Chicken breast and keto?

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Teneko
Teneko Posts: 314 Member
Hey folks.

I know, I know. Why chicken breasts and not fatty delicious thighs? Well, strangely enough, the breasts are on sale here a lot, and thighs are pretty much ALWAYS more expensive for me. Plus, they have the "structure" to deal with - bones, ligaments, etc. (waste for me because...I suck at making things out of that stuff. It still creeps me out a bit.)
So I picked up a big ol' pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts, and figured I'd just fatty them up a bit. I guess I need to get a meat tenderizer or something...or how do you make a flat piece of chicken that you can roll stuff up in?

Any suggestions for nice (preferably simple) fatty keto-friendly things to do with these guys- er, gals?? (heh)
I'm thinking:
Coat in mayo and parmesan cheese and bake.
Pound and roll up with cream cheese and spinach. Coat in butter and bake.
Fry in butter or bacon grease.
Wrap in bacon and bake.

Keeping in mind that I was seafood vegetarian for 26 years and haven't cooked chicken since uhh...probably mid-1980's...
You'll have to be pretty specific with replies. Feel free to send me a message if you'd prefer not to post here.

-T.
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Replies

  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,059 Member
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    Your ideas above sound great. You can always add extra fat to the leaner cuts of meat, if that's all you have. You can pound out the breasts with a meat pounder of some sort to get it flatter. I have stuffed breasts with ground pork, rolled it up and wrapped with bacon. Just google some recipes.

    We also like to make a Thai chicken curry with chicken breasts. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, and brown in coconut oil (or bacon fat ). You could add onions or a bit of red pepper if you want a bit of carbs. Add a can of full fat coconut milk and however much red or green curry paste you like, garlic, salt and pepper to your taste...and let it simmer. Serve over cauliflower, riced or not....or zucchini noodles....yummy
  • FIT_Goat
    FIT_Goat Posts: 4,224 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Heavy cream, butter, little salt and pepper (just a hint), and some Parmesan cheese to thicken. Heat over low heat until you get a quickie white sauce. Pour over the chicken and/or dip the chicken into it.
  • Alliwan
    Alliwan Posts: 1,245 Member
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    You can easily google a good Keto alfredo sauce made with full fat cream cheese and whole cream, pour over some fried in bacon fat or coconut oil chicken breast strips and eat! Add broccoli if you want, or put on shiritake noodles.

    Wrap them in bacon and grill/broil/roast/bake them and then dip them in a mayo/mustard mixture. Made a lime chicken last night. Broiled some chicken breasts in 1/2 cup lime juice, a little bit of minced onion and garlic, 1/2 cup coconut oil, but can substitute olive or avocado oil and taragon and broil them for about 12 mins, take them out and baste them with the lime mixture and broil for another 12, repeating once more if necessary. Very good.

    Stuff the chicken breasts with cream cheese mixed with onion and garlic, then wrap in bacon and bake or broil them till done.
  • klopfer123
    klopfer123 Posts: 3 Member
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    One of my favourite lunch's is diced avocado, diced fried bacon and half a small tin of sweetcorn. I can imagine if you throw some some diced chicken in there it'd be even better. It's like a savoury fruit salad.
  • GSD_Mama
    GSD_Mama Posts: 629 Member
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    You can flatten it with a meat pounder until they're very thin, stuff it with whatever you want. I like to do creamed spinach with cheddar and heavy cream, add some mushrooms and bacon and roll into chicken. You can fry it in butter and olive oil or bake it in the oven until tender. Top it with garlic and Parmesan and you're good to go. I buy tons of chicken breaststs, thighs and drumsticks, there are tons of delicious recipes :)
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
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    I have plain chicken breast daily. What is super easy for me is to rub some thai green curry paste on it and marinate it for a few hours. I have it cut into bite sized pieces.

    I then fry it in butter and add in about 15g of cashew nuts. I cook some spinach in another pan or the microwave quickly.

    I get a large dollop of cream cheese and cover the cooked chicken and nuts with it and eat it along side the spinach. Basic but works.
  • annieboomboom
    annieboomboom Posts: 176 Member
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    Me? I am a thigh gal. Cheap and fat.
    I love chicken salad made with mayo. Add a little celery, some slivered almonds.
    I love a slice of chicken and a slather of CAINS mayo. Forget Hellmans. Sugar.

    Wow to minties 82 . That sounds like a lovely dish.
  • Teneko
    Teneko Posts: 314 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Awesome ideas! Thanks so much, everybody! And yeah...oh man, I loves me some curry. That sounds like it'd hit the spot.

    Hmm! Yes! I can use these to make my chicken salad, too. I make it with rosemary marcona almonds and mayo (also sugar free) from Trader Joe's and celery as well. Great minds think alike. I usually use leftover rotisserie chicken for the chicken salad. I didn't even think of this.

