Every time I grill frozen Chicken Breast they come out rubbery or too chewy, I have tried cutting them in half and I always marinate sometimes it's better than others. Sometimes when I cut them up and fry fro tenders its the same thing. What's the best way to tenderize, I can never remember to buy Buttermilk and then it might spoil before I use it. Is Buttermilk best? Should I hammer them? Is a particular frozen brand the best? Need some good grilling recipes for taste and variation. Why don't more stores sell whole breast anymore?
It actually seeks that Brining is the Key. I tried Brining one time and it was incredibly salty, I probably did not rinse well enough, I will actually try it again.
I tried Lowry’s Caribbean Jerk marinade the other day where I marinated for about 24 hours and braised with more sauce while I grilled. These were thick chicken beasts so I needed a good 20 - 25 minutes to cook through. But, I liked it and it was cooked just right as moist and juicy. I can’t quite describe the taste but it was good. The most tender chicken for me comes from using a slow cooker on Low for 8 hours. I love chicken that falls apart.
My ex always learned temped meat and high heat in culinary school. You want to let your chicken get close to room temp before cooking. If it’s still cool, I’d recommend butterflying it so the pieces are thinner and will cook through. If you’re using a pan, crank it to high or close to it and let your oil heat up. Olive oil should run freely if it’s hot enough. Be sure to season with salt, pepper, or whatever spice floats your boat before dropping it in the pan.
Brine... always brine. Never frozen if you can help it. Throw a pinch of sugar and fresh minced garlic in there as well along with the salt when brining.
Chicken breast is super easy to dry out quickly if it is grilled even a minute or two longer than it needs to be. You have to learn the heat setting and time on each side for your particular grill I grill chicken breast tenders weekly on my propane grill. I leave them sitting out of the fridge for 20 minutes. I turn the heat up 75%, cook them for 4 minutes on each side and they are cooked through but still juicy and not dry. If I do 5 minutes a side or even 4:30, they turn out dry. you have to figure it out on your grill practicing but if yours is too dry you are cooking it too long. As far as wet marinades, one easy one is zesty Italian dressing and a few spoonfuls of brown sugar and sit overnight. Another is : 1/4 cup Apple cider vinegar 3 cloves minced garlic (jar kind is fine) 1 lime juiced 1/2 lemon juiced 1/2 cup brown sugar 1&1/2 teaspoon salt Black pepper 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard Sit overnight. Enough for 6 breasts An easy dry rub: Combine this Bob Tallman’s Ranch Rub https://horizonfoodservice.com/product/bob-tallmans-ranch-fixins-ranch-rub/ With some garlic salt This one is better on pork tenderloin but it works for chicken
Fairly experienced home cook here. Buy skin on, bone in if at all possible. Based on OP reference to frozen chicken breasts, I’m assuming not, so... Allow to get close to room temp, or at least 20 mins out of fridge before cooking. cube 1 chicken breast into squares between 1/2 inch to an inch. Just try to be somewhat uniform. Add 1 tablespoon of corn starch 1 tablespoon of veg oil or olive oil Season with salt, pepper and whatever you like...garlic powder. Or season with a tablespoon of soy sauce and allow to marinade for 20 mins. If a hurry, it’s fine, just add it, and mix all that up well. I like to add chopped garlic in the mix. heat pan with veg oil or olive oil till oil starts to smoke (don’t let it smoke long, so be ready). 2 tablespoons of oil should be sufficient. Add the chicken and make sure it’s spread out around the pan, but don’t mess with it. Let it brown. Wait until there is a decent browning on chicken before stirring, and then let brown again. May want to turn up heat if your pan isn’t great (thin or cheap pans don’t retain heat so temp drops after chicken hits pan). Add touch of soy sauce if you want more seasoning, but do it at the end. If you want a light brown sauce, when chicken is done, add rice wine or white wine (about 1/3 cup) and allow it to deglaze pan and reduce. It will mix with chicken and corn starch and thicken. if your temp is right, you should have super juicy chicken breast. The corn starch seals in the moisture when you stir fry like this. you can incorporate veggies. Add veggies when chicken is half way cooked. Make sure to turn up heat when adding veggies if you have a cheap pan. Edit - grilling chicken breast is just not going to yield a good result unless you are like Blake.
Well, A) you can buy fresh chicken But, if your going frozen. Thaw it completely, then leave out on the counter on a plate covered w/ saran wrap or something and let it get to room temp. Then throw it on the grill.
Flattening them with a mallet just a bit between two pieces of cling wrap to a uniform thickness can help. You don't have to flatten them, just even them out a bit. Uniform thickness equals uniform doneness.
Literally every recipe calls for 450 degrees in the oven. If that isn't considered "high heat" to you, I am shocked, not really but still... You can trust this video with 5.3 million views, or you can listen to Buck. Lots of things to criticize me on, but food knowledge isn't one of them.
Use a sous vide, won't matter if it's frozen or fresh, then you can still get a quick sear on it but has to be just to get the texture for the outside - not to cook. After cooking it like this I'm not going back to other methods unless it's a particular recipe or BBQ etc etc. I think chicken if done right on a sous vide - ie cook it at 145 F for roughly 1 hour fresh / 2 hours frozen, after a quick sear you won't even need a knife. I realize this is lower than normal but here's a guide and why it works: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html With that said if grilling only and not sous vide (although.. I don't think I'd bother unless a reason, like frozen chicken w/ a sous vide done right... Is extremely hard to beat and you can't mess up). Anyway, if set on grill only needs to be fresh chicken breast/thawed completely. - stated above, with other suggestions. Key is fully thawed/above refrigerator temp before grill, if it's not you're going to have a bad time. Personally if done wrong on grill, you'd almost be better to sous vide - refrigerate it and then reheat on the grill and it'd still come out better than frozen to grill/overcooked.
Grilling: You can listen to this guy with 1.8 million views, or listen to Buck... (just covering my bases in case Buck comes in and goes "but, but, OP said grilling!) Sorry Charlie.
