# Do you wash raw chicken before you cook it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-raw-chicken-before-you-cook-it/838963 "2019-08-20T21:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-raw-chicken-before-you-cook-it/838963/21 "2019-08-27T01:37:15Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Don’t, it can actually cause you to spread bacteria unnecessarily. I don’t care. I have spent just enough time on a factory floor to know that fecal matter does exist there and while things are rinsed, it doesn’t happen with individual attention. I’m not OK with ingesting that just because it’s been cooked and the bacteria are dead. I want it off my chicken before I eat it. IOW I want my meat to be clean, as well as safe. And yes, I will also have to sterilize the sink and surrounding counter after I cook. You have to do that anyway after getting it out of the packaging. There is no way to get that stuff out with micro-droplets getting everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-raw-chicken-before-you-cook-it/838963/22 "2019-08-31T16:09:15Z")
My older cookbooks (Julia Child and Joy of Cooking), both recommend to wash the chicken. I don’t. I might pat dry with paper towels, if called for. Probably not often enough. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-raw-chicken-before-you-cook-it/838963/23 "2019-08-31T18:42:01Z")
If I’m roasting a whole chicken, I rinse out the insides and the giblets, if any. The outsides get rinsed too in the process. Otherwise, no. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-raw-chicken-before-you-cook-it/838963/24 "2019-08-31T21:35:05Z")
I’m roasting a whole chicken right now. But I only started cooking chickens about a decade ago, and by then I’d heard not to rinse them, so I don’t. I pat 'em dry and use the [Thomas Keller](https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/my-favorite-simple-roast-chicken-231348) method, and it’s one of my favorite meals. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-raw-chicken-before-you-cook-it/838963/25 "2019-08-31T22:19:39Z")
I voted no. I’m trying hard to be cautious but not paranoid. A related question is “Would bacteria that kill you be destroyed by rinsing the chicken?” I remember as a kid, wiping off a coke bottle before sharing it with a friend. And my physician grandpa chuckling that that “any germ you can wipe off would die by the time you got the bottle to your lips anyhow.” So I of course started thinking about the germs that wiping wouldn’t help with… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-raw-chicken-before-you-cook-it/838963.md?page=1)