    Also, you can tell how out of practice I am - I didn't even think of "making a sauce" to pour on it. I was dairy free for the past 10+ years, too, so...no creamy sauces for me! Thank you, @FIT_Goat! I was sitting here trying to think of how to thicken creamy sauces without flour or corn starch. Parmesan cheese it is. MMmmmm.

    I just Googled some instructions on how to flatten chicken breasts. I'll have to get one of those meat tenderizer thingies. I knew I forgot something from the store...darn it!

    You know what sucks about the parmesan cheese? I was at the store today and almost all the grated and shredded parmesan had FILLER to prevent caking. Lame. I ended up paying the extra bucks for the Kraft shredded parm just so I could get no filler. Guess I should invest in a cheese grater now!

    Feel free to keep 'em coming. This is all so new to me.

    EDIT: Just had to look up the Thai curry ingredients for the kind I used to buy. I always thought Thai curry paste would be off my list on keto because I kept thinking it had sugar in it! Looks like I was happily wrong. YAY Mae Ploy brand!

    -T.
  • Twibbly
    Twibbly Posts: 1,065 Member
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    If you have a rubber mallet in your tool kit (or one of the really heavy ice cream scoops), put your chicken in a ziploc bag that's about twice as big as it is and go after it.
  • FIT_Goat
    FIT_Goat Posts: 4,224 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Invest in a grater. Freshly grated parm will kick the flavor of the sauce up immensely. Not that I've never resorted to the pre-grated stuff. I often have. But, the best is fresh.
  • Teneko
    Teneko Posts: 314 Member
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    Twibbly wrote: »
    If you have a rubber mallet in your tool kit (or one of the really heavy ice cream scoops), put your chicken in a ziploc bag that's about twice as big as it is and go after it.

    No rubber mallet, bricks, or ice cream scoops. Can I just sit my fat butt on it repeatedly? :p

    -T.

  • IamUndrCnstruction
    IamUndrCnstruction Posts: 691 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I put my chicken in a plastic bag and beat the hell out of it with my rolling pin...not professional, but it works LOL


    Oh, edit to actually answer the OP: cut into bite sized pieces, coat in egg then coat in grated parm (I mixed in some grated mozzarella too) then pan fry in about 1/2 inch of oil to make chicken "nuggets" BEST. SH*#. EVER.
  • Teneko
    Teneko Posts: 314 Member
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    Rolling pin! Now THAT I have! Never used. Stopped baking right when I bought it and went keto.

    You guys are full of great ideas! Thanks!
    Ohh man, I just realized I ate a big fat 3 oz of pork chop fried in ghee and coated in parmesan. That's coursing through my body now and it's telling me THANK YOU. Tons of energy. Sorry it's bursting out all over the forums! I should...probably back away from the keyboard. >_>

    -T.
  • sweetteadrinker2
    sweetteadrinker2 Posts: 1,026 Member
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    Literally anything you can beat it with does the job. A bit tedious sometimes, but worth it.
  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
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    Literally anything you can beat it with does the job. A bit tedious sometimes, but worth it.

    Yep: I just use some sort of canned good from the pantry.
  • DittoDan
    DittoDan Posts: 1,850 Member
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    If you want simple, try this (three ingredients):

    Cream Cheese, Bacon & Chicken

    I hope this helps,

    Dan the Man from Michigan
    Cocoa Dusted Nuts Recipe
    Have You Tried Fried Radishes?


  • mr21mr21
    mr21mr21 Posts: 21 Member
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    klopfer123 wrote: »
    One of my favourite lunch's is diced avocado, diced fried bacon and half a small tin of sweetcorn.

    Keep an eye on the carb levels in the sweetcorn

  • GrannyMayOz
    GrannyMayOz Posts: 1,051 Member
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    I (which means my husband, under my instruction, because he's our cook) cut an inverted 'V' shape into the breast from the top, so it has 2 slits down it's length that go well into the meat, but not through the bottom of it. Pack plenty of butter and a sprinkle of garlic-to-taste in there, wrap in foil and then cook in the oven at 180°C for 20+ minutes. It's like chicken kiev but without the crumb coating and very delicious. Any butter that spills out stays in the foil so harvest that and pour onto the plate with the meat.

    I was pescetarian since the mid-80s so understand exactly why you can't cope with chicken legs etc. I've only been reintroducing meat this year since going keto and it's baby steps.
  • camtosh
    camtosh Posts: 898 Member
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    Just saw this on my facebook stream, looks yummy! https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/chicken-florentine-2/
    I like this site for drool-inducing ideas.
  • kuranda10
    kuranda10 Posts: 593 Member
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    you can use crushed pork rinds for chicken coating ...

    @GrannyMayOz, you may have just solved dinner for tomorrow night (coating added)