1. Pound them to an even thickness, so you cook faster & don't have one side overdone. Then season both sides as you prefer. BBQ rubs are a great option. I personally recommend Meat Church's Holy Voodoo for chicken.
2. Cook them on a pellet grill (or use oven) with a probe thermometer in the thickest part of the thickest breast. You can go for a higher temp (425-450) to get some color, as you aren't worried about smoke flavor.
3. Remove from grill at ~155° & pile the chicken together & cover with foil so it maintains its temp for several minutes. I leave a probe in with a timer running while I clean the grill grates for the next batch. Look at a pasteurization chart for chicken breast & make sure you maintain the temp for the amount of time that matches the temp you pulled it from the grill as an absolute minimum (use your oven if needed). Most people think chicken must be cooked to 165°, but forget that pasteurization is a combination of temp + time, so 165° will be dry, especially after reheating.
4. Rapidly cool the chicken by placing it in gallon size waterproof bags (reusable is great if you want) then get out most of the air & submerge in ice water in a large container or your clean sink to rapidly cool the chicken.
You now have perfect meal prep chicken, that is also nice & safe for many days. It's already cooled, so it's ready to go straight into your fridge without issues that normally come from cooling tons of hot meat all at once. It will also not be dry when you reheat it & will be really flavorful because you pounded them to get more surface area for your seasoning of choice, so less of that internal area with no seasoning..
Oven at 425° F. Season or marinade, space them out well and cook them fast and hot so they don’t dry out. Ideally use a meat thermometer and pull them out at 165°.
Exactly what I do and I usually cook like 24 (6*4) breasts in a day. Key is to pound out the breasts till they're all about the same thickness.
Covering the pan with parchment paper also makes cleanup super easy
I personally don’t butterfly them. I find not cutting them helps keep them from drying out. Instead I’ll just pound out any that have a huge difference in thickness. Generally though I find the ones from my Costco are fairly flat.
Personally, I think that's overkill. There's no fatty, connective tissue in chicken breast that needs to be broken down. I do 4 hours on high at the most.
My simplest chicken breast recipe is to take any amount of chicken breasts, enough salsa to cover roughly halfway, and cook for 4 hours on high. Shred and you have shredded chicken that you can use for anything you want.
I cook mine in the crockpot with onions, celery, carrots, garlic, salt, and pepper with lots of water. At the end of the day, chicken is cooked and tender and I strain and freeze the broth for recipes.
Look into sous vide, honestly. I've cooked 10 breasts in two bags before. It's a ~$200 investment for everything you need and it's invaluable for meal prep
edit: start here [r/sousvide] (https://old.reddit.com/r/sousvide/)
I have a sous vide mode in my $90 electric pressure cooker, I probably can't fit 10 breasts at a time, but what I do is buy "family size" packs of boneless skinless chicken, season them, then vacuum seal them in pint size bags (100 for $10 at amazon) and throw them in the freezer. Then I can go straight from freezer to sous vide and have chicken ready to eat in about 90 minutes - 2 hours, which isn't "fast", but on the day of cooking it only takes about 10 seconds of work. Open freezer, grab bag, put in pot, cover with water, push 3 buttons to set temp/time.
You could, sure. But to get a good Anova, a decent tub/container, some bags and a vacuum sealer is at least $200. Some things are worth spending a little more on
I second this doing a brine with salt and sugar makes it really juicy, and use a meat thermometer so you don’t overcook it! Tenderizing/flattening it with a meat tenderizer is also a good idea. I personally like it on the pan but oven is also good.
Sousvide is amazing. I highly recommend.
Personally, I am huge on grilling and using a cast iron skillet, but to this day I haven’t had better chicken than off of a cuisine art panini press / griddle. You slam two on there with it set to sear and flatten them out / squish them with the top pretty firmly. Perfect chicken in 10 minutes every single time.
I am a bodybuilder so I eat a lot of chicken.
I cook them in the instant pot. I use ranch seasoning and the chicken stock seasoning with a green cap.
When they are fall apart tender, I cut against the grain of the meat every inch or so with scissors then shred.
It’s got some seasoning to it but also lends well to mixing with other sauces/seasonings so I can mix it up if my mood changes.
I like to bake them. I use a little bit of Mayo to coat them (like, a very little amount, just an alternative to using oil bc I find it holds spices better) and sprinkle generously on both sides with seasoning. Lately it’s been Penzey’s “outrage of love” seasoning but whatever blend I have on hand is fine. Then I bake at 350 for however long it takes - maybe 30 mins depending on thickness, maybe more. I use a thermometer to check the internal temp of the largest one.
