2017-12-06
Hello my dear readers! Surely many of you often think about what to feed your household for breakfast, what to give your children to eat at school or your husband (your beloved) to work. I have a good idea for such cases. Therefore, today we will look at how to cook chicken breast.
For those who can eat anything without limiting themselves to certain foods and cooking technologies (frying in oil in a frying pan and in the oven, for example), they can also look at articles about frying.
If you or your family need to adhere to a diet with limited fat content, or someone in your family is strictly forbidden to eat fried foods, then you should definitely read this text further.
Soft, juicy cooked chicken breast in a sandwich with lettuce and vegetable salad - isn't it a great breakfast or weekday lunch? Provided that the fillet turns out juicy. We will now look at how to achieve this. 
Skinless chicken fillet is skinny meat, but you can cook it deliciously! It needs to be cooked correctly and at the right temperature. At first glance, it’s easy to cook fillet - add water and cook until done! But the result is stringy, dry, and tough meat. The secret is to cook at a low temperature, which prevents overcooking.
You can cook chicken fillet with or without skin. I prefer the second method. When we cook the fillet, we also get good chicken broth along the way, which can be used to prepare dietary soup. The liquid in which chicken meat with skin was boiled will be greasy and not entirely suitable for dietary nutrition.
How to cook delicious chicken breast
Ingredients
- Chicken breasts (2-4 pieces).
- Half a teaspoon of salt.
- To flavor the chicken and broth: garlic, bay leaf, black peppercorns, fresh or dried herbs, onion.
- One glass of white wine (optional).
Equipment
- Pot.
- cutting board.
- Knife.
- Instant Read Thermometer.
How to cook in a saucepan
My comments
- Cooked chicken breast can be served hot, warm or cold. In the refrigerator, in a clean, sealable container, it can be stored for 5-7 days at 4-5°C.
- Using the remaining broth, you can cook not only soup, but also risotto, and use it (boiled) to make sauces.
- In addition to the aromatics listed in the ingredients, use what you like: celery root, parsley root, celery stalks, allspice, fresh ginger, lovage, parsnips. Continue the list yourself.
How to deliciously cook chicken breasts in a slow cooker
How to cook
- Place the fillet in a bowl and cover completely with water.
- Cook in the “Stew” mode.
On a note
Cooking time is determined at the rate of 5 minutes for every 100 g of meat. A breast weighing 300 g will be ready in 15 minutes. Majority multicooker maintain in the specified mode 90°C.
In the coming days we will look at how to cook stuffed chicken breast. Follow the events on the blog - come back often! I will gladly accept your comments, constructive remarks and suggestions. I would be grateful for a repost on your social networks.
When it comes to choosing meat for preparing salads, then most often we give preference to chicken. Firstly, it’s simple, and secondly, it’s budget-friendly. I would like to bring to your attention a recipe for delicious meat for making salads, which can also be used as an alternative to regular boiled chicken. I invite everyone to a tasting!
Ingredients for Chicken for Salads:
Recipe for Chicken for Salads:
Let's prepare the meat. For salads we usually use chicken fillet or thighs. We separate the small fillet from the chicken fillet; it is very convenient to use for chops. We free the thighs from the skin and remove the bones.
Let's make the marinating mixture. Combine and mix well: 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 0.5 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Take half of the mixture and rub it on both sides of the chicken fillet and thigh.
Sugar added to the mixture for marinating meat acts as a natural flavor enhancer, and also emphasizes and deepens it. I always add a little sugar to all my dishes. It turns out great.
Place the chicken in a container and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.
Set the rest of the marinating mixture aside until needed.
After the marinating time has passed, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and leave it to rest at room temperature for one hour.
Although we practically do not fry the chicken, I do not recommend reducing the amount of vegetable oil. Remember that we will use the sauce from cooking the chicken in the future.
As soon as the meat sets and turns white on one side, immediately turn it over to the other side. This will take us 3-4 minutes.
When the meat turns white on the other side, fill it with 1 glass of cold water and quickly bring to a boil. Add the mixture of salt with sugar and ground pepper remaining from marinating, 6 pieces of allspice and 4 bay leaves.
Reduce the heat to medium and continue simmering with the lid ajar for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat pieces. Be sure to turn the meat every 3-4 minutes.
Taste the broth for salt. It should taste a little salty. Make sure that all the water does not boil away; if necessary, add more water. In total, we may additionally need a little more than half a glass of water.
