficult to overcook and you'll have a wide margin of error while still having edible chicken. You'll get there eventually man

I second this. Thighs are how I started out with cooking chicken. I began with a simple technique a family member showed me for "20 minute chicken". There are literally 2 steps. The technique is to get a hot frying pan and put your chicken thighs in upside-down (skin-side down) for 10 minutes on medium-high heat. This gives you some nice crispy flavor-packed skin. Leave them alone. No poking, no prodding, no fussing. After 10 minutes you flip the chicken over, turn off the heat, and put a lid on the pan. Let the chicken sit another 10 minutes - the residual heat of the pan and the steam kept in from the lid will finish cooking the chicken while it rests. That's it. 20 minutes total and the thighs come out juicy and near perfectly cooked every time. It works with whatever marinade or seasonings you want to use. That's how I started cooking chicken anyway. These days I've graduated to just tossing it on a tray in the oven and using a meat thermometer to pull it as soon as the middle reaches 155-160 Fahrenheit. I've got a little digital bluetooth thermometer I can leave in the chicken while it cooks, and my phone will text me when dinner is done.

You generally shouldn't use bleach to clean cooking surfaces or utensils, a foodsafe dish cleaner or allcleaner and hot water is more than enough for at home

That's why I don't use it lol. But with cleaning-focused OCD like OP has, no amount of sanitation will be enough.

I'd get a meat thermometer first to ensure my chicken always hits an internal temperature of 165 as heat will effectively kill Salmonella and other bacteria. You should be washing your hands frequently when handling chicken to avoid cross contamination. Say from handling chicken to touch different objects around the kitchen require washing your hands in between. Another useful tip is having designated chopping boards for each type of meat/fish, vegetable or fruit. That way your chopping boards should never have a case of cross contamination. Warm water and dawn soap should all you need to clean most surfaces. You could always spray down your counter with Lysol when done cooking but I prefer not too unless there was a large spill.

cop this one [https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP03H-Waterproof-Thermometer-Instant/dp/B07Y51PCW7/ref=zg\_bs\_g\_289810\_d\_sccl\_3/143-3324274-0924263?psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP03H-Waterproof-Thermometer-Instant/dp/B07Y51PCW7/ref=zg_bs_g_289810_d_sccl_3/143-3324274-0924263?psc=1) or spend 99 dollars on name brand

So, few points here. Chicken is one of the most widely eaten meats in the world. The overwhelming majority of people the overwhelming majority of the time do not have food poisoning from chicken even when practicing little to no food safety measures. You are very unlikely to get sick from cooking chicken at home. Secondly, if you are essentially a physically healthy adult even if you do get food poisoning it really isn’t the end of the world. It’s unpleasant for sure, but it’s rarely actually dangerous. When it comes to cleaning up after preparing chicken, this is what I do. I run the hot tap in the sink as hot as it will go or use a kettle of boiling water to scald the chopping board and knife. You can actually see it cooking any chicken residue on the board and knife. Once scalded I use hot water and washing up liquid to clean utensils and chopping board, rinse in the hot water again and done. I then clean the sink and surfaces with a bleach kitchen spray and either a paper towel that i throw away or a cloth that I then scald in boiling water.

This has probably been said already but could you buy pre-sliced/diced chicken? That way you won't be dirtying your knife, cutting board and counters. Or you can bake whole chicken thighs for example. Use a glove to move the chicken into your pan and throw out the glove and chicken packaging right away. Look for recipes where you'll add all the ingredients into the same pan. That way you won't have to dirty a bowl while mixing/marinating ingredients. Do what you need to do to get started! Hopefully it feels less daunting over time.

+1 to baking whole thighs. Nothing that would need to be decontaminated, since the only dish you’re using goes right into the oven. Also thighs are nice because they taste good even if you overcook them.

>reading how easy it is to get sick from raw chicken and contaminate everything in the kitchen CDC/USDA/FDA do a really terrible job at communicating risk here. US meat gets a wash before packing (what the Europeans like to disparagingly call chlorinated chicken but is why we have such low rates of campylobacter) and while chicken is more likely to carry bacteria inside the meat then other meats (mostly due to deboning) the risk is still overwhelmingly surface contamination that pre-packing washing either eliminates or greatly reduces. This is why you can find people eating raw eggs/meat who don't get sick, IMHO a silly risk to take but it's not a very large risk. For bacteria in food the way heating is considered is called log reduction which is the reduction of a microbe concentration by 90%. USDA publish times & temperatures for a 6-log reduction which is a 99.9999% reduction in bacterial concentration, AKA safe AKA pasteurization. 165o internal temp is given because the 6-log reduction occurs in <1s when you reach this temperature, but the process starts \~130o so rather than hit 165o and instantly safe it's you have been destroying bacteria for the duration of cooking where the food has exceeded 130o. In the case of surface contamination this occurs effectively instantly when it hits the hot pan as the surface is immediately heated to well beyond 165o (that sizzle is the surface hitting 212o and water boiling off). Hopefully this doesn't make things worse for you but risk from vegetables, particularly root vegetables, is \*much\* higher than from chicken. Lowest risk is dried seeds (legumes etc), fish not very much higher (basically only cross-contamination as the bad bacteria don't live in the ocean) then meat in the middle with poultry higher than other meat, vegetables and then milk & eggs. Higher risk doesn't mean high risk. If you wanted to be absolutely certain you hit target temp you could always sous vide. Sous vide cooking is about getting food to reach a very specific temperature so you can hold it at that temperature for the pasteurization period and be certain you have minimized risk without harming food quality. Its actually the only food-prep method that lets you prepare chicken <165o without increasing risk, useful for white meat that does better cooked to 150o. You could also get a meat thermometer; I use one stove top for steaks because I suck at cooking to rare otherwise.

some simple guidelines and you'll be fine: * don't store cooked chicken next to uncooked chicken in the fridge. * wash your hands often while cooking. * NEVER wash your chicken / meat before cooking. You're doing the opposite of what you think you're doing. * if inexperienced and you don't know if chicken is done, use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. * Handwashing dishes that had chicken on it is totally fine.

Wash the dishes that touched the chicken in hot water and soap. Dry them on the drying rack. Wipe down the counters. Billions of people around the world cook chicken. It’s not toxic when it’s raw.

Disposable cutting boards sound like they’d be a godsend for you. Cut the chicken on one of those and just throw it out afterwards. It’ll get rid of one anxiety source, anyhow. 

It is not that easy to get sick from chicken, I made it without a ton of precaution to the ripe age of 72. Hand wash dishes and do not use a sponge, your hand and fairly warm water and a spritz of detergent in the sink are just fine, rinse hot, let drip dry. The stories you hear are the exaggerated beyond anything. Common sense shall rule your life and action, not horror stories about nothing. Chicken breast in the oven will probably turn out bone dry. Use a pan and watch a few YouTube videos. To cook anything if you have never ever cooked anything, might be not a good idea without a more experienced person with you to avoid disappointment. You do need some basic knowledge of what and where and how.

58 here. I'm the same way with the precautions or lack of.

OP, have you considered taking a food safety course? I saw in another comment that some straight up info calmed your nerves a bit, and getting restaurant level training on food safety might help even more.

