Is it safe to eat a chicken that leaked a ton of red fluid after roasting?
I just roasted a small chicken, and after taking it out of the oven after about 1 1/2 hours, a large amount of watery, red fluid leaked from the bird.
Did I somehow mess up cooking the chicken? Is it edible?
The chicken was cooked, alone, in the oven at a temperature of 180 Celsius (356 Fahrenheit). There was nothing else done to the chicken (no brining or anything).
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Based on the given information, it does not sound like the chicken was actually cooked as planned; maybe the oven's thermometer is off, or there is another problem.
It sounds like raw meat juices (water and myoglobin, not blood, and I cannot remember the technical name for this fluid just now). If the oven was truly at 180 C (about 355 F), this would have evaporated or the heat would have destroyed the red color.
Since the chicken was held at unknown temperatures for an extended period of time, I wouldn't risk eating it.
I would recommend discarding this chicken immediately, and buy an oven thermometer immediately, to check its calibration, and if it is off, get it serviced.
Be smart... if the chicken is leaking water red fluid ,
go ahead and boil it for fifteen minutes so all the fear for uncooked chicken and / or blood that may be contaminated is killed
once that is done , try roasting the chicken again or frying it and it would be more than safe to eat
As another answer points out, the liquid consists of the liquid contents of the chicken's cells. It is mostly water with some proteins dissolved in it.
I think that your chicken was cooked enough. If the liquid is raw, it will look a lot like slightly watered down blood. This is how most people describe it. The fact that you call it "watery red fluid" already sounds to me as if it had the clear, red-tinted appearance of cooked meat juice. Also, 1.5 hours in a hot oven should be more than enough to cook a chicken, even if your oven's thermostat is discalibrated.
My assumption is that the chicken had previously been frozen, you cooked it too long, and/or cut it up too early. All of this can increase the amount of meat juice which flows out of the cooked meat instead of staying inside and making it juicy and tasty. Sadly, it is not as tasty as a properly cooked chicken. But the good news is that you have no safety concerns whatsoever. So you can eat your chicken.
To make it completely clear, because I haven't seen your chicken: If the juice which flows is bright red and cloudy or translucent, it is undercooked. If it is clear/transparent and the red has a warm, slightly brownish hue, it is probably cooked (clear juices are not a 100% indicator of having reached a safe temperature, but raw-looking juices are a 100% indicator that you have to cook longer).
The color of the fluid is a clue to whether or not your chicken is done, not a canonical guide. You are asking a question where no determinate answer can be given. Your chicken is safe when it has been pasteurized. 165f for instant kill (well, 10 seconds), for example. So temperature is your guide to safety. You can have red juices and safe chicken. Similarly, you can have clear juices and unsafe chicken. Get a good instant-read thermometer to be sure.
I had a similar problem with my grilled chicken. I decided to put the chicken back on the grill for a couple minutes. It worked fine and my family ate it. Well none of us got sick so I am going to say success
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