Healthiest way to prepare chicken?
rebecca_megangillis
Posts: 4 Member
I assume baked in the oven, with no oil or added salt. Post your favorite chicken recipes below. Starting my journey today 
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Replies
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The healthiest way to prepare chicken is the way you like to prepare it. Forcing yourself to eat subpar food makes you more likely to quit your diet, which isn't healthy. I personally like it stewed with vegetables. The fibers absorb the sauce which gives it extra flavor, not completely oil free (I like my sauce with a bit of fat) but it's alright on calories.17
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I usually bake or grill my chicken. I think baking it is healthier though. I use different types of seasoning each time to avoid getting bored eating it lol.2
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1 fresh chicken. Rinse inside cavity and outside.Remove any visible fatty bits.Then place in roasting tin or pyrex.
Your poultry seasoning of choice.
Or fresh milled white and/or black pepper, some sea salt and paprika powder mixed in small dish.
1/2 fresh lemon and 1/2 fresh orange, or if you want sweeter chicken replace orange with 1 mandarin in 2 halves.
Add citrus to chicken and add spices inside and out.
Roast in a preheated oven 200Celsius until done ( no pink meat) and golden brown. My oven approx 55 minutes.
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What do you mean by “healthy”?2
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I bake mine and on top of it I put some hummus - gets a nice crust and is juicy2
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Don't rinse chicken. It contaminates the sink and it's not necessary anyway. We cook our whole roasting chickens in the Instant Pot. No oil needed, just seasonings, and it comes out juicy and perfect every time. 6
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I bake it and pour a little low sodium chicken broth on it. Italian seasoning and pepper. Cover with tin foil. Bake for about 30-35 min at 390. When I warm the chicken up I also pour a little low sodium chicken broth in the Tupperware container and cover with wet paper towel. It stays tender. I eat a ton of chicken and usually bake 3 or 4 breasts at a time0
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I grill boneless skinless chicken breasts on my George Foreman grill. Seasoning and/or marinade of your choice. Quick & easy. Yesterday I spread about a teaspoon of unrefined coconut oil (I like the slight coconut flavor of unrefined) on both sides. Seasoned with flake salt, fresh ground pepper and a little smoked paprika. So good!4
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I think healthy means different things to different people so there really isn't THE HEALTHIEST CHICKEN RECIPE.
For me healthy food is food that meets my nutritional needs. I don't have a medical reason to eat a very low sodium diet.
I don't avoid fat either but am not frying chicken every day either.
A simple grilled or baked chicken breast or thigh- I might season with salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary or lemon pepper seasoning.
Some people put chicken in a slow cooker with just salsa.
I am having tandoori style chicken tonight. https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/tandoori-style-chicken-83276
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I grill mine over charcoal and throw a few hickory chips on the coals to get a delicious smoky flavor.
Legs are coated in a thin glaze of BBQ sauce and breasts are marinated in Dale's sauce.2 -
I think "healthy" in this context basically means "low calorie". I just stopped asking what people mean by healthy because more often than not, they mean lower in calories. Chicken is nutritious by definition, so there is no healthy or unhealthy way of eating it unless we are talking about calories and it actually means "easy to fit into the diet" vs "hard to fit into a diet".2
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amusedmonkey wrote: »I think "healthy" in this context basically means "low calorie". I just stopped asking what people mean by healthy because more often than not, they mean lower in calories. Chicken is nutritious by definition, so there is no healthy or unhealthy way of eating it unless we are talking about calories and it actually means "easy to fit into the diet" vs "hard to fit into a diet".
You're right, of course, @amusedmonkey. When posters, especially new posters, ask about "healthy", they almost always mean "lowest calorie". Although occasionally they are looking for ways to add micronutrients.
That said, I think there's value in asking the question "What do you mean by 'healthy'?" It may help the poster reflect on their goals and strategies, and realize that "lowest calorie" doesn't necessarily mean "healthiest".0 -
I have been cooking in my household since 1981. And learned to cook age early teens. I have always rinsed chicken in cold water. And no my kitchen is not contaminated. After putting chicken in oven I clean all surfaces,the sink and kitchen tap, cutting board etc with disinfectant with hot water and after that again once more with hot soapy/dishwash liquid mixed with hot water.
Never had food poisoning in nearing 39 years homecooking daily.
I know new advice is do not wash chicken to avoid spread of splatter water with bacteria and for most is good advice. And most people are too short on time too, for how I do it.
But I do old school method. I clean disinfect the kitchen after any raw poultry and meats etc.Kitchen floormop daily.
I had thought of adding this bit in my original post. But maybe it would come accross as too much explaining/lecturing people as everyone has their method of doing things in their kitchen.
For generations our family , we rinse chickens in cold water. Is a quick rinse not a complete wash. I was not born yet but my mother as a child and her mother and grandmother had chickens was a small farm/home and used to do home slaughter and de-feather and wash the chicken to remove blood etc with cold water. Later when food was bought at a shop, the cold rinsed chicken remained.2 -
Chickens had much more taste back then my mother used to tell me years ago. same for fruits, veg etc. They had 1 cow for raw milk and butter. Was a totally different time.2
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Boneless chicken thighs in my black skillet with seasonings. Throw it in the oven 350 degrees. 20 min each side. So delicious. I use the leftovers for my salads during the week.0
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you can do so much to chicken, healthy is in the eye of the beholder. I put chicken tenderloins into my airfryer covered in salt and pepper and then eat them with ketchup/mustard/bbq sauce, it fits my macros0
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amusedmonkey wrote: »The healthiest way to prepare chicken is the way you like to prepare it. Forcing yourself to eat subpar food makes you more likely to quit your diet, which isn't healthy. I personally like it stewed with vegetables. The fibers absorb the sauce which gives it extra flavor, not completely oil free (I like my sauce with a bit of fat) but it's alright on calories.