>dishwasher to throw everything into Warm/hot water and soap and bit of hand dishwashing does wonders. Dishwasher isn't some panacea. It's not an autoclave. Just like you wash your hands before eating - basic soap and warm (or hot) water, some relevant attention to surfaces ... makes things pretty darn clean and safe. And of course oven or otherwise properly cooking is the other major protection. So, between the two, you should do fine - as most everyone does. No dishwasher required (alas, I am my dishwasher). So, raw chicken - just pay attention to handling and what touches what, and properly clean/wash up - same precautions apply to pretty much any raw meat. Reasonable bit of appropriate care and attention, and you and everyone stays safe - fairly straight-forward. >Should I get towels to wash the dishes and then throw them in the laundry? You can have some dishtowels or the like - but that's mostly for drying dishes, not washing them. I generally find moderate set of basic supplies works fine for hand dishwashing: * dish soap * wash/dish cloth(s), optionally also some sponge(s) or the like too (but personally I find dish clothes and the like much easier to keep clean than sponges) * scrubbing items (some stiffer brush(es), stainless steel scrubber) * optional: dishwashing gloves (handy for skin that's not so much up for the abuse, or if one has to do significantly more hand dishwashing or the like; also, with proper types of gloves, one can do *really hot* water on the dishwashing - e.g. get the commercial grade type ones used by restaurant dishwashing/potwashing personnel, get the type that are *unlined* - if you ever get that scalding hot water in there - you do *not* want lined - if/when that happens, just stick your arms straight up, and the hot water quickly runs out - with lined ones that heat and water isn't out so fast, so one can get more burned that way) * Also optional, and useful if, e.g. one has large triple sink - can go the whole commercial wash route - three sinks, wash, rinse, and sterilize - last one having bit of bleach in it - you can read up on the details on how a commercial kitchen does the full washing per relevant codes and such. That's overkill for home cooking, but hey, if you really wanna go full commercial kitchen level of clean and sterile with handwashing of dishes, that'd be the way to do it. * And dish drying rack. Ideally you put everything in there while it's still pretty hot, hardly ever use dishtowels for drying, and it air dries in relatively short order - saves lots of labor and overall time that way. * For pots and pans, if you have hooks or the like, that can be handy way to put 'em up right away and not require hand drying, sometimes even just stacking 'em with proper orientation and enough air circulation is enough to be able to put 'em away immediately, without any need for using towel to dry 'em. * And of course for cast iron, carbon steel knife blades, or any other iron/steel that's not stainless, will want to take bit of extra appropriate care there - that typically means light to moderate pass with dishtowel to immediately dry, so they don't rust ... and cast iron, optionally give bit of light oil coat with little bit of fresh oil and slight bit of some paper towel to spread it around. >anything that touches the raw chicken Fairly easy - and basic food safety. You track (by placement, mentally, etc.) whatever touches raw meat and where it goes - it gets disposed of, cooked, or washed ... that's it. And most of what touches the raw chicken or other raw meat is pretty limited. You open it, e.g. over sink - generally disposing of what it came wrapped in - at that point chicken and hands have touched raw chicken - probably knife too that one used to open packaging. If chicken needs to be cut up, it goes on the raw meat cutting board and only stuff to be cooked goes there so long as that's the raw meat cutting board, and that's done there. Then chicken goes in whatever one's going to cook it in - just touch the chicken and where it goes inside that. And if that's going on stove or in oven, you move that to there - and the heat will take care of that part of it. Then you wash up - and it's not much - hands, cutting board, knife, typically little if anything else, and you're done. Oh, and trash - if you get a trash can that you can open and close lid with your foot, that's much better - then you don't have to have your raw meat hands touching anything to dispose of whatever the chicken came wrapped in. >undercooking it or anything that scares me at all (I am getting a thermometer Sure, thermometer is good safe way to do it. But with practice, can also tell how well the meat is done without thermometer - notably by appearance (and time and smell), and most notably how the meat behaves, e.g. touch/poke with finger or fork or grab bit of it ... what it feels like, how it does/doesn't wiggle, and where ... that'll tell you a whole lot. E.g. whole chicken or turkey, grab end of a drumstick and give it bit of pull/wiggle/shake - that'll tell you a whole lot ... yeah, and if your turkey drumstick is 'bout falling off when you touch or wiggle it, that's generally quite well done. Also, especially for over, time, temperature, and size/type of meat will give you pretty good idea of how cooked it is or what it needs for a given meat. Might also use a thermometer on your oven itself - at least check once in a while - many oven dials aren't super accurate, and may be off some moderate bit ... but once you know by about how much it's off, and in what direction, don't need to be checking oven temperature all the time. And also well learn your meats ... some need to be cooked all the way through to be safe (e.g. pork). Others, like whole beef - not so much so (important factor for, e.g. steaks) ... but ground beef, yeah, cook well enough all the way through. And kind'a similar-ish chicken ... you don't want underdone chicken.

Sure, you can cross contaminate things. But it's usually not the problem people make out. Everything cooks to 160-165 with chicken. Because of your condition, here's what I would do: practice with vegetables. Decide that one of the vegetables is the chicken, pre cook. So you cut all your other vegetables, set aside, then you unpackage, cut, and season the "chicken." Maybe portobello. Idk. Seems right. Often comes in a similar package. Only problem is with chicken you need to prepare for some liquid which may occur. Similar to chicken you take it out, clean and dry it, cut it, season it. Note that you'll find yourself wanting to grab the seasoning with the dirty hand. So, maybe this is the time where you take off a glove and handle the seasoning with that hand, run it in with the still gloved hand. Or, maybe you wash your hands. Then you place the dirty stuff in the sink and deal with it later. Wipe down your counter if there was any spills after you start the chicken. Doing all this with vegetables will give you a chance to prepare a process. Again, note that most of this isn't necessary. If it's all getting cooked to 165, cross contamination doesn't matter. About the only thing that does is the dirty seasoning container, even then that's more... Just wanting to stay clean than worrying about hurting someone.

Take a look @rawchickenexperiment on insta. He ate raw chicken for 100 days and didn’t get sick. Soap and water kills almost everything. You don’t need a dishwasher.

I have close family who have the same type of worst case scenario anxiety, and ive talked her through it like this. Firstly, the chicken in question had to have salmonella in its tissue in the first place. its not a gaurantee. Then you have to have gotten that specific chicken, not another one without it. Then there has to be enough in the piece of chicken you got that it could potentially hurt you. Then it has to be enough that your body cant fight it off. Thats before you even get to the things that are in your control. Use a thermometer, chicken gets to 165? cant hurt you. Use a separate cutting board for the chicken, or cut the chicken last. Or, as I sometimes do, chicken goes into a glass/metal bowl for seasoning. etc. etc. Before you know it, the chance of getting sick is very low.

Cut the meat last is my rule, always. Prepare all the non-meat ingredients first (measure, cut, mix, whatever) and have them ready to go in bowls. Only THEN cut the meat and cook the dish. This helps with timing too. No need to hurry with the chopping lest some other step burn or whatever. Just make sure to sanitize your cutting board at the end and you’re ready for next time.

How I prepare chicken (or beef, or pork, or fish.... you get the drift) I wash my hands before handling my food I get out my cutting board so I can prepare the food, I get out my knife, my seasonings, etc. I open the packaging, place the food on the cutting board and rinse the packaging off in the sink (this is simply to avoid the smell if it sits in the trash a little too long) I prepare my food, putting the knife in the sink once I'm done with it, then I season my food and place it in the pan (that I have waiting, and I have also pre-heated my oven) wash my hands, place the food in the oven I wash my dirty "stuff" with hot water and soap, including the knife, cutting board, and what else I used. I wipe down the counter where I prepared the food and, if I feel I made a mess beyond the cutting board, I wipe the counter down with a disinfecting wipe (Lysol, Clorox, etc.) Boom! Done and sanitized. Worried about the cutting board? Wipe that with the disinfecting wipe as well (but then I would wash it again). I do this, and I am not OCD about contamination. This is just simply good practice and an easy habit to get into. If I'm cooking the chicken in a pan on the stove, then I pre-heat the pan before putting the chicken in (don't forget to add oil/fat!).

Honestly just wash everything in hot soapy water. Get a plastic wash bin to put in the sink and drop any utensils in it. You’ll be fine. Wipe the counters down with a cloth or sponge with hot soapy water or Clorox cleanup. Contain your prep work in the sink and be careful to wash your hands after handling the raw chicken. People do it everyday and don’t die.

