Chicken Smells Like Vinegar: How To Get Rid Of Chicken That Smells Like Vinegar?

Vinegar is a staple in many kitchens and cooking recipes, but it doesn’t go well on chicken, especially if the chicken recipe doesn’t call for this ingredient.

If your chicken smells like vinegar, don’t worry, we have got some easy solutions to help solve this problem so that you can enjoy a delicious meal with the natural and aromatic flavor of the chicken.

Why does my chicken smell like vinegar?

Smelly chicken might be caused by several reasons.

If you figure out there is a vinegar smell on your chicken, it may be due to one of the following reasons:

Spoiled chicken

Fresh chicken doesn’t have a strong smell.

In fact, it almost has no odor at all.

So if your chicken smells like vinegar, chances are the meat has been spoiled by bacteria.

Acetic acid is the main reason that causes the vinegar-like smell by the fermentation process.

The chicken has been washed with vinegar

Vinegar is often used as a removal agent in cooking as it can take away other bad odors from different ingredients, especially meat.

However, one minus point of using vinegar to wash chicken is that its sour smell can linger on the meat cut if not thoroughly washed again.

So if there is a bad odor on the chicken and the butcher wants to cover it with vinegar, you might notice the vinegar smell when buying chicken.

The chicken picks up the vinegar smell from the package

Another reason that makes chicken smell like vinegar is that it picks up this smell from the package.

Chicken has a mild flavor on its own, therefore, it easily gets other flavors from other ingredients and materials that it is contained in or are placed next to it.

Use too much vinegar than the recipe calls for

In case your cooked chicken tastes like vinegar and you do use this ingredient in your recipe, it might be because you just use a lot more than what the recipe calls for.

In this case, it is quite easy to fix it without ruining the dish.

Is it safe to eat chicken that smells like vinegar?

If you are the main cook in your family, it is important to know if the ingredients are safe for your family to consume or not.

Regarding chicken that comes with a vinegar smell, you should determine if the chicken is spoiled or not or just simply gets the vinegar flavor from other ingredients before deciding to toss it away.

If there are no other weird signs on the chicken like discoloration and a sticky or plumpy texture except for the vinegar smell, it is generally safe enough to eat.

However, you will need to remove this smell before cooking the chicken to make sure that the resulting dish tastes best.

How to get rid of the vinegar flavor from chicken?

Normally, chicken that comes with a vinegar smell isn’t a big deal like when you get a rotten or sulfur smell.

Here are some common solutions to get rid of the vinegar flavor from chicken effortlessly:

Rinse the chicken in lukewarm water

Rinsing the chicken in lukewarm or cool water is the easiest way to remove the vinegar smell from your chicken.

This method should be applied if there is just a light odor of vinegar instead of a pungent smell.

Use salt or baking soda to remove the vinegar smell

You can also use salt or baking soda to neutralize the vinegar smell and taste on your chicken.

These ingredients are inexpensive and easy to find in any grocery store or supermarket throughout the country.

Grab some salt or baking soda to dilute in water or directly rub on the surface of the chicken to take the vinegar smell away.

Use a sweetener if you use too much vinegar

In case your cooked chicken has a vinegar smell because you accidentally use too much more vinegar than what the recipe calls for, you can use a sweetening agent to balance the sour taste from vinegar.

Think about sugar and honey as some of the most common condiments to sweeten your sour chicken dish.

They are tasty, healthy, affordable, and go well with chicken.

Therefore, you can use these easy-to-find ingredients to make your chicken dish taste better without being coated with a vinegar flavor.

The bottom line

Sometimes, your chicken can have a smell or taste of vinegar due to several reasons.

Although vinegar is not that bad on its own, the sour flavor doesn’t go well in some cases at all and you should figure out the easiest and safest way to get rid of this odor.

There are plenty of other solutions out there too, so let us know if you figure out another useful way to remove the vinegar smell from your chicken.