Thawing Frozen Chicken Breasts

the3dwizard

I buy the large bag of chicken breasts from Costco and use them all the time for grilling and for other recipes like chicken enchiladas. I thought I would share my method for thawing chicken breasts and thighs (the wife likes thighs). Guaranteed to come out tender, moist and no one will know it was frozen unless you tell them, (of course this is an internet guarantee ). So a couple of hours before grilling time I do the following:

• Take a gallon zip lock back and put in 2 tsp of salt and 2 tsp sugar.
• Add a little water and swirl it to mix it.
• Put in your frozen chicken.
• Fill the bag completely FULL of water and close.
• Fill sink with water and float bag in the water.
• Once defrosted (~ 2 hrs) drain water from sink then the bag.

If you want really tender breasts, (and who doesn't), close the bag back up. Manipulate the bag so you have access to one breast at a time. Make a fist and drive it into the chicken for a couple of seconds. Use the knuckles formed by the second joint from the end of the fingers not the main ones on your hand. It should give you resistance but eventually will kind of pop as the muscle fibers release. Do this a couple of more times around the breast. Note this is not needed for thighs.

Then you can season or you can pat them dry, cut them up and wrap bacon around them, whatever you want to do. Sometimes I will added seasoning to the bag and let them sit for a bit. However don't over cook them and they will be tender and juicy!

The is a variation of what some call brining. Most use only salt and at higher concentration on a whole chicken or turkey for the flavor, sometimes spices are added. Here we don't want the breast to be too salty tasting, unless that is your goal. Also the sugar helps to provide another mechanism for keeping the water in the breast to help keep it moist.

Enjoy!