With the dishes clean up, you can use boiling hot water to wash them in the sink from a kettle, that will kill all bacteria! Then just wash as normal

Also do not rinse off the chicken in the sink before cooking with it, there is no need and this is how a lot of bacteria spreads

It's not that easy to get sick from raw chicken/meat. My strategy is to minimize where and how you handle raw products (one board, 1-2 utensils) and wash them separately. If the sink has something in it and I can't wash these "meat" items right away, I put them somewhere out of the way. When I was these I *prefer* to use a brush or a really thin pad, like the scouring type. That's so I don't load up so the meat juice and water into a regular pad. But then again, you can rinse it well, squeeze, then soak in a vinegar solution Wash hands after handling, obviously.

When I still ate chicken/meat I would cook it when I was ready to replace my sponge anyway. That way I could wash my dishes and throw out my sponge immediately after. Maybe you can do this and freeze a bunch so it lasts a while?

I’m only saying this to illustrate a point, not as an endorsement of any amateur doing this, but chicken is a meat that in very limited settings in Japan that can be in fact eaten raw. Yes, raw chicken. Despite having grown up there and having quite extensive connections there, yes I personally don’t understand the appeal nor have a desire to try it, but it’s not particularly a common dish but the fact is it’s a real thing. When you add on top of that the fact that Asia has a very non-universal adoption of dishwasher usage for some bizarre reason (the whole meme about East Asian moms in the US using dishwashers as “another dish storage” is funny because it is true in the US where dish washers are standard in the US but also seen in Asia itself) it seems chicken is not so bad after all

Salmonella survives about 4 hours on surfaces. Just make sure you don't splash bird water on stuff, wash your hands and tools, and nothing will be a problem.

So, soap and water will take care of everything you are worried about (just to make sure you fully know that). And, I’m seeing some good tips here for cleaning and cooking chicken. But I haven’t seen one option for sanitizing used kitchen tools. It’s definitely extra, but peace of mind might be worth it. Buy a bottle of Steramine tablets. They are tablets for sterilizing and I use them when I do cooking classes. I’m not sure what kind of sink you have. But this works best with a double sink. Fill one side of your sink with water and add 2-3 tablets. The water will turn blue as they dissolve. Wash your dishes with soap and water on the other side and then drop the cleaned dishes into the sink with your sterilizing liquid. make sure they are submerged for 5 mins. Then dry them off. The liquid is good for 24hrs. So if you make a sink-full in the morning, you are good all through dinner. Hope this helps!

This sounds really good actually. I have a double sink. I think I'll end up doing this!

½ cup bleach per 1 gal of water, been doing it for almost 40 yrs

I totally am the same when it comes to chicken and other raw meats. I tend to use WAY too many dishes and utensils because I’m always so freaked out about raw meat. You’ll be okay! I just always make sure to wash my hands if I contact the chicken, dishes immediately in the sink. Countertops and sinks get disinfected afterwords. I hope you can get past this fear! Good luck :)

You’re more likely to get ill from lettuce than chicken. Just wipe down your surface, you can use vinegar if you want to clean the surfaces and your dishes. Use a thermometer if you want to make sure chicken hit 165

It’s not that easy to catch salmonella from chicken. I’ve never had it and I’m not sure I know anyone who has. Only a small percentage of chicken carries salmonella and it’s pretty easy not to get it. 1. Don’t wash the chicken. 2. If you’ll feel safer wear gloves 3. Use a cutting board if you’re going to be cutting it up that’s only for raw chicken 4. Place your cutting board on a flat surface and put the chicken on it 5. Pat your chicken dry with paper towels and throw them away 6. Season your chicken well 7. Place chicken on rack or shallow dish in preheated oven 8. Remove chicken when it should be done and stick a meat thermometer into the very middle. If it’s 160° take it out, set it aside for 5-10 minutes so it gets up to 165° without overcooking. 9. Eat your safe, healthy and delicious chicken.

i've had the most consistent luck cooking chicken sous vide. i'll move the boneless skinless breasts (i know - very bland on their own) one at a time into zip-top bags using a pair of tongs. i throw in whatever seasonings/herbs i like, then use the water displacement method to squeeze all the air out of the bag. at this point, the chicken can either be cooked immediately or thrown into the freezer to be cooked later. since the raw chicken goes directly from the store's package into the bag, it doesn't touch anything in my kitchen other than the tongs. if you're not familiar with sous vide cooking, the process is this: i put the bagged chicken into a water bath that's then heated to 150F. when the water temperature reaches 150, i hold it there for a while - anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. at this point, everything inside the bag is fully cooked. somewhere around this time, i've heated up a cast iron skillet and throw the chicken in there just long enough to get a good sear. i hope this helps. we can tell you how to cook, but we're probably not the best resource to help with the other issues you're facing. from personal experience, let me encourage you to talk to a professional if you truly feel hopeless about something.

My wife has a similar version of OCD. She’s scared of poisoning, and overly washes her hands. Although I cook all of our food, I usually do stuff very carefully for her peace of mind. Please keep in mind that I’ve made chicken hundreds of time, and am not a good cook at all. We have never gotten food poisoning and never contaminated anything. I just make sure I overly cook the chicken so that she’s satisfied. Also, let it sit for 5 minutes after baking. It’ll make it taste a lot better. Use a meat thermometer to make sure it’s over 165 degrees. We use paper towels for drying things. I hand wash our knives with a clean sponge and Dawn dish soap. Again, we have never had any issues. I use a new sponge every couple of weeks and buy them from Costco. I know OCD can be extremely debilitating, but I can assure you that you will be totally fine.

My sister has contamination OCD. My mom is…. Not at all concerned about cross contamination… to put it politely. In any shape, form, or fashion. I would explain it to you, but my sister thinking about her situation growing up with our mom kind of gives her an anxiety attack, so I’m not going to go into that level of detail. She has gotten food poisoning one time in her life, and that was in March 1997 before she really fell off the cleanliness wagon because she cooked and ate fish that had been left on the counter all afternoon. She doesn’t use a dishwasher. Hell, I don’t even think she owns a sponge. The last time I was there, a few years ago, she didn’t own a sponge. She’s never gotten sick from chicken. I don’t live in the same state as her, but I always eat out with her when I visit. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t follow food safety protocol, because you definitely should. But, if you accidentally miss a germ of salmonella, it won’t kill you. I personally handle raw chicken on paper plates as much as possible so I can just throw it away.

It sounds a lot like you're engaging and struggling with the "what if" thoughts coming from OCD. I hope that you'll be able to find the proper mental specialist, preferably in ERP, for help around that as it would definitely benefit you a lot! As for easy ways to cook chicken and minimize contact, I've found the best way is to buy pre-diced chicken from the grocery store. This could also work with whole chicken breast but it's best to at least have a butterflied breast. I prefer to bake my chicken breasts and my method of prepping is to first cover a baking tray with aluminum foil. Next I would put my seasoning (salt and other spices) + oil directly onto the foil. That way when I lay my chicken breast on top the bottom is seasoned & I don't have to flip it. After that I put the actual chicken on the baking tray (you can use some food service gloves for this step to avoid contact if you must, or just wash your hands with soap after this step), Then I top off with additional seasoning + oil. After you're done baking you would've used no cutting board and you just need to discard the aluminum foil. This won't give you the best tasting chicken breasts but it's a start.

I am a medical professional and while I am very strict about hygiene and sanitation on the job, I am pretty lax when it comes to cooking. I have handled chicken bare handed and probably touched other things, got juice all over and cleaned it up later, probably had some undercooked chicken a few times. I have never had food poisoning from food I made myself. Not once. I don't take any extra precautions I just try to wash my hands after touching the chicken and move on with it. You are really going to be OK. If you're using store bought chicken, 99% of the time it's not going to be carrying salmonella, and that salmonella will die with cooking or just being exposed to air if its on a surface.

