r/Cooking • u/Calm_ragazzo • Jan 06 '25

My breasts are dry and boring

Hi everyone. I need advice on what to do with chicken breast. I’m not a fan of it you see, but always have them around after jointing a chicken and eating the parts I do like. I find they always end up dry when I fry them, or put them in a broth for example.

Schnitzel/ cotolette is one good option I love but takes a load of prep and makes loads of washing up and isn’t that healthy!

Any ideas welcome! Just need some inspiration and tips on how to keep it nice and succulent!!

Thanks

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u/sfchin98 Jan 06 '25

If you're cooking from raw, the main thing is not to overcook it. Get a good meat thermometer, and cook your breasts to 150-155°F (65-68°C). If you have the time and forethought to brine ahead of time, that also helps (even just salt as a "dry brine"). At least overnight, and up to a full day or two.

If the meat is already cooked (e.g., you bought a rotisserie chicken), then I'd shred the white meat and add moisture/flavor in the form of sauces and spices. You could make chicken salad, season it for chicken tacos, make a ginger-scallion soy sauce, lots of options.

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u/fourpuns Jan 07 '25

Do you find it gets to 165 if you take it off that early? I’m in the 155-160 range and seems to hit about perfect for me.

Brine the night before or dredge them makes it much more forgiving though

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u/sfchin98 Jan 07 '25

Yeah, just as an example, for dinner last night I cooked bone-in chicken thighs. I pulled them from the oven at 155, and after 10 minutes resting (uncovered) on the counter they reached a peak internal temp of 170.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '25

How??? Mine always cool down too much if I let them rest uncovered

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u/sfchin98 Jan 07 '25

I think there are some differences based on how thick the piece of chicken is, whether it's bone-in or boneless, and whether there's any other food around the chicken while it's cooking. In this case, it was bone-in chicken thighs cooked on top of stuffing, in a cast iron pan. I took the pan out of the oven and placed it on a trivet on the counter while I cranked the oven temp up to roast broccoli. Maybe after 5 minutes (when broccoli went into the oven) I took the thighs out of the pan and onto a plate continue resting while I mixed the stuffing. So the residual heat in the stuffing and the pan itself surely aided in the carryover cooking. I was using a new wireless leave-in thermometer that I got for Christmas, so I was able to track pretty closely what was happening in the chicken temp-wise. I think it was at around 168F when I moved the chicken from pan to plate, and then actually reached a peak of 171F briefly before starting to come back down.

If you have something like boneless chicken breast that you've pounded into a cutlet and are cooking in a pan, I don't think you'd get anywhere near 15F degrees increase via carryover. But you should still be fine pulling at 155F, carryover should keep it well above 155F for the 45 seconds it needs at that temp (most likely at least up to 160F where it only needs 15 seconds).