Experts warn against 'dangerous' NyQuil Chicken TikTok challenge

There's always one person to take stupidity on the internet too far – this time, it's seasoning chicken with NyQuil.

Also known as "sleepy chicken" online, the since-deleted recipe shows a man prepping the raw chicken with "four thirds" of the cold and flu medicine. Yep, you read that correctly.

People have falsely claimed that the sickly green coloured chicken can cure cold and sickness symptoms.

Concerned users have since stitched the clip on TikTok, with one person responding: "I'm just really confused with what's going on..."

Another person reiterated in a separate reaction video: "No hope for you all. Who in the right mind... that's a whole medication, it's time to get serious."

Alarmingly, this isn't the first time the dangerous trend has made rounds on social media.

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As much as people would like to believe that it is a joke, experts are incredibly alarmed that people will stupidly mimic the recipe.

The FDA has issued a warning, as part of a broader update, A Recipe for Danger: Social Media Challenges Involving Medicines, against the sleepy chicken trend, noting the dangerous outcomes.

"Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways,” the FDA explained.

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

Dr Aaron Hartman, a physician and assistant clinical professor of family medicine, explained how the dangerous trend could likely lead to food poisoning – or worse.

“If you ate one of those cutlets completely cooked, it’d be as if you’re actually consuming a quarter to half a bottle of NyQuil,” he previously told MIC.

“When you cook cough medicine like NyQuil, you boil off the water and alcohol in it, leaving the chicken saturated with a super-concentrated amount of drugs in the meat.”

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