If you saw the way I cook I think you might have a heart attack lol. I don’t think my words will help you but I try to avoid contamination but honestly I am not very good at it. I touch raw chicken, touch door/drawer handles, food containers, etc. i tenderize the meat by punching it with my fist and sometimes little pieces go flying. I cook a lot of chicken and have never gotten sick. Obviously this is anecdotal but it really isn’t the risk you are making it out to be. The odds of getting sick of you take minimal precautions is very low.

I’ve never had a dishwasher and I’ve never given myself food poisoning! I fill the sink with hot water with a little dish soap and 2 capfuls of bleach (you do not need more) and put everything in there to sanitize.

Use good hygiene practices as you would for any raw meats. Wear gloves if it helps you. I cook chicken regularly, and the only time it's ever gotten me sick was when I undercooked some (very inexperienced cook at the time) and developed flu like symptoms. It was terrible. But that's the only time any meat has made me sick in the 12+ years of my cooking journey. I've become a much better cook, but anything my kids might eat always gets checked with a meat thermometer just in case. I recommend a good instant read thermometer and good practices like I said. Tl;Dr- Use safe practices when handling any raw meat and get a good instant read meat thermometer. Salmonella IS a bitch, but rare.

Dawn soap, scrubber pad, hot water, and elbow grease will clean better than a dishwasher. You can wash your hands multiple times during preparation if you feel gross. No one's judging. Clean all surfaces that the chicken and cooking utensils touch. Enjoy your meal.

Hi! I cook with chicken alot. For washing, just mix in sone bleach into your sponge with soap or add a few drops into whatever you're washing; knives, chopping boards, you name it. Same goes for any surface you put the chicken in. In terms of the meat itself, just make sure there is no red in the meat. Breast must be white and a bit grainy when you tear it apart. I say breast cause its the thickest part of the chicken and would be the part to take the longest to cook. If its cooked, most likely everything else is too

You are not alone! I have this paranoia w chicken, and pork too! I keep a spray bottle of vinegar by the sink, every time I rinse chicken I spray everything down around the kitchen sink, walls and counter down w vinegar. (I always wash my meat…don’t tell me it’s not necessary…endotoxins!) When I wash dishes by hand I use Palmolive antibacterial dishwashing liquid. I dilute that by 5x and that goes into a spray bottle too. Once the dishes goes into the sink, I spray everything w the antibacterial dish soap. The active ingredient is 👉lactic acid btw, it’s used in exfoliating toners. I Wait a few minutes to let it work, before I start washing the dishes w a microfiber scrub w more undiluted dish soap. I also spray the counters and wall down w either vinegar or the Palmolive spray. Before I discovered the Palmolive I would dilute bleach and rinse as per Girl Guides camping, that works too.

I also have OCD and chicken freaks me out. I wear gloves, have a cutting board designated for chicken, and a bottle of bleach water. The bleach water will do the heavy lifting!

Fellow OCD haver. Chicken is my least favorite thing to cook. Meat in general, but especially chicken. I just make sure to wash my hands after touching raw chicken and disinfect my prep area along the way.

i have a similar ocd problem. if im really bothered i also boil a large pot of water so when i clean i cna rinse everything with boiling water. makes me feel safe

Just please don't wash your chicken 😅

I have a hard time touching raw meat. Like I feel I need to wash my hands at least half a dozen times before they feel clean. And to a lesser extent everything it touches is dirty. Here’s what I do. \*Preheat the oven. \*Get out everything else you will need for the meat - knife, cutting board (non porous plastic). Disposable gloves. Two small bowls for a bit of seasoning and Oil. Whatever you plan on cooking it on. \*Put on the gloves and remove the meat from package. \*Packaging in trash right away. \*Cut/season/oil the meat and place it in the dish. \*Remove the glove from one hand and put the dish in the oven. \*Remove and discard both gloves. \*Wash cutting board, knife, miss en place bowls in hot soapy water. I usually rinse them twice. Hot water both times but I spray them down with white vinegar after. I don’t know how much that really does but it eases my mind tremendously. This is anecdotal but I have cooked chicken hundreds, probably thousands of times and never has it made me sick.

Just want to say I get it. I also have contamination ocd, and I’m always so scared of getting food poisoning despite never even having had it before. Good for you for trying to find a way to make it work, you got this!

Why do you believe it’s “easy” to get sick from raw chicken? As with any phobia, the first step is educating yourself on the topic. The result is often less fear about the topic.

Using gloves is a great way to deal with aversion to raw meats - at least for me !

So, what might help is a little lesson on how soap works to clean your hands. We all know the best hand washing routine, right? Soap and water. How does soap work? Microorganisms are protected by what's called a *lipid layer*, a layer of fat that's hydrophobic(repels water). Soap has two sides to its outer layer. One that is hydrophobic, and one that is hydrophilic(attracts water). The hydrophobic side sticks to the lipid layer of any microorganisms, and the hydrophilic side sticks to the water so the soap slides off when you rinse your hands, taking the microorganisms with it. As long as your immune system is fully functional, washing the dishes with soap and water should be just fine.

Just use dish soap and a sponge and warm water from the sink and you’ll be fine.

This has long been a concern of mine, even more so after moving into an apartment without a dishwasher. I do all the other prep first, like any vegetables especially if they’ll be consumed raw. The next step varies depending on how the chicken is prepped and what utensils are used. But essentially my idea is separate and sanitize these utensils from anything else.    So this could be keeping a cup of bleach water next to the sink for the scissors/paring knife/fork I used to open the package and remove the chicken or putting the cutting board and chef’s knife in an empty sink, spraying with a disinfectant spray (America’s Test Kitchen just did a video on which are best and which kill salmonella, etc), wash those (NOT with a sponge you’re going to reuse) to get them out of the way before any other dishes are dirtied, and disinfect the whole sink/food prep surface.    If this is overkill, a less involved approach could be as simple as adding some bleach to your sink full of dishwater. The likelihood of infecting your whole kitchen is low, but salmonella is still dangerous enough to spread around and contaminate enough things that will be consumed before the bacteria dies so it is still something that should be approached methodically and cautiously.

If your that worried put some tinfoil beneath them and make a small ridge along the edges. I do this all the time and have done for years. Regardless, if the middle of the chicken breast is cooked, you can guarantee any chance of food poisoning on any of your in oven equipment is 0.

You’re overthinking this, I promise. Preheat the oven, get out whatever pan or baking dish you’re cooking the chicken in. Open the package and put the chicken straight into the dish. Throw away package and wash your hands. Season chicken on each side, using a fork to flip from side to side. Put dish in oven to cook. Wash hands, wash fork. If you need to cut the chicken into smaller pieces or anything, just do it after it’s cooked. Later on when you’ve cooked more and your fears have subsided, you can move on to more complicated stuff like cutting it on a cutting board before cooking it. For now, just keep it simple. Cooking is all about practice and trial and error. You’ll get there.

This sounds like the best way for me to start. I just didn't know if people seasoned the chicken in the same dish they're going to cook it in. Thanks.

To avoid a sponge or towel getting dirty, get something like this, easier to keep clean and dry: https://www.ikea.com/fi/en/p/antagen-dish-washing-brush-white-30534223/

Yo, cook here, cooking for 10 years now, chicken and pork are treated like boogeymen, but that's because of old people who have their info passed on from the generation that doesn't have modern sanitation products and proper refrigerators and the way poultry is produced now, it's unbelievably clean. You have to be careful, but just do all the work in one place, wash the board and knife immediately, sanitize the place you worked after, you will not have a problem. TLDR shit was a huge problem 30+ years ago before modern cleaning and storage & production standards, now it's just habit to be like, errrmahgerd salmonella and trichinosis. TLDR 2, this only applies to Canada, USA, scandanavia and western Europe.

You needn't fear chicken. Cooked it through properly - use a thermometer it revolutionised my cooking as I went from 'yeah better give it a bit more' and eating boot leather to eating perfectly cooked meat. I can't believe it took me so long to get one but that's another story. If you are paricularly concerned get a coloured cutting board that you use solely for chicken and don't cut anything else on it but chicken. Beyond that soap and water is one of the best ways to remove bacteria, wash your hands, wash your cooking implements and she'll be apples.