To prepare 900 g of chicken meat, I used: exactly 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 0.5 teaspoon of black pepper and 320 ml of water.
After the end of the stewing, turn off the heat and leave the meat covered until it cools completely. Then we put it in the refrigerator for eight hours.
This is necessary for the meat to ripen and thicken.
Chicken meat prepared in this way, in a concentrated sweet-salty broth, differs significantly in its structure and taste from meat prepared by the traditional method of cooking using a large amount of liquid.
It is easy to cut into thin slices, cubes or sticks. This meat holds its shape well. It is dense and elastic, does not crumble or fall apart, it is easy to separate into fibers and does not weather for a long time.
And how exceptionally tasty and tender the meat from the thighs turned out! Nothing is too salty or too dry. It can be safely served as a separate snack, and it’s not a sin to put it on a sandwich.
And how rich and concentrated the sauce turned out! It can easily be used with pieces of chicken, as a sauce for pasta, mashed potatoes or rice.
I ended up with a finger-sized glass of sauce, with a capacity of 210 ml.
And here is our meat! It is thoroughly saturated with the aromas of spices and the most important advantage of this meat is that it has an intense, uniform taste, both outside and inside.
Separately, I would like to draw your attention to the thigh meat, it turns out incredibly tasty.
Be sure to try it and see for yourself.
Even a simple leaf salad with the addition of such meat will please the most demanding gourmet.
I use exactly the same method to prepare fish for salads and appetizers. Sometimes whole, sometimes in large pieces.
Just simmer it over medium heat for an hour, adding raw onions and carrots in sticks as an aromatic layer at the bottom of the cast iron. The only thing is that I don’t turn the fish over while stewing.
As a result, such fish turns out very similar to hot smoked fish, it holds its shape well and is divided into dense pieces - rich, elastic and very, very tasty! An ordinary pollock or milk hake is transformed beyond recognition!
Girls! At your request, I will publish a separate post with a fish recipe in the very near future.
Don’t be lazy to spend half an hour of your precious time to cook meat or fish according to this recipe. I am sure you will be very pleased with the result of your work.
And one more thing: all mothers and grandmothers are probably familiar with this problem, when feeding small children with meat can sometimes be very difficult.
So, I want to say that children eat meat and fish prepared this way with pleasure. Only if you are preparing this dish for children, then the amount of salt and sugar should be reduced accordingly, spices should be reduced to a minimum, and black pepper should be eliminated altogether.
Well, and, of course, you need to take into account the age of the baby. As a matter of fact, it was for the sake of my grandson that this recipe was invented and tested. Well, then, the scope of its application expanded significantly.
Bon appetit to you and your loved ones! Happy cooking in your kitchen! Have a nice day, good luck and good mood!
No matter what vegetarians say about the dangers of meat, most of the population cannot do without it.
Chicken is especially popular among meat eaters. It is not as fatty as lamb and cooks faster than beef or pork. Delicious. And, importantly, it is inexpensive, so it is accessible to almost everyone.
- Chicken meat contains more protein, but less fat, so it is recommended for those who are watching their weight.
- It is better absorbed by the body. No wonder it is always used in dietary nutrition.
- But the nutritional value of different parts of a chicken carcass is not the same. If we evaluate them by the amount of pulp, degree of fat content, and quality of meat, then we can draw the following conclusion: chicken has the most fat on the belly, there is a little on the back, but there is practically no fat on the chest. Except for the one that is under the skin.
Therefore, many housewives choose breast meat for the family diet. Of course, if they are going to boil or stew it, since this part of the carcass is not very suitable for frying, because the breast has white lean meat, which, if cooked incorrectly, becomes tough, dry and takes a long time to chew. But you also need to know how to cook it.
How to prepare chicken breast for cooking
Breasts most often arrive on store shelves frozen, so the breasts must first be thawed.
- Defrost it at room temperature or in the refrigerator. With this method, defrosting occurs slowly and the meat juice, which is released from the meat along with the melting of ice crystals, is partially absorbed into it again. And this improves the quality of the product.
- It is not recommended to defrost the breasts in the microwave, because then they quickly release juice, and the juiciness of the already lean breasts is halved.
- Also, you should not defrost breasts in water, because then most of the nutrients go into the water, and this significantly deteriorates the quality of the meat.
- The breasts are washed in cold water.
- If the breasts are boiled to obtain dietary meat, that is, with a minimum amount of fat, the skin is removed from them. But you can cook with it too. Especially if, in addition to meat, they also want to get a good broth on which they can cook soup. Moreover, there are gourmets who simply adore chicken skin, even boiled.