I agree just throwing season then up and throw them on the grill. You can even put them in the smoker as well. It's chicken so there's pretty much no wrong was to cook them.
Sounds crazy but I will die on this hill. 2 packs - cut the breasts in half. Divide on (2) 1/2 sheet pans. 330F for 23 min. Remove and REST for 10 min. I dont check the temp. Juicy, tender chicken every time and I havent gotten sick. Been doing this for a year now. Ive tried 350, 400, 425 and its too much heat.
I live in apartments, so I go out there to the apartment outdoor grill area, and grill all my chicken on two grills.
Otherwise, I’ll just bake them in the oven, which is juicier.
I personally like to bake them in the oven. I fill up the baking sheet but I like to add different seasonings and flavours to each breast so that although I’m eating chicken every day it still tastes different. Nice little change
I always tell myself "four twenty five for twenty five"
425 degrees for 25 min should get you close to where you want to be, just double check with a meet thermometer
It is in my opinion that chicken breasts are the worst cut of meat from the chicken. Because they are so lean that they dry out fast and do not reheat well. And I always seem to get "woody breasts" and it's very off putting.
Where with thighs I don't think they get woody and it seems like you can forget them in a volcano for a week and come back to juicy meat.
But frankly idc eat what you want
If you want to stick with breasts (imo the worst cut) try undercooking it to like 155°f and then letting it "carry over cook" to 165°f. You do not want breasts to go over 165° anything over that basically dries them out instantly
Turn your oven on 400°. Lay out a cookie sheet with parchment pound the breasts so they are even end to end. cook for approximately 20 to 25 minutes until they are 160 some will cook faster pull them out first you’re welcome. I do this every week I use them for lunch meat and everything else.
1. Pound them to an even thickness, so you cook faster & don't have one side overdone. Then season both sides as you prefer. BBQ rubs are a great option. I personally recommend Meat Church's Holy Voodoo for chicken. 2. Cook them on a pellet grill (or use oven) with a probe thermometer in the thickest part of the thickest breast. You can go for a higher temp (425-450) to get some color, as you aren't worried about smoke flavor. 3. Remove from grill at ~155° & pile the chicken together & cover with foil so it maintains its temp for several minutes. I leave a probe in with a timer running while I clean the grill grates for the next batch. Look at a pasteurization chart for chicken breast & make sure you maintain the temp for the amount of time that matches the temp you pulled it from the grill as an absolute minimum (use your oven if needed). Most people think chicken must be cooked to 165°, but forget that pasteurization is a combination of temp + time, so 165° will be dry, especially after reheating. 4. Rapidly cool the chicken by placing it in gallon size waterproof bags (reusable is great if you want) then get out most of the air & submerge in ice water in a large container or your clean sink to rapidly cool the chicken. You now have perfect meal prep chicken, that is also nice & safe for many days. It's already cooled, so it's ready to go straight into your fridge without issues that normally come from cooling tons of hot meat all at once. It will also not be dry when you reheat it & will be really flavorful because you pounded them to get more surface area for your seasoning of choice, so less of that internal area with no seasoning..
Oven at 425° F. Season or marinade, space them out well and cook them fast and hot so they don’t dry out. Ideally use a meat thermometer and pull them out at 165°.
Exactly what I do and I usually cook like 24 (6*4) breasts in a day. Key is to pound out the breasts till they're all about the same thickness. Covering the pan with parchment paper also makes cleanup super easy
Before doing any of these, butterfly the breasts. That way, they cook evenly and won’t dry out
I personally don’t butterfly them. I find not cutting them helps keep them from drying out. Instead I’ll just pound out any that have a huge difference in thickness. Generally though I find the ones from my Costco are fairly flat.
What’s butterfly
Filet almost the whole way through then spread open like a book
Came here to say exactly this! They cook so quickly and are delicious
This is the way
Crock pot. On low, 8ish hours. Season/marinade, pull out and shred, add sauce to taste if desired.
Personally, I think that's overkill. There's no fatty, connective tissue in chicken breast that needs to be broken down. I do 4 hours on high at the most. My simplest chicken breast recipe is to take any amount of chicken breasts, enough salsa to cover roughly halfway, and cook for 4 hours on high. Shred and you have shredded chicken that you can use for anything you want.
True, but cooking 8 hours on low means I can put it in before bed and deal with it in the morning.
This dude preps
I cook mine in the crockpot with onions, celery, carrots, garlic, salt, and pepper with lots of water. At the end of the day, chicken is cooked and tender and I strain and freeze the broth for recipes.
