Cooking Chicken for Dummies

Rinse the ones you are going to be cooking and then trim off any fat. I just use my kitchen scissors then wash them well! For the rest of it, I just stick them in freezer bags individually so I can pull them back out and thaw only the one I want.

There are a ton of ways to cook chicken, all depending on what you want to do with it. Most importantly is to cook it until there is no pink left.. you want all white inside! You can use your grill, george foreman, oven, stove top. Most often I cut mine into small pieces and cook it on the stove top. I put a little oil in the pan, salt and pepper on the chicken, and cook it on medium. just keep flipping it around every so often until you cut in and there is no pink in the middle.

When I grill I always use marinade first. And when I cook mine in the oven I usually bread it. I think the george foreman and the skillet are the easiest ways to cook chicken to add to recipes or wraps or something. Good luck!

Also you can look on TLC's website for chicken recipes, they aren't all healthy but a lot of them have the nutritional info at the bottom and you can look specifically at chicken

Here's what I do:

If the chicken has been kept frozen in the freezer, I take it out and defrost it in the fridge during the day while I am at work. I usually just take out one piece, then put the rest back into the freezer (since once it's defrosted, it shouldn't be re-frozen). I take the frozen piece and put it on a plate or in a bowl and cover it in a piece of plastic wrap. If you are using chicken that's not frozen, you can take out a chunk and then put the rest back in the freezer if you're not planning to use it in within a day or so.

Once it's defrosted, or if it wasn't frozen to begin with, I rinse it off in cold water. Then I cut off any skin/tendons/bloody-looking chunks. Sometimes I don't have to do very much of this depending on what kind of chicken I bought (like if it was pre-cut). If you buy a full boneless breast there might be some chunks you'll want to cut off. Just throw that out. Then you can chop the chicken into smaller strips or chunks, or just two halves of a breast, or whatever you want to do.

The next step is to prepare what I put on the chicken. I don't get super creative with chicken. I usually spray some non-stick, calorie-free spray into a bowl. You can also just use olive oil if you like. Then I take the chicken and put it in the bowl, and spray it a bit more. Then I roll it around in the bowl a bit so it gets covered in the spray/oil (this is to keep the chicken from sticking when I cook it, and to help the seasonings stick). Next I take whatever spices or flavorings I want to use. Just salt and pepper is fine, but usually I also throw in some minced garlic (this can be bought in a plastic jar already chopped) and some red pepper flakes (use sparingly) or Italian seasoning. I sprinkle these flavorings on the chicken and roll it around some more so the flavorings are distributed.

Then I take a pan (like a small skillet, with a handle) and spray it with the cooking spray. I put it on the stove and put the heat on medium/medium-high. I let it heat up a bit (like for a minute) and then I put the chicken on. Once the chicken is on, I let it sit there probably for a good five to ten minutes. It kind of depends on how thick the chicken has been cut, if it's in small chunks, etc. I usually cut mine into small strips and it usually takes them 5-7 minutes to cook on one side. It's okay to poke it a bit, take a look at it, etc. You'll see that it's starting to turn white around the bottom. Flip it after awhile, try to gauge it so that it's not burning, but so that you can see that it's starting to cook in the middle. Then let it sit on the other side. You'll see it starting to cook all the way through. I usually use a fork or tongs for flipping it. Once I start to feel like it might be done, I usually stab it in the middle and try to cut it open slightly so that I can see through to the center of the chicken. Some people say that lets out too much moisture but I am paranoid about undercooking my chicken. If the inside is white and the juices coming out of it are clear, then it's done!

I hope that helps! I was scared to cook chicken the first time but I think I've gotten the hang of it now!