Important point! The descriptions of many recipes say that to cook the meat, you need to pour cold water over it and put it on the fire. But this does not take into account the purpose for which the meat is cooked. In this case, breast.
- If the breast is cooked for salad or main courses, then it is placed in hot water. Thanks to this, protein and blood coagulate and the bulk of the nutrients remain in the meat.
- If the breast is cooked for broth, then it is filled with cold water. Someone will object, saying, what kind of broth will come out of this part of the carcass?! But such a broth is indicated for dietary nutrition or for feeding small children, because it turns out to be low-fat, but during cooking most of the microelements and nutrients pass into it.
With this broth you can cook soup for a baby or for a sick adult who, for health reasons, cannot eat fatty foods, including soups, especially fried ones.
But with this method of cooking, the breast turns out to be boiled down - tasteless and similar to a washcloth (this is how many eaters characterize it).
How to cook chicken breast in a saucepan
Method 1
- The breast is immersed in hot water and brought to a boil over high heat. Be sure to remove the foam.
- Add roots, carrots, bay leaves, and salt.
- Reduce the boil to a minimum and cook under the lid for 30-40 minutes. Although if you cook chicken breast or young chicken, then such meat will be soft after 20 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the stove, but leave the breasts in the broth for another 20-30 minutes. And only after that they are taken out for further use. If you remove the meat from the broth immediately, it will instantly dry out and lose its juiciness.
Method 2
- If the breast is cooked for broth, then it is placed in a saucepan and completely filled with cold water. Bring to a boil, skim off the foam.
- Add spices and roots and salt.
- Cook until soft. In this case, the meat can be cooked longer to make the broth richer.
How to poach chicken breast
Poaching is cooking meat in a small amount of water or broth.
Method 1
- The breasts are thawed, washed, skinned, or left as is.
- The meat is placed in a saucepan, salted and sprinkled with lemon juice so that the breasts remain white during cooking.
- Pour hot water or broth to a third of the height of the fillet.
- Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat until done.
Method 2
- Place chopped vegetables and roots on the bottom of the saucepan. Breasts are placed on them.
- Pour in broth (water) and dry white grape wine. Salted.
- Cover with a lid and cook over low heat until done.
How to steam chicken breasts
- The prepared breast is rubbed with salt and herbs.
- Place in a steamer bowl.
- Cook for 30 minutes. If the meat is still tough (check with a fork), cook for another 10-15 minutes.
How to cook chicken breast in the microwave
- The prepared breast is placed in a special bowl. Salted.
- Pour in enough hot water to cover the meat.
- Cover with a lid and cook at maximum power for 10 minutes.
- Then reduce the power to medium and cook for another 15 minutes.
- Leave the breast in the bowl for another 10 minutes to make it more juicy.
How to cook chicken breast in a slow cooker
Method 1
- The prepared breast is placed in the multicooker bowl.
- Pour hot water to cover the meat.
- Salt and add spices.
- Cook in the “Stew” mode for 30 minutes.
Method 2
- Pour a liter of water into the multicooker bowl.
- The prepared breast is salted and flavored with spices.
- Then they put it in a container for steaming, which is installed in a multicooker.
- Cover with a lid and cook in the “Steam” mode for 30-40 minutes.
Note to the hostess
- How to determine the age of a chicken breast by eye? The breast of an old chicken cannot be squeezed with your fingers, but a young chicken’s breast is easy to squeeze.
- If you need to separate the breast flesh from the bones, then it is cut perpendicular to the fibers.
- The breast of an old carcass for cooking is cut in half, and the breasts of chickens are boiled whole.
- To preserve the natural aroma of meat, strongly aromatic herbs and spices are not used when cooking breasts.
- The breast of an old chicken will taste better if it is poached in milk.
When planning to prepare a meat salad, a hearty appetizer or a dietary dish, housewives often wonder how long to cook chicken fillet so that it is cooked through without turning into rubber. On average, this takes 30 minutes if the chicken fillet is boiled in the traditional way - in a pan. In addition, the meat turns out very tasty when using modern appliances such as a double boiler and a slow cooker. True, in this case it takes a little more time to obtain the desired result - about 40 minutes. The process of cooking chicken is quite simple, you just need to do everything correctly, without unnecessary haste.
How to boil chicken fillet in a saucepan?