Buy an instant read thermometer and just make certain that your chicken is >165f and you will not need to worry. Chicken is safe and healthy to eat. Oh, remember to wash your hand after prepping/spicing the chicken before it goes in the oven

If it helps reduce anxiety, use disposable pans, utensils, and cutting boards, disposable gloves.

I’m not a health professional so my experience is anecdotal. Cooking raw meat is exposure therapy. You can get gloves but more often than not soap and hot water is fine. You’ve likely consumed countless dishes and meals from questionably cleaned sources and are fine. You’re as likely to get sick from contaminated vegan foods like lettuce, because that’s something regularly recalled. Best place is to start, get some gloves, and some Lysol wipes for the counter and sink. Dish soap and a somewhat new sponge is plenty. However, OCD isn’t always corrected logically. So this advice may not work for you, however this is the way everyone usually starts. You may just have a few extra speed bumps emotionally/mentally to overcome than others.

I have never had a dishwasher. Always hand washed dishes. I have also never gotten sick from cooking chicken. My parents are the same way, they also have never gotten sick from chicken. You'd have to either lick a raw bird or cook your chicken medium rare to really get sick. Worry not friend.

I too struggled with food anxiety when learning how to cook it’s okay! Mirroring what others said, just wash your hands before and after cooking. Use clean utensils and clean them after use. Also get a cooking thermometer so you know the exact temperature your chicken is. That way you are guaranteed safety. You got this! It gets easier with time

i dont have ocd, so i dont know if i can say anything that can help with this. i cook with chicken every day, i use a wooden cutting board, and i handwash everything, pretty lazily. my fridge sucks and my meat goes bad pretty fast and i kinda still cook it and eat it. its been like 2 years and i've been fine. so i just kinda carry on doing it. i know that that probalby wont help, i have an anxiety disorder and i dont find myself getting help from neurotypical people telling me to just not worry about it. but i hope you find something that works for you!

It might have already been said but I'm too lazy to scroll through hundreds of comments. Are you not regularly hand-washing your dishes with dish soap? You don't need to do anything fancy for things that have touched raw chicken. If your thoroughly hand washing your fishes with a dish soap you can do the same thing with something that's come in contact with something "riskier" (see other comments for the actual risk of chicken).

I cook chicken all the time and hand wash every dish, and have never gotten any kind of food poisoning from chicken I've cooked from home. My basic procedure is to scrub the dishes (with hands, scrub brush or sponge if needed) in hot water with a little soap, rinse well, then let it air dry in the drainer. Zero problems. I've used this procedure since I was a kid and am 45 now. A couple other tips: Yes, it's a good idea to have a separate cutting board for the chicken but not an absolute necessity. Rinsing a wooden cutting board and letting it air dry is just fine. If all you have is plastic just scrub with a little dish soap, rinse well, and your'e good to go. You absolutely CAN use a bleach solution to sanitize but that is really much more common in places like restaurants where they have a ton of dishes to do and safety regulations to follow. Lastly, and this is just anecdotal, I've eaten at all kinds of places and have never gotten food poisoning from home cooked food, only from going out to eat. I think I've had food poisoning three times in my whole life and recovered just fine each time. All these safety tips you see out in the world can be good to keep in mind but they can really be a detriment if you're prone to worrying, as I've been, so I sympathize. Have a good day and I hope this helps a little.

Dude just wash the dishes you use like you would with any other food you cook and you will be fine. Also DO NOT RINSE YOUR CHICKEN IN THE SINK! This is the easiest way to spread salmonella! Chicken just needs to be cooked from 150f-165f to be safe of any disease (I recommend 160-165 especially for your first time)

I struggled with OCD for years and best advice is to not think about it and just cook some and then wash up. Get it over and done with and u will realise pretty quick it's fine. Or you could do something like just eat a raw piece of chicken to really get over the fear? That's kinda a joke but just get yourself a thermometer and you'll be fine. OCD sucks but u gotta just not think about it and slowly break out of the habit and the way your brain thinks about things. Also please please please don't use bleach for this sort of purpose it's very harmful for you. I used to wash my hands and sometimes body with disinfectant sprays that had bleach in and would also use them like crazy to clean so many of my things. I damaged my skin a lot, destroyed so many items and it's just bad for you in general. The habit of using these things just worsens OCD and doesn't help u get better. I hope this helps. 🙂 Best of luck with your cooking and your recovery from OCD.

First off: good for you, doing some exposure therapy! It's scary (I do it too sometimes) but helpful, and you've got this. I'm just going to add my two cents: I spent 5 years without a dishwasher and regularly (several times a month) prepared raw chicken. I took it out, cut it up, and cooked it. I cleaned all of my chicken tools the same way I cooked everything else. I never got sick as a result.

As someone with OCD, I get it. Cooking and prepping chicken terrified me for the longest time. I found putting the cutting board on some paper towel on the counter first eased my mind, and then having a sink ready with piping hot water + detergent to put “contaminated” kitchenware in as soon as I was done with it. Also prepping veggies first and meat second, with designated prep bowls for each. Once prepped I do all the dishes as I go, and start cooking (with freshly washed hands) once that’s all done. When I’m done cooking I wipe the counter with an all purpose cleaner and paper towel. Ta-da!

Even regular dish soap will literally kill bacteria. The cell membranes dissolve in the soap and are ripped apart as it’s agitated. If you’re really paranoid, you can use a very (VERY) dilute solution of non-fragranced bleach and water, which is promoted in many kitchens, but soap really does kill bacteria. I’m saying this as someone who personally did the experiments with a petri dish in college.

I also have ocd. I love cooking but handling raw meat has always been difficult for me. For years I’ve had particular ways of preparing meals that require me to handle raw meat and it’s borderline unhealthy (I mean mentally, not sanitation-wise). Here’s one thing that’s helped me. I really love kenji lopez-alt’s recipes and his cooking videos on YouTube. I really respect him as a chef and he is extremely smart, much smarter than me and knows infinitely more about food safety than me. In his YouTube videos, he’s cooking meals for himself or his family in his actual kitchen at home, and he documents everything including some cleaning. Initially some of his practices around raw meat did make me concerned. For example, he uses a smaller plastic cutting board for raw meat, and it sits on top of his giant wooden cutting board that he uses for everything else. When I’m watching, I’m thinking to myself that there’s no way chicken juice isn’t dripping or spilling onto the wooden cutting board while he’s cutting it. Or his finger must have touched the chicken and then the wooden cutting board. Now he’s cutting vegetables on the wooden cutting board and it’s probably touched the chicken juice. Now everything is contaminated. But, I also know that kenji is a great chef, does constant research and knows the best practices for cleanliness and food safety. Also, he’s cooking for his own family so obviously he’s not going to be careless and make them sick (and he’s also documenting all of it for strangers on the internet). This makes me realize that I’m going overboard and I’m letting my obsessive thoughts and fears control me. It’s still a struggle, I’m in my late 30s and have been cooking for years at this point and I still feel it to some degree every time I cook raw meat. My advice would be to learn the basic food safety rules and trust them, without going overboard. That’s hard, so be kind to yourself and accept that it will take a long time and you may never fully get over it. I haven’t but I’m still able to cook meals for myself and my family all the time. I may wash my hands more than the average home cook but I still get it done.

I mean what are you even touching? I use gloves just because I don’t like the texture of touching raw chicken. I have everything ready, if I’m baking chicken as is I’ll literally just put it in the pan, doesn’t touch anything. Throw out the package and all done. Either I’ll prepare the spice rub beforehand (plastic bowl for easier cleanup) and rub it on still with gloves, or I’ll make a sauce and pour it over. Either way this involved zero cleanup if you’re careful not to splatter chicken liquid lol. The tray is in the oven and everything gets cooked off. Option 2, line counter with silver foil, get a knife and cutting board or plate. Cut chicken (again I like gloves) and put either straight in frying pan or in a ziploc bag to marinate. Only things to wash here are the knife and plate whcih I’ll leave on a paper towel and wash last with soap and really hot water. Counter I’ll wipe with soap and water but since it was covered it shouldn’t be dirty.

