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

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

Is this safe to eat?

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

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  • Possible duplicate of How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?
    – Daniel Griscom
    Jul 25, 2016 at 11:42
  • We really can't tell you whether improperly stored/heated food is safe. Basically, if you're wondering if it's safe, it isn't. (I've marked this as a duplicate.)
    – Daniel Griscom
    Jul 25, 2016 at 11:43
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    @DanielGriscom It wasn't "left at room temperature"... I don't see how this is a dupe.
    – Catija
    Jul 25, 2016 at 17:09
  • @DanielGriscom this doesn't really relate to room temperature. I'm asking if cooking with frozen vegetables would be dangerous to cook since it'll take longer to raise the temperature to kill the bacteria in the defrosted chicken.
    – ninjaneer
    Jul 25, 2016 at 19:52
  • The question that you need to answer really is "how long did it take for the pot to come up to the "safe zone" temperature?" This will greatly vary based on the volumes and temperatures of everything else in the pot and what heat setting the pot was on. I add frozen peas and onions to my nearly-finished beef stew all the time without worrying but it's already hot and it takes only 10 or 20 minutes to get back to bubbling. So, how long did it take for your Instant Pot to bring the food up to 140F/60C?
    – Catija
    Jul 25, 2016 at 20:14

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

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

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

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