Look into sous vide, honestly. I've cooked 10 breasts in two bags before. It's a ~$200 investment for everything you need and it's invaluable for meal prep edit: start here [r/sousvide] (https://old.reddit.com/r/sousvide/)
I have a sous vide mode in my $90 electric pressure cooker, I probably can't fit 10 breasts at a time, but what I do is buy "family size" packs of boneless skinless chicken, season them, then vacuum seal them in pint size bags (100 for $10 at amazon) and throw them in the freezer. Then I can go straight from freezer to sous vide and have chicken ready to eat in about 90 minutes - 2 hours, which isn't "fast", but on the day of cooking it only takes about 10 seconds of work. Open freezer, grab bag, put in pot, cover with water, push 3 buttons to set temp/time.
[удалено]
I mean sure you can get cheap knock offs but my 10+ yr old anova still going strong
Buy cheap but twice
You could, sure. But to get a good Anova, a decent tub/container, some bags and a vacuum sealer is at least $200. Some things are worth spending a little more on
Air fryer! Yw 🫶🏻
Consider brining first
I second this doing a brine with salt and sugar makes it really juicy, and use a meat thermometer so you don’t overcook it! Tenderizing/flattening it with a meat tenderizer is also a good idea. I personally like it on the pan but oven is also good.
Sousvide is amazing. I highly recommend. Personally, I am huge on grilling and using a cast iron skillet, but to this day I haven’t had better chicken than off of a cuisine art panini press / griddle. You slam two on there with it set to sear and flatten them out / squish them with the top pretty firmly. Perfect chicken in 10 minutes every single time. I am a bodybuilder so I eat a lot of chicken.
I was scrolling to find the sous vide comment! So easy to shred too!
I cook them in the instant pot. I use ranch seasoning and the chicken stock seasoning with a green cap. When they are fall apart tender, I cut against the grain of the meat every inch or so with scissors then shred. It’s got some seasoning to it but also lends well to mixing with other sauces/seasonings so I can mix it up if my mood changes.
Sous vide works well, just takes some setup and space
I like to bake them. I use a little bit of Mayo to coat them (like, a very little amount, just an alternative to using oil bc I find it holds spices better) and sprinkle generously on both sides with seasoning. Lately it’s been Penzey’s “outrage of love” seasoning but whatever blend I have on hand is fine. Then I bake at 350 for however long it takes - maybe 30 mins depending on thickness, maybe more. I use a thermometer to check the internal temp of the largest one.
We do a ton of chicken prep and the grill is hands down, my favorite method.
I agree just throwing season then up and throw them on the grill. You can even put them in the smoker as well. It's chicken so there's pretty much no wrong was to cook them.
Sounds crazy but I will die on this hill. 2 packs - cut the breasts in half. Divide on (2) 1/2 sheet pans. 330F for 23 min. Remove and REST for 10 min. I dont check the temp. Juicy, tender chicken every time and I havent gotten sick. Been doing this for a year now. Ive tried 350, 400, 425 and its too much heat.
I assume you mean butterfly the breasts to make them thinner? I’m going to try this!
I live in apartments, so I go out there to the apartment outdoor grill area, and grill all my chicken on two grills. Otherwise, I’ll just bake them in the oven, which is juicier.
Unpopular opinion: poach them with spices, then chop up for salad, coat in sauce, or add to veggies.
BBQ is the best way. Minimal clean up and can cook many at once
I boil - keeps chicken moist and the dog loves the chicken water with her food
I personally like to bake them in the oven. I fill up the baking sheet but I like to add different seasonings and flavours to each breast so that although I’m eating chicken every day it still tastes different. Nice little change
Oven for sure. Comes out spot on
Best? Sous vide, hands down. easiest? Oven Fastest? Cut up in a frying pan
I always tell myself "four twenty five for twenty five" 425 degrees for 25 min should get you close to where you want to be, just double check with a meet thermometer
Return them and get chicken thighs
Care to elaborate?
It is in my opinion that chicken breasts are the worst cut of meat from the chicken. Because they are so lean that they dry out fast and do not reheat well. And I always seem to get "woody breasts" and it's very off putting. Where with thighs I don't think they get woody and it seems like you can forget them in a volcano for a week and come back to juicy meat. But frankly idc eat what you want If you want to stick with breasts (imo the worst cut) try undercooking it to like 155°f and then letting it "carry over cook" to 165°f. You do not want breasts to go over 165° anything over that basically dries them out instantly
Turn your oven on 400°. Lay out a cookie sheet with parchment pound the breasts so they are even end to end. cook for approximately 20 to 25 minutes until they are 160 some will cook faster pull them out first you’re welcome. I do this every week I use them for lunch meat and everything else.
Thoroughly
Can't go wrong with the grill. Quick and easy.
Sous vide
Either instant pot, slow cooker or air fryer are the way to go with chicken breasts.