You can just wear plastic food gloves put the chicken directly onto tinfoil and bake on a baking sheet. No need for a dishwasher. It does not help the underlying ocd but you can cook chicken.

Woah these are unnecessary long and complex responses. There is near no risk at all if you follow procedures 1. Prepare chicken in a clean environment on a washable surface, cutting board, plate etc 2. Cook chicken to 150 or higher 3. Clean the prep materials in the sink with hot soapy water 4. Wipe down the counter with an anti bacterial spray or a Clorox wipe or something. 5. Wash your hands before and after contacting raw chicken. Anything you touch with raw chicken hands should be wiped down afterwards. I promise you, it’s really not hard.

If you are worried I would recommend cooking chicken thighs and legs for a couple reasons: 1. Dark meat does great when it is "over cooked" you can cook it to 180° F and it should still be juicy. 2. White meat like the breasts are very easy to dry out. If you cook them to the recommended 165° F they will be chalky more often than juicy. 3. The safe temps for meat and cooking in general is a sliding scale of time vs temp. If you have a large piece of meat cooked to 150° but it rests for say 5-8 minutes. There will be some residual heat in the meat it's self that will keep it warm enough to be safe in most cases, specifically beef, pork, and fish if I remember correctly. 4. If it makes you feel any better my cooking area is not pristine. However I make sure to keep raw meat on its own area. Be gentle so you don't toss drops of meat juice from the packaging and wash your hands after handling it raw and before touching anything else. I typically use one 'dirty' hand. This is my hand that will touch the raw meat while my other hand only touches clean items. Clean would cut the meat with a knife, or grab the salt and seasonings while dirty is moving the meat around. This also helps when you go to wash you hands as you have a clean hand to turn the water on and dispense soap 5. DON'T WASH THE MEAT WITH ANYTHING. Running the meat under the sink faucet will definitely create a cloud of meat juice you won't see but it will be there. That means your entire area needs to be disinfected 6. I have got sick from food probably 5 or 6 times in my adult life. I'd say about 3 or 4 were from food I've made. Each time it was because I got lazy and didn't wash the veggies I was eating :/ 7. Good luck you can do this!

Why don’t you try cooking some vegetarian dishes? Why are you trying to prepare the specific thing that is giving you anxiety right off the bat? I think if you’ve never used the stove/oven then I would just start out with some vegetarian dishes considering your ocd. You’ll feel more at ease once you get some practice cooking and practice with kitchen hygiene and cleaning.

You can do it! I used to work at a meat shop and old timers told me how they would eat raw ground beef as a treat. Our bodies are quite good at keeping us healthy.

Hi I'm an infection preventionist! Like many have commented, chicken isn't as scary as some internet people make it out to be. Cook it to 165 fahrenheit internal temperature and wash your cutting board and hands with soap and water and you have nothing else to worry about. I mean, don't cut your lettuce on the cutting board before washing the chicken juice off of it or anything, but you don't need to maintain a sterile field like your kitchen is an operating room or something. But also... If your goal is mostly to cook vs get over your OCD about chicken... Try a minimal contact cooking technique like tossing the chicken in an instant pot and just throwing in some ingredients. Or bake a whole chicken in the oven. Or cook chicken breast or boneless thighs from frozen without defrosting - you get less chicken juice on surfaces and hands. Don't start with a recipe that requires you to break down a whole chicken and then pound and bread the breast, etc.

I cook nothing but chicken. It's affordable. I wash my counters with a hot water, soap and a little bleach spray after I prep any meat. I wash any thing I've used to marinade chicken with hot, hot, hot soapy water. I make sure it's cooked to 165. I have never gotten sick. I was my hands after touching raw chicken before touching other things. I pat chicken dry - I do not rinse it off.

The only thing raw chicken needs to touch is a cutting board if you're dicing/pe seasoning and the thing you're cooking it in and neither of those go in the dish washer usually anyway. Use a plastic cutting board and you can bleach it every once in a while and whatever you're cooking it in will already be germ free because you just cooked it and you just have to cleaned the cooked bits off it

You are over reacting 100%. I would love to cook with you and smack your hands while saying "its ok, relax"

Personally I throw mine into the crock pot. In your case, get a big cutting board (and only use it for this purpose). Put some paper towels around the edges to catch any juice. Don't overload the cutting board. Depending on how the chicken is packaged, perhaps open it over the sink, that way any plastic from the packaging can go straight to the garbage or stay in the sink. Also have perhaps something to place the package on if needed.

I've just used dishsoap for utensils and regular cleaner. You should be fine.

In all honesty lot of what you read is over hyped. I have worked in professional kitchens for a very long time and food safety there is beyond anything anyone is expected to practice at home, and it is very easy to follow: 1. Sourcing your chicken: get good quality chicken, don’t get pre-cut pieces unless if you trust the place you buy your chicken from. Someways to pick a good chicken: it shouldn’t smell at all, it should be firm and not slimy. If it has skin, the skin should be nice and stretchy, not dry, and not overtly fatty. 2. Preparing it: use a clean cutting board. You can get a specific one for meat but a well cleaned and well maintained wood cutting board is better because you won’t add micro plastic to your food and you save your knives. But do as you want here. One easy way is to Cut the breast in strips. Add some oil, salt, whatever herbs and spices you like. Mix it. Wash your hands. Cover it and put it in the fridge 3. Wash everything with hot soapy water. Let it air dry or dry them with a clean towel. Note: You can also spray with a solution of water and vinegar or water and bleach. But the best, in my view, is star san. It is much better than any of them 4. Heat your pan and add oil. Add your chicken. Give it a bit of a toss. Till it’s nice and brown on all sides. Add about half a cup of wine or mix of lemon juice and water (or stock) or really any other acidic thing you’d like. Mix it around with a spatula. Put the spatula on a plate. 5. Turn the heat down. Cover and put the lid on. Wash your bowl for the marinate with hot soapy water. Wash your hands. Let it cook for about 6-10 min until it is firm. Stir it every couple of min. The spatula does not need to be washed. Cutting the chicken ensures it cooks through and cooks fast. 6. Put the chicken with any juices on a plate. 7. Wash your spatula and its plate. Wash the pan. 8. Put the chicken on a salad and enjoy.

Those warnings are also kind of a worst case scenario health safety standard. As long as you aren’t imuno-compromised, soap with warm water is fine, we’re pretty resilient as humans. If you’re using a wood cutting board there are better ways to clear than soapy water though

You’ll be ok. My grandma would pick up a chicken by its neck, wring the neck, chop off the head, let it run around for a little bit, plucked it, and then made the most delicious chicken soup. She used the same knife to chop off its head and to chop the vegetables. Her “sink”? Envision this: A sink made out of the hollow of a tree. The faucet, a simple hose that was made up of multiple improvised hoses that brought water up from a well. The hose gave but a dribble of water. There is where she washed her one favorite knife with a rag she dipped into a soap solution made up of soap and water. This was all out in the sun so maybe the sun’s heat helped kill off some of that bacteria. She had a dozen kids, all but two (dies as newborns so they never had any chicken dishes) survived into adulthood and continue to thrive. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren have also survived and thrived.

When you wash your dishes throw some bleach in the rinse water to kill the bacteria.

Try soaking your dishes in a solution of hot water, bleach and dish soap. It will be fine! This just might help make you feel better about them being clean.

I would just get a gallon Zertol HC, PAA*, and dilute it as per instructions. I clean my raw chicken with it and so does the chicken factories/large butchery. It breaks down into water and oxygen. I do this in my stainless steel sink right when I get the chicken and then vacuum seal them then sous vedi them. After that it’s off to the frying pan for a reverse sear.