Boiling chicken meat in the traditional way is not only simple and familiar, but also beneficial from a functional point of view. If we want to not only boil the product tasty, but also get a rich broth, then place the fillet in cold water. If you plan to use the component for preparing a salad, further baking or frying, put it in boiling water.
To cook chicken meat correctly and quickly, do the following:
- Wash the chilled or defrosted fillet under running water, removing any greasy films, and dry with towels.
Tip: To prevent slightly stale chicken fillet from turning into paper and acquiring an unpleasant aroma, drain it 5 minutes after the water boils. Next, the meat is poured with fresh boiling water and boiled in accordance with basic technical recommendations.
- Depending on the desired result, place the product either in cold water or in boiling water. In any case, the mass should boil. In this case, foam may be released, which we remove. Many housewives think that if the quality of the broth does not matter, the foam can be left alone. In fact, if you ignore this recommendation, it won’t turn out so tasty.
- Reduce the heat, the mass should only simmer slightly. Cover the pan with a lid to prevent the broth from evaporating. It is at the initial stage that salt, spices, and onions are added. These components highlight the taste of the meat. After 20 minutes, add the greens. After another 10 minutes the meat should be ready.
To make sure the component is ready, try to pierce it with a sharp knife. Does the tool penetrate the white meat easily and without obstruction? The meat is ready!
Parameters for cooking chicken fillet in a slow cooker and steamer
How long to cook chicken fillet in a slow cooker and steamer? 40 minutes. But that's not all there is to know. To get a good result, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the technology of manipulation.
- In a slow cooker. In this case, you can act in two ways. In the first approach, the work is carried out in the same way as with a pan standing on the stove. Only in this case the lid is not used or does not close completely. There is no need to reduce processing time. In the second approach, the lid is completely closed, but then all components, including additional ones, are initially placed together with the chicken in cold water. The mode you need to use is quite gentle - “Multi-cook”, “Soup” or “Stew”.
- In a steamer. It is with this approach that you can get the perfect chicken fillet for salad. To achieve this, before heat treatment, the meat should be marinated for 20-40 minutes in spices, salt, garlic, and herbs. You can add a little lemon juice and vegetable oil and chopped mint leaves to this marinade. Place the workpiece in a suitable bowl (preferably without holes, so that the juice does not leak out and the product does not dry out), fill the lower container with water. You can put peeled carrots or other vegetables next to the main component, this will give the meat additional flavor. The heat treatment time is 30-35 minutes. After the timer signal sounds, you should not immediately take out the product; it is better to leave it in the fragrant steam for another 5-7 minutes.
Sometimes, in order to save time, housewives try to boil an initially frozen product. This should not be done; it is better to spend a few minutes defrosting the component using cold water. Although, of course, it is better to bring the meat to the desired state by placing it in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
Boiled chicken breast (how and how long to cook chicken breast)
Many housewives use boiled chicken breast only for salads, because they consider it dry and tasteless, and it’s really in vain. And all because the breast is cooked incorrectly.
I will tell you the secrets of preparing the juiciest and softest boiled chicken breast :) It will be delicious not only to use in a salad, but also simply to cut and eat with a side dish and sauce. We are talking about the breasts of broiler chickens and do not apply to free-range country chickens.
Ingredients:
- chicken breast - 250 g
- onion - 1 pc.
- bay leaf - 1 - 2 pcs.
- salt, pepper - to taste
PS: Leave the chicken at room temperature in advance; it should not be cold, much less frozen.
Preparation:
There is no need to separate the meat from the bone. There is no need to remove the skin either.
In a small saucepan, bring to a boil enough water to completely cover the breast without drowning it. Add 1 whole peeled onion and bay leaf.
Place the chicken in boiling water and cook over low heat without a lid for 10 minutes.
Add salt to taste. Turn off the heat, cover the pan with a lid and leave to cool to the desired temperature, at least another 20 minutes. The meat should be cooked in the broth.
Now you can remove the breast from the broth, remove the skin, remove the boiled fillet from the bone and cut it with a sharp knife. It’s great to cut into cubes for a salad or into thin slices for a side dish. A little pepper and herbs and you’re ready to eat. Serve the broth in a bowl, removing the onion and bay leaf;
How and how much to cook chicken breast fillet
Chicken fillet cooks much faster. As a rule, the fillet consists of 2 boneless chicken breast halves. Defrosting before cooking is required. To make the fillet juicy, place it in salted boiling water, let it boil again and turn it off. Cover tightly with a lid and leave for 20 minutes. And the juicy fillet is ready for slicing into salads.
Bon appetit!
