Who else can’t make chicken to save your life?

Rsanfilippo3
Rsanfilippo3 Posts: 1 Member
edited March 2019 in Recipes
Literally wasted 1 hour of my time and the chicken tastes terrible! Hard, over cooked, tough And I’m on the verge of a breakdown 🙄😒
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Replies

  • jls1leather9497
    jls1leather9497 Posts: 90 Member
    Chicken is 2 of the food groups, right?

    Always bones and skinless. SO WAY easy to wash, sprinkle with lemon pepper and bake about 20-22 min at 325 deg. I also like it grilled, but too cold out there right now.

    Want simpler and faster? Cut 1 breast into cubes, saute with chopped onion and fresh garlic in tbsp oil (olive or coconut) until its white. Add a can of black beans (I like bushs, drain the juice first). Add cumin, cardamom, and if you like a spice toss in a bit of cayenne pepper. Let it cook about 5 min med heat, fill wheat tortillas. Jalepeno on the side if ya like those ...
    Low cal, high protein, high fiber ...
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    edited March 2019
    vnylin wrote: »
    There is no help really for boneless skinless chicken breast.

    Here's how I do it.

    Boneless, skinless breast: Slice the breast so it is a uniform thickness, about 3/4 to 1 inch. Season on both sides. I use salt, pepper and garlic powder. Heat some olive oil in a skillet on medium high. The chicken should sizzle when you place it in the pan. Sear on both sides and cook about 3 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. It will come out loaded with moisture. Over cook and it will be tough. You can eat this as a meal with a couple side dishes, or shred in into a tossed salad, or make a sandwich.

    Bone in, skin on thighs: Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat the thighs with olive oil and season on all sides to taste. You can put two slices to the bone on each thigh to let the seasoning penetrate. Place on a baking sheet skin side up and throw into the oven for 30 minutes. At this point, add some veggies if you like, seasoned to taste. I stick with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook for another 30 - 35 minutes. The meat should be tender and juicy, and the skin crispy.


  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    I just did it.

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  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    Boneless skinless breast is what my wife wants but they taste like cardboard if cooked as-is. Get a meat tenderizing hammer to flatten them out, get the hang of how much to hammer with trial and error but don't beat them into ground chicken. This helps them soak in whatever dry or wet flavors you're cooking with plus makes a flat steak shape that cooks fast and evenly or stuffed or cut into bite size pieces. Hammer on a cutting board in bottom of sink to catch splatters.
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    edited March 2019
    Chicken! It's what's for dinner. Doesn't get any juicier than this.

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  • jroslyn
    jroslyn Posts: 34 Member
    edited March 2019
    Literally wasted 1 hour of my time and the chicken tastes terrible! Hard, over cooked, tough And I’m on the verge of a breakdown 🙄😒

    Oh, you poor thing! Don't let it get to you--we all have bad cooking days. Yes, I have had many cardboard chickens, but it isn't hopeless!

    This is the best way I've found for doing boneless/skinless (which I mostly do when adding to something else, like a salad or beans & rice--otherwise it's too blah--and I usually do thighs instead of breasts as they're more flavorful): https://thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-moist-tender-chicken-breasts-every-time-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-36891

    Otherwise I usually do whole roast chicken--which I generally do the lazy way, just sticking it in a 325-degree oven in a cast iron pan on a bed of cut-up onions and carrots and letting it cook till it's nearly falling off the bone.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,551 Member
    instant read meat thermometer costs about $10 and takes about as much room to store as an extra fork. Cook chicken to 72 degrees celsius internal temperature.
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    Another vote for a digital meat thermometer. Cook it so that the middle of the thickest part of the chicken is at 165 degrees F.

    I am terrible at pan frying chicken. I never cut it thin enough and it takes too long to cook so most of it turns out tough and dry. But cooking it in the oven or on the grill is easy with the thermometer.
  • swirlybee
    swirlybee Posts: 497 Member
    corrarjo wrote: »
    vnylin wrote: »
    There is no help really for boneless skinless chicken breast.

    Here's how I do it.

    Boneless, skinless breast: Slice the breast so it is a uniform thickness, about 3/4 to 1 inch. Season on both sides. I use salt, pepper and garlic powder. Heat some olive oil in a skillet on medium high. The chicken should sizzle when you place it in the pan. Sear on both sides and cook about 3 to 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. It will come out loaded with moisture. Over cook and it will be tough. You can eat this as a meal with a couple side dishes, or shred in into a tossed salad, or make a sandwich.

    This. This is exactly how it should be done.
  • shunggie
    shunggie Posts: 1,036 Member
    There are a lot of excellent suggestions here but I'm a big fan of crock potting chicken. Boneless, skinless or boned and skinned. Last night a couple of boneless/skinless with a jar of low sodium enchilada sauce and an onion/seasonings - YUMMY!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    Boneless/skinless chicken breast sucks. It's easy to over cook it and certainly an hour would do that. Even if cooked right, it's pretty flavorless. I can't remember the last time I had one personally...we usually do boneless/skinless chicken thighs and they are much better.
  • Just buy the whole roasted chickens at your local supermarket. They are basically the same cost as an uncooked chicken. Very convenient.

    https://www.thedailymeal.com/cook/supermarket-rotisserie-chicken-recipes
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    vnylin wrote: »
    There is no help really for boneless skinless chicken breast.

    bwahaha. For that you either need to do a moist cooking method (save it for soup, stew, instant pot shredded chicken, etc), or almost verge on under-cooking it in the frying pan (I slice it somewhat thin and it's on there a very short amount of time - the result is pretty good). Definitely not something you can do in the oven unless it's completely covered with some liquid/sauce.

    For a whole bird, those baggies work wonders for keeping it moist, although you won't have crispy skin if its in there the entire time. And ditto on a meat thermometer - I never ever tried roasting a bird in the oven without 1 (well, 2 of them to be honest)-- I knew it would definitely be a disaster without. Also, ditto on just picking up a rotisserie chicken from the store if they have them (cheaper than a raw chicken at most of the places around here, and done perfectly and nearly 100% of the meat pulls right off the bone with no effort - no waste or boiling the carcass into soup to get the rest of the meat)..no need to prove my (lack of) cooking prowess.

  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,145 Member
    Another vote for grocery store rotisserie chicken. Anything else is pretty much wasted kitchen time.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,551 Member
    I only use boneless skinless chicken breast for stir fries. Dice up the chicken thinly against the grain, and dry brine and protect by shaking it with some salt and corn starch and potato starch. The salt breaks down proteins to tenderize and the starch forms a protective barrier so that the meat browns without overcooking. Only do the starch step if you have a really good non stick pan, as scraping off the baked on starch is otherwise a nightmare. I use a stone coated pan. Salting several hour in advance or even overnight does help a lot.
  • lilithsrose
    lilithsrose Posts: 752 Member
    Always use a food thermometer when cooking chicken. Its so easy to overcook, especially if you're using chicken breasts.

    I also agree with the above comments about just buying a rotisserie chicken if you want a whole chicken. You can even use the leftover bones to make a good stock. Honestly, the difference in price for a pre-cooked chicken versus doing it yourself is very little.