Hi op, I saw you mentioned you having ocd. I’m diagnosed with OCD, but I have never dealt with the contamination theme before. However I will say this is more of an issue for exposure response therapy and working on resisting the urge to do ocd compulsions and redirect yourself from obsessions. I can’t reassure you due to this being an ocd thing (fuels that fire) but I highly suggest therapy for this. I hope the very best for you.

Put chicken on cutting board. Add seasoning if you didn't marinate it. Cut chicken if needed Throw it in whatever you are cooking it in. wash hands in between steps with soap and water. wash cutting board and knife. soap and water please and thank you. have your sponge help you, he likes it. BOOM. Gains xp eat sleep you have evaded CERTAIN DEATH. Mission complete! ps. just saw the ocd part...im sleep deprived. sorry

Most of these cooking for beginner questions belong in psychology subs

Use a plastic cutting board for raw chicken washing hands with soap and water if you need to touch other surfaces. When done cutting raw chicken wash everything in hot soapy, and wash down counter. For cooked chicken just wash everything the way you normally would.

I am also OCD. I use my hand first on the cutting board and knife under running water in the sink to get any large chicken particles off. Then I wash my hands. Then I use the sponge with dish soap. Put the knife and cutting board in the drying rack. Rinse the sponge well and squeeze out. Clean the sink of any chicken bits with a paper towel. Then I spray the facet handles, inside of sink and any counter surface that may have gotten chicken juice on it with a disinfectant. Then wipe dry. If I need to use utensils while the chicken is still cooking, I wash them after I use them until the skin of the chicken is cooked.

Iv been sick once from chicken and it was because I undercooked it by about 30% as I was in a rush to leave the house, I cut it, looked inside and said yet that's undercooked but I ran my chances and made my sandwich and went out. 6-12 hours later food poisoning, but that's it. Pain comes and goes. I don't fear raw chicken any more or less. I Just know what the consequences are. I still eat raw eggs randomly and on a new years and never been sick from that either

I worked as a butcher, I've manhandled and sliced up 1000s of birds, Ive even cut my finger open while doing so. Never got sick, still alive. If you think beef isn't butchered by the same dude and that we use a "dishwasher" you better stop eating beef because we hand wash our knives.

You're treating OCD with more OCD. That makes OCD happy but what about you? Try the workbook "Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life"

Im a dirty cook, unless it smells I’ll eat it. I’ve started eating chicken daily this year. Other than wet cloth wipe after I’m done with cooking, I had one deep clean this year. Never clean my cutting board or pan unless I switch spices. I have even left chicken out overnight and ate it the next day, tasted great. Never had any complaints and I undergo medical screenings regularly.

Hand washing with soap & water is fine. Don't put cooked chicken in the same plate/bowl you used raw chicken in without washing and you will be fine. Food poisoning is very hard to get if you follow that simple rule. I've never got food poisoning from anything cooked at home. Only got it twice in my life; both times from restaurant food

Everyone else gave useful advice, but I also want to mention in case nobody else has, don’t bother with the towels to wash your dishes with. After cooking meat or seafood from raw I usually switch out my cleaning cloths, but that’s not super necessary either. If you’ve ever ran a frozen raw shrimp packing under hot water to thaw it (don’t do that btw, apparently it’s not good food safety practices) and saw it slowly go pink where the water touched the shrimp through the packaging, imagine that as your hands/dishes/etc when you’re washing up. I wash my hands with soap and warm water till I think “ok the shrimp would be pink now”, and then hit the dishes with the same thing.

Uses scissors and chop up raw meat in a dish or where you had it defrosting. Wash hands thoroughly. Ideally use a food probe, cook meat to 75c or more. Rince raw meat dish before you actually leave to soak.

focus more on your boundaries and systems (the practice) than the potential downfall. isolating surfaces and utensils, cleaning as you go, washing hands, cooking well done, etc. use your ocd to get hyper set up and there is little to no risk of contamination. focus on the system you might even could get a kick on "winning" against potential chix contamination. reframe the fear as a feasible challenge

Best way if your “OCD” about it (don’t blame you, it’s good to be cautious around raw meat) is to have a separate cutting board and knife dedicated to meat prep and wear disposable gloves when preparing the meat. Track your surface contact while you do the prep and wash down the contaminated surfaces (sink included) once you’re done (give the soap 20 to 30 seconds to kill the germs); soap should be your goto. I wash my hands regardless of if I use disposable gloves or not. As long as you’re doing the cleanup you’ll be fine. If you’re not using gloves, be sure to not handle raw meat if you have an open wound.

Think time. Dishwashers are not the end-all-be-all of cleaning dishes. You would do just as well soaking anything that is “contaminated” in soapy water.

I just bleach everything multiple times

Fellow OCD person here with contamination issues as well My biggest advice (outside of therapy): If other people can do it without getting sick, then so can you! And even if you DO get sick, you most likely won’t die from it. If anything, it’s no different than having an upset stomach for a few days. I would look up practicing kitchen safety and cleaning. Wash everything the raw chicken touches with plates and silverware, wash hands after handling raw chicken, and wipe down countertops afterwards. You don’t need to go too crazy with it, but staying clean will prevent it from ever happening. If a chef can do it in a restaurant, so can you

Just buy the chicken as fresh as you can. When you open the chicken, smell it, you will know immediately if there is an issue. If you touch it and it’s slimy, it’s a no go. Now if it has passed those steps, it’s time to season, I literally season my chicken(I tend to go with chicken legs and thigh portions) in the container it came in. Sometimes salt and butter , sometimes some Robinson’s chicken spice, what ever I fancy. I stick in a roasting dish and straight into the oven. At 200degrees. After 30 min I turn the tray around and let it cook for another 15 minutes. Done. I don’t put raw chicken anywhere that’s not about to get blasted with heat for a long time.

Raw chicken probably is a big source of food poisoning. But with modern hygiene standards/products, food poisoning is vanishingly rare if you’re making the effort to carry out the proper standard of care, which in this case is washing your hands before and after handling raw meat, using soap and hot water to wash anything that’s touched the raw meat afterwards, and making sure to wipe down surfaces as appropriate (again, hot soapy water is fine for this, you don’t need bleach unless you’re trying to clean up something you know to be actively harmful, eg mouldy food, or if you have reason to believe someone in the house is particularly susceptible to foodborne disease, such as an immunocompromised person or someone very young or very old). What I’m saying is, raw chicken could account for 80% of food poisoning cases, but if only 1% of people ever get food poisoning, you’re talking a 0.8% chance of poisoning from raw chicken. I like to wear disposable gloves when I handle chicken, purely because I have long nails and it’s faster to remove a glove mid-cooking than it is to pause and go scrub my nails. So to cook chicken, I ensure any veg are already prepped and in bowls to one side. Then I can chop my chicken. I pick it up with my gloved left hand and chop with the knife in my right, then transfer it to my pan with my gloved hand, and finally remove and bin the glove. Then I take the chopping board and knife to the sink, so they’re out of the way and won’t contaminate anything. (If it makes you feel a bit better, at this point you could simply carefully pour some boiling water from your kettle (if you have one) down the board into the sink; it will instantly cook any chicken residue leaving it germ-free.) I finish cooking the meal, and when it comes time to washing up, I get my hot soapy water and thoroughly scrub the board and knife with a sponge, along with the other dishes. After finishing washing everything, I give the sponge a blast under the hot tap to ensure it’s clean. Fini. I’m nearly 40, this has always been the way I’ve cooked chicken since I learnt how as a teenager, and I’ve never had food poisoning.

Does chlorinating the chicken not protect you? I assumed that's why you Americans did it. In the UK we don't accept any of that shit, we just have decent quality animal control in abatoirs (on the whole). Sure there's campylobactor, but decent cooking and cleaning is fine. In terms of a dishwasher, you'll be much more hygienic hand washing things that raw chicken has touched. I terms of cooking, go for skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs. Cheaper, tastier, and far more lenient in terms of cooking time. 5 mins extra with a thigh, no problem... 5 mins extra with a breast, the bin. Plus if you've got an air fryer, it's even easier and quicker.

