Should You Wash Raw Chicken?

No, you shouldn't wash raw chicken. Rinsing doesn't remove enough bacteria to make chicken safe, but it does splash Salmonella and Campylobacter across your sink, counters and anything nearby. Food safety agencies in the US, Canada and the UK all give the same advice: skip the rinse, keep raw chicken away from other food, and cook it to 74°C (165°F).

Why do so many people wash chicken?

Partly habit and partly instinct. Many of us learned it from parents or grandparents, at a time when chicken was processed differently and often arrived with feathers, blood or grit that genuinely needed rinsing. In some food traditions, washing meat, sometimes with lemon, lime or vinegar, is part of preparation and a sign of care.

It also feels cleaner. Raw chicken can be slippery or have a faint smell, and running water over it seems like a sensible step. Surveys suggest a large share of home cooks still wash poultry before cooking. The problem is that the feeling of cleanliness and the reality on the surface of the bird are two different things.

What bacteria are on raw chicken?

Raw chicken commonly carries two bacteria that cause food poisoning:

• Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of food poisoning in the UK and a leading one in North America. A large share of raw chicken sold in shops carries it. It can make you sick in very small numbers, a few hundred cells, which is a tiny amount of contaminated liquid. Symptoms include cramps, fever and diarrhoea, and it occasionally leads to serious complications.
• Salmonella is also frequently found on raw poultry and causes fever, cramps and diarrhoea, typically 6 hours to 6 days after exposure.

These bacteria live on the skin and surface of the meat and in the juices. Some are tucked into the skin's folds and feather follicles, where running water barely reaches. Washing might remove a few loosely attached bacteria, but nowhere near enough to make the chicken safe to eat raw or undercooked.

Where do the bacteria go when you rinse chicken?

Everywhere water goes. When a stream from the tap hits a chicken, it shatters into droplets that bounce off the meat and spray out of the sink. Those droplets carry bacteria with them.

They land on:

• the sink basin, taps and draining rack
• nearby counters and chopping boards
• dish towels, sponges and your clothes
• any food sitting close by, such as salad leaves or a bowl of vegetables

In 2019, the US Department of Agriculture ran an observational study in test kitchens, using a harmless tracer bacterium on the chicken. Among participants who washed their poultry, about 60% had bacteria in the sink afterwards, and 14% still had bacteria in the sink even after they tried to clean it. Roughly a quarter of washers transferred bacteria to the salad they prepared next.

Interestingly, some participants who didn't wash their chicken also contaminated their salad, mainly through hands that weren't washed well and surfaces they touched. The takeaway isn't only "don't wash the chicken"; it's that raw chicken juices should be treated like spilled paint that only you can see.

Chef Fizz says: Splashing raw chicken is like shaking a snow globe of germs. The snow goes everywhere, and you can't see where it landed.

So what actually makes chicken safe?

Heat. Cooking chicken until the thickest part reaches 74°C (165°F) kills Salmonella and Campylobacter almost instantly. That's the official temperature from the USDA and Health Canada, and it doesn't depend on whether you rinsed the bird first. In the UK, the FSA advises cooking chicken until it's steaming hot throughout, with no pink meat and juices that run clear.

Bacteria die over time, not just at one magic number, so chicken held at lower temperatures for long enough can also be pasteurised. Food scientists have shown that chicken held at about 65°C (149°F) for several minutes reaches the same level of safety, which is how some sous-vide recipes work. But that relies on accurate equipment and precise timing. For everyday cooking, use a thermometer and stick with 74°C (165°F). Our guide to why chicken breast turns out dry explains how to hit that number without overshooting.

Want to practise keeping raw and ready-to-eat food apart? The Cooking Scientist app has a short lesson on cross-contamination, with a mini game where you set up a safe chopping station.

How do you prep raw chicken without washing it?

You can do everything rinsing was supposed to do, more safely:

1. Open the pack over the sink or a tray so juices don't run across the counter. Tip the liquid down the drain carefully, without splashing.
2. Pat it dry with paper towels, then throw them straight in the bin. A dry surface is better for browning and crisp skin anyway, because water has to evaporate before the Maillard reaction can really get going. See why chicken skin doesn't get crispy for more.
3. Trim any loose fat, stray bits of bone or feathers with a knife.
4. Use a separate chopping board for raw meat and poultry, and another for food that won't be cooked, such as salads, bread and cooked meat. Plastic boards can go in the dishwasher.
5. Wash your hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds after touching raw chicken, and before touching anything else, including the tap, the fridge door or your phone.
6. Clean, then sanitise. Wash boards, knives and counters with hot soapy water to remove grease and residue, then use a kitchen sanitiser or a dilute bleach solution according to its label.
7. Never put cooked chicken back on the plate that held it raw.

If chicken smells sour, feels sticky or slimy all over, or has a grey or greenish tinge, it may be spoiled. Washing won't fix spoilage. Throw it out.

Does marinating or brining count as washing?

No. Soaking chicken in a marinade or a brine is fine, as long as you do it in a covered container in the fridge at 4°C (40°F) or below. Don't marinate on the counter. The key differences are that the liquid stays contained and the chicken stays cold.

Two rules for marinades: never reuse marinade that touched raw chicken as a sauce unless you boil it first, and reserve a clean portion before adding the meat if you want some for drizzling. The same thinking applies to brines: discard the brine after use.

What about other raw meats and eggs?

The same advice applies across the board. Don't rinse raw beef, pork, lamb, turkey or fish before cooking. And don't wash eggs bought from a shop. In North America, commercial eggs are already washed and coated, and washing them at home can push bacteria through the porous shell. In the UK and much of Europe, eggs aren't washed before sale, and you shouldn't wash them at home either.

Fresh produce is different: do rinse fruit and vegetables under running water, because they're often eaten raw and a rinse helps remove soil and some surface bacteria. Just do it before raw meat goes anywhere near the sink, or after you've cleaned the sink thoroughly.

Try it at home

See the splash zone for yourself, safely, with no chicken involved. Lay sheets of dry paper towel on the counter all around your sink, out to about 60 cm (2 feet). Put a few drops of dark food colouring into a cup of water and pour it over a whole orange, coating it.

Now hold the coloured orange in the sink and rinse it under the tap at the same strength you'd use for chicken, turning it for about 15 seconds.

What you'll see: tiny coloured specks on the paper towels, often well beyond the edge of the sink, and on the tap and your sleeves. Each speck is a droplet that came off the orange. With raw chicken, those droplets would be carrying bacteria. Clean the sink and counter afterwards, and wash the orange before you eat it.

Common mistakes

• Rinsing chicken to make it cleaner. The rinse doesn't remove enough bacteria to matter, but it spreads them around. Skip it and rely on cooking to 74°C (165°F).
• Patting chicken dry with a reusable cloth. The cloth now carries raw-chicken bacteria to everything it touches next. Use paper towels and bin them straight away.
• Using the same board for chicken and salad. Bacteria transfer from the board to food that won't be cooked. Keep a separate board for raw meat, or wash and sanitise it between uses.
• Washing hands too quickly. A quick splash leaves bacteria behind. Lather with soap for 20 seconds, scrubbing between fingers and under nails.
• Washing produce right after rinsing chicken. The sink may be contaminated. Clean and sanitise it first, or prep produce before you open the chicken.
• Guessing doneness by colour. Pink near the bone isn't always undercooked, and white meat isn't always safe. Use a thermometer in the thickest part and look for 74°C (165°F). For more on why time and temperature matter, see the temperature danger zone guide.