This.
I like it lots of different ways, and wouldn't choose just one way, which would be boring.
I often have a breast roasted with bones in, skin on. Not the lowest cal option (although I only eat a little of the skin, but a delicious and easy one that goes with lots of roasted veg and leaves me the breast to use in pasta or other dishes.
Stewed is good if I'm just doing boneless, skinless (breast or thigh) -- I like a tagine.
Cutting into pieces and sauteeing with veg in a bit of oil (or you can use non stick or spray) is nice for a stir fry.0 -
Chicken today are bred to grow fast and to grow way bigger than they use to. Whether you believe this or not, these genetic changes do affect the overall flavor of the meat. If you want to see for yourself, I highly recommend buying an Organic, Free-Range Chicken that is fed a natural diet and not one of corn, and you will notice 2 things. It's MUCH smaller than a chicken that you can buy in the grocery store, and it just tastes better.8 -
Chicken from a local farm is still "chicken today."1
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Chicken from a local farm is still "chicken today."
I'm taking the other poster to mean "grocery store" chicken when she says chicken "today", you know, like Perdue. The local farms that are producing the organic, free-range, non-grain fed chickens, are not producing the quantities to be sold in mass markets and thus aren't available to a large part of the population.1 -
WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »Chicken from a local farm is still "chicken today."
I'm taking the other poster to mean "grocery store" chicken when she says chicken "today", you know, like Perdue. The local farms that are producing the organic, free-range, non-grain fed chickens, are not producing the quantities to be sold in mass markets and thus aren't available to a large part of the population.
It's not that hard to find where I am if you want it (it's what I normally eat), but I suppose I'm not that far from farm country. I thought the other poster was making some kind of general statement about today vs. the past.
Re veg and fruit, I think local and in season tends to taste better (I don't think organic makes a difference), but if anything I think a lot more tasty options are available in much of the year than used to be the case. Perhaps I am scarred by too many canned veg growing up.0 -
this is actually discussed in The Dorito Effect - which was a fairly interested book at food production over time - the theory is that the push to get bigger chickens for sale etc resulted in reduced taste or the need to increase spices over time1 -
air fryer in the winter, grill in the summer0
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WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »Chicken from a local farm is still "chicken today."
I'm taking the other poster to mean "grocery store" chicken when she says chicken "today", you know, like Perdue. The local farms that are producing the organic, free-range, non-grain fed chickens, are not producing the quantities to be sold in mass markets and thus aren't available to a large part of the population.
@ OP - I poach or roast chicken - if you have access to a convection roast button on your stove- game changer! It stays really moist. Whole birds also cook a lot faster in convection roast mode.
Everyone else in the great chicken debate:
Check out this article - it talks about the “dilution effect” in mass production over the years.
The article talks about seniors remembering how chicken breeds tasting different. Worth a read. I can’t say whether of not they taste different then a chicken 50 years ago- but I typically poach/convection roast chicken and different breeds of chicken do taste different. If you get a chance to do a taste test / try it out!
I believe most supermarket chicken is a Cornish Cross or broiler chicken.. if your butcher stocks bresse breed chickens - or freedom ranger- They almost taste a bit sweet to me.
These are much slower growing chickens and smaller/ so they don’t make as much money for the mass producers. But IMHO - worth a try if you have a local producer!
The article-
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2015/04/26/why-nothing-especially-chicken-tastes-like-it-used-to/amp/0 -
Then you have never had free range non-cornish slow grow older chicken.
I raised my own chicken for a few years for eggs but when they got older and the eggs stopped coming we would not waste the meat. The meat was WAY more flavorful even the breast was more like grocery store leg because hey they would fly about and use those muscles. They don't fly far or long but they like to fly over to a spot in the yard 20 feet way or something. If a cat scares them they fly a little bit and they usually fly down from their roost every morning. All that movement changes the muscle developement and makes tastier meat or a least stronger flavors. If you like the white barely there taste of breast meat from the store then you'd dislike slow grow chicken. Also the meat industry has a 4 way cross that is called the cornish cross which produce an 8 pound chicken in 8 weeks which grows so fast it often times has heart attacks or trouble walking by 8 weeks. Chickens raised at home are often other vareties. Just like different fish taste different so do different chickens.3 -
Make sure it's cooked all the way through, otherwise, cook it however you like it best. I throw mine in the crockpot with some seasoning and broth from previous chicken cooks and cook on low for 8 hours.0
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Safari_Gal wrote: »I typically poach/convection roast chicken and different breeds of chicken do taste different. If you get a chance to do a taste test / try it out!
They do, and different breeds of pork, same (although I think the tastier breeds of pork are often a big higher cal). (But again, this is a difference between different chickens available now.)1 -
Safari_Gal wrote: »I typically poach/convection roast chicken and different breeds of chicken do taste different. If you get a chance to do a taste test / try it out!
They do, and different breeds of pork, same (although I think the tastier breeds of pork are often a big higher cal). (But again, this is a difference between different chickens available now.)
Just not fair that the tastier breeds are higher cal!! 😊1 -
You know, we fry chicken and the way we do it is only around 400 calories. It's an estimate since I don't know exactly how much oil is absorbed, but there are ways to approximate that.
We don't do it often but since there's no batter (just marinated chicken with a light coat of potato starch) and we don't use chicken with skin, its light and delicious and goes great with salad.0
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