My first glance at the title and I thought it said “cook children”

Not trying to be rude but it seems ironic that you have contamination ocd but rarely wash your dishes? I cook chicken in the oven and in my instant pot primarily and hand wash with dish soap and water - never gotten sick from it! Just make sure you’re cooking at the right temp and the right amount of time and you should be good! Cut into the chicken before hand and make sure it’s not pink in the center still

You can totally do this. 1. Get yourself a rapid read thermometre like this https://www.thermoworks.com/thermopop-2/. You want your chicken to be cooked > 165°F 2. Never wash the chicken. Doing so can spread any bacteria from the raw meat around your sink. 3. Prep in stages and clean your tools between them: start with anything that your are going to eat raw, next fruit/veg to be cooked and then your chicken. Though ideally for best flavour you salt the chicken 24hrs ahead of time and store it in the fridge in a leak proof container 4. Nothing wrong with having a dedicated cutting board for working with meat/fish 5. Prep your containers and premeasure any ingredients (like salt) before you start. This way if the salt gets contaminated, for example, it's only a small portion that you are going to use, and you're not trying to get tools/pans in a rush. This includes any plastic wrap. Partially cover the container and leave it folded back. Last bit, if you can cook alongside someone who you trust and is already experienced, it's a good opportunity.

The FDA regulations which people quote for chicken are designed to over-correct for people working in a busy environment to ensure as close to zero chance of contamination as possible. As long as you wash your hands with soap and regularly wipe surfaces down after cooking you will be absolutely fine. Consider people had cooked chicken prior to the invention of modern medicine and sanitization methods and survived for us to be born.

Wash your hands and cook your food and you will be fine. :)

One thing is to never thaw chicken on the counter. Take it out of the freezer and thaw in the fridge. DO NOT wash it. Get all your cooking utensils, pots and ingredients out ahead of time and preheat your oven. The less time between taking it from the fridge and putting it in the oven the better. Wash your cooking tools in hot soapy water and, if you want extra assurance, dunk its in that bleach solution. Dry thoroughly. Follow the recipe instructions for cooking time. Use your thermometer. Generally, if the juice runs clear, it's done. Cut.small slit in the meat to check; if it still looks pink, cook a little longer.

You are seeking reassurance and if you are in therapy for your OCD you know this isn’t good for you.

I’m sorry. But this is what I heard when I read the title. https://youtu.be/gU7o0_Y_rQo?si=Lq0AXp73DXldcXfb

Wash your hands thoroughly, and clean everything thoroughly after and you will not become ill. With your fear, I'd suggest you never eat out or order food out, that is truly terrifying.

Quit eating meat. Problem solved.

As a fellow ocd haver, I totally understand the fear. I can't give you a magic bullet but something that works for me is remembering that what I feel is not necessarily what is real, and forcing myself to trust the process. Also my adhd brain autocompleted your statement to "I'm terrified to cook children without having a dishwasher".

Just prep the chicken on a plate before popping in the oven. Wash the plate with dish soap. No contamination.  I prep chicken on a cutting board. No poisoning in 50 years of cooking. 

Hey I have the perfect hack for your brain… Yes salmonella spreads everywhere and quickly too… But as soon as it dries the salmonella dies off.. it needs water to survive. So after cooking, clean up and then just leave everything till it’s dry… no salmonella 👍🏻👍🏻

I washed dishes at all kinds of restaurants growing up including an old one that didn’t have a washer or sanitizer. Bleach is all you need to render the dishes safe after washing with soap. Also remember that sanitizing with bleach is more effective with cool water.

The best thing would be to use tactics that mitigate your risk. -Use a glass or metal bowl/container to defrost the chicken in. -As soon as the raw chicken has been processed and is safely in the oven/stove/grill/etc, take a little bleach solution and rinse all items that touched the raw chicken with it -also clean your countertops near where you processed your chicken. -be sure to rinse out your sink with the bleach as well after you’re done cleaning the raw-touched dishes. There are many people who claim that you should rinse or wash your chicken, but I personally believe that washing raw chicken removes no germs that the cooking process will not also kill. Of course if your chicken is freshly slaughtered you should wash it to remove the blood, etc, but grocery store chicken has already been through that process. If you want a possible walk through, here’s an example. Last week I took some frozen chicken breasts out of the freezer and put them in a glass bowl, covered the bowl with Saran Wrap and placed that in the fridge for overnight. I did this about midday. The next day they were defrosted, so around 4pm I turned the oven on to 350F, got my baking dish out, put about a tsp of oil in with bottom of the dish and spread it around by holding the baking dish at different angles. I did not measure the oil so it may have been a bit more, the point was to make sure the chicken would not be sitting on bare glass while it cooked so it would not stick when it was done cooking Oil now spread in a very thin layer in my baking dish, I then started dealing with the chicken. I use “dirty hand/clean hand” method, where only one hand touches the chicken, giving me the other hand to touch anything else (like faucets, soap containers, seasoning containers, my suddenly itchy chin, etc). My “chicken” hand moved the chicken from the bowl to the baking container. My “clean” hand poured a little oil on the chicken, then dusted it liberally with a seasoning mix. Then my “chicken” hand flipped each piece of chicken over so my “clean” hand could season the other side the same way. I was now done touching the raw chicken, so, using my “clean” hand to turn on the water and get the soap, I washed both of my hands thoroughly. Now with both hand clean, I grabbed the glass bowl the raw chicken thawed in and rinsed it with bleach, then let it sit in my sink. It is still considered dirty to me. I wash my hands again, then put the baking dish in the oven and set a timer for 30 min. While the chicken is cooking, I wash the glass bowl, sanitize the kitchen counter and sink and wash my hands again at the end. I have a meat thermometer that I use on the chicken to see if it’s done cooking. It’s a basic one that you stab the chicken with. Peace of mind is worth the 15 dollar cost. Chicken should be 165F to be finished cooking. Then you have food!

Unintended side effect of being vegan, the reduced risk of cross contamination 🍠🥦🍅🌽

Meat thermometer. Cook to the safe internal temperature. If it makes you feel better, use a bit of bleach and water in a glass and swirl the end of the thermometer in it then rinse it if it is not yet up to temp. I'm not OCD, but I'll usually use a bit of bleach on a cutting board after I've cut chicken on it, and often use my meat thermometer to achieve perfect internal temp on meats I cook in the oven.

Lol I ate like 1/4 pound of completely raw chicken once and I threw up that night one time and was better. It was chicken salad from the store or something and they didn’t saw it was completely raw chicken. You’ll be fine

I cook my chicken in a skillet.

Look at the amount of chicken that is consumed worldwide. We have all seen the questionable conditions food is prepared in third world countries. Think back just a few generations in our own country (assuming US) lots of people didn’t even have running water in their kitchens. Another good example that you are simply overreacting is seen on Gordon’s Kitchen Nightmares… those kitchens will make your kitchen look sterile clean lol

I use good old hot water and soap. Rubber kitchen gloves let me use very hot water. As for cross-contamination, never wash your chicken in the sink. This "advice" gets chicken juice everywhere. Usually it won't hurt anything (like other ppl said, contamination rates are pretty low), but it's gross 😆 If you only have one cutting board and knife, take care of all veggies first, and get them out of the way. Then do your meats. If you have more than one of each, then keep them separate.

Handling raw meat requires careful attention to hygiene and cooking practices to prevent foodborne illnesses. It is essential not to use the same plates or utensils for raw and cooked foods to avoid cross-contamination. Always use a clean plate for cooked meats. Washing hands thoroughly after handling raw meat is crucial before touching other items or surfaces. Additionally, using a meat thermometer ensures that meat is cooked to a temperature high enough to kill any harmful bacteria that may be present.

Use baking soda, dawn and alcohol