Here are my tips on how to cook the perfect, juicy chicken breast and recipes to get you started:
It's easy to throw sauce or ingredients on top of a chicken
breast, but it's just as easy to stuff one. Plus stuffing a chicken
breast is a great way to keep it moist and flavorful. All you need is a
sharp knife to cut a slit almost through the breast to form a little
"pocket" for stuffing. I love to stuff chicken breast with cheese and
veggies like in our recipe for Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pimiento
Cheese. Gouda adds richness and the pimentos and scallion add moisture
and a savory flavor.
Get the Recipe: Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pimiento Cheese and More Chicken Dinners for 350 Calories or Less
How you cut a chicken breast before and after cooking can affect the
texture. In a chicken breast, it's best to cut it "against the grain,"
or crosswise. This breaks up the muscle fibers, making it more tender.
And if you cut it into thin strips before cooking, it also prevents the
pieces from shrinking up.
Recipes to Try: Indian-Spiced Chicken Pitas and More Simple Chicken Dinners
Chicken breasts run pretty big these days-sometimes weighing in at
over 1 pound! And since they're so big, it can be tricky to cook them
evenly. I like to cut them in half "on the bias" into 2 even pieces. "On
the bias" is a fancy way of saying diagonally. Cutting them this way
gets you two similar-size portions that will cook at about the same
rate.
Recipes to Try: Quick Chicken Cacciatore and More Italian Favorites Made Healthy
Pounding meat into thinner pieces tenderizes it by breaking apart the
muscle fibers. Chicken breast is already pretty tender without pounding,
but pounding does help get it into an even piece of meat that is easy
to cook quickly. You don't need any fancy equipment to pound your
chicken breast thin. I just put it between two pieces of plastic wrap
and use a small saucepan to give it a few good whacks. After I pound
chicken breast, I like to give it a crispy coating of breadcrumbs or
cornmeal. It not only tastes good, but helps lock in moisture.
Recipes to Try: Cornmeal-Crusted Chicken Breast with Pepian Sauce and More Healthy Chicken Breast Recipes
Another way to add some zest to your chicken breast is to smother it
in a creamy sauce. Not only does it taste delicious, but it's a great
way to keep it moist. Even if you do overcook it a little, smothering a
chicken breast in a velvety sauce can hide your mistake. I like to make
the sauce after the chicken has finished cooking. I just take the
breasts out of the pan and make my sauce in the same pan. It picks up
the flavor of the chicken and saves me from washing an extra pot. When
the sauce is done, the chicken goes back to the pan to sit in the sauce a
little bit and let the flavors meld. Delicious!
Recipes to Try: Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Chive Sauce and More