Don’t cook your chicken in Nyquil, FDA warns after viral social media trend resurfaces

The Food and Drug Administration has told Americans not to cook their chicken in Nyquil, after a viral cooking trend has resurfaced on social media.

In a recent warning issued by the FDA, the government agency addressed the dangers of “social media” and misusing medicines, as a result of “peer pressure”.

“One social media trend relying on peer pressure is online video clips of people misusing nonprescription medications and encouraging viewers to do so too,” the FDA wrote. “These video challenges, which often target youths, can harm people — and even cause death.”

The warning went on to highlight a social media video challenge where people cook their chicken in NyQuil, which is an nonprescription drug that contains acetaminophen, dextromethorphan and doxylamine, and then eat it.

Since the cooking trend has gone viral once again, the FDA has publicly expressed how “unsafe” and “unappetising” it is.

“Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways. Even if you don’t eat the chicken, inhaling the medication’s vapours while cooking could cause high levels of the drugs to enter your body,” the FDA said.

“It could also hurt your lungs. Put simply: Someone could take a dangerously high amount of the cough and cold medicine without even realising it,” the federal agency continued.

In addition, the FDA recalled how they issued a warning about the dangers of taking too much Benadryl in 2020, after the “Benadryl Challenge” on TikTok reportedly involved people ingesting high doses of the medicine to induce hallucinations and cause them to be hospitalised.

The agent went on to share ways for people to protect their children from “potentially harmful trends” and tips for using “OTC drugs safely”.

While the FDA’s statement about cooking chicken in Nyquil arrived last week, the trend first emerged on social media back in 2017. In one tweet shared at time, which has more than 4,330 retweets, a Twitter user posted a photo of multiple pieces of chicken sitting in a bowl of Nyquil. The caption of it reads: “If she makes you nyquil chicken…. do NOT let her go.”

Story continues

Twitter users went on to respond to the tweet with confusion, as they expressed how absurd the cooking trend was.

Earlier this year, the trend also reemerged on TikTok. In one video that was reposted in January, as it was initially shared by TikTok account Janelle and Kate, a woman could be seen in front of her stove.

As she stood over a pan that had uncooked chicken in it, she poured some of Nyquil onto the meat. She went on to grab a pair of pliers used them to move the chicken, while it was cooked in the liquid cough medicine.

The video was once again met with angry reactions, as viewers encouraged people not prepare their meals with Nyquil.

“Don’t do this, it will kill you,” one wrote, while another asked: “Why would you do this?”

While videos continued to emerge of the trend in January, TikTok users began referring to it as the “sleepy chicken”.