Hey all, I’m trying to find a way to cook chicken breast for meal prep that actually allows it to stay tender and juicy. I’ve tried quite a few methods and so far the best I have is as follows: -Cut chicken breast in half so that no portion is more than 1/2" thick (helps cook time)
-Brine chicken breast 2-24 hours prior to cooking (breaks down connective tissue, makes it softer)
-Pat dry, coat with a light layer of oil/butter, then season liberally with salt + other seasonings (oil/butter coat keeps moisture in)
-Cook in oven at 450 for 15 minutes (hot and fast cook helps keep moisture in)
-Remove & let rest (gets tough if cut too soon after cooking)
This works pretty; the chicken is relatively tender and juicy, but its nowhere near the caliber of most restauraunt chicken tenderness. I even got some of the microwave Hormel premade chicken & gravy packs, and that chicken is crazy tender.
I can slow cook, pressure cook, oven, air fry, pan fry, and the chicken always lacks tenderness that I find in commercial cooked food. I eat primarily for nutrition, but I can do fine with minimal spices as long as the chicken is tender.
Don’t overcook. It goes from under to over real fast. I take mine out right before it comes to temp and put it in tupperware with the lid on to finish. You gotta watch that shit!!!
I believe I do the same, I fine tuned my cook time/thickness by the minute for repeated consistency. Just curious if anyone knows the secrets some of these premade chicken companies that I’m missing.
Brining the chicken first is a complete gamechanger btw; I thought that was the secret, but there has to be more than one secret
They prolly soude vide the chicken to temp then throw some grill marks on it or soak it in some brine for year then cook it. That pre made stuff usually has tons of sodium in it which makes me think it’s brined.
They turn out like that after 6-7 min. per side. It takes a while to get dialed in but people have used words like “best I’ve ever had” and “Oh my god, how did you do that” quite a bit.
If you want that commercial level of tenderness, look at a jaccard meat tenderizer. They’re about 20 bucks for a home model. The Hormel chicken goes through an industrial version of that.
Surf and turf burger night. Mahi mahi and chicken burger on a keto bun with fat free cheese and air fried onions next to asparagus fries and sugar free ketchup
I made an eggs Benedict today (homemade soda bread, poached eggs, homemade hollandaise). Individually, the components looked amazing. But something happened and the final product looked terrible so didn’t bother with a picture
Past 40, they’re interchangeable.
I sometimes use whipping cream to make the egg batter. This helps it to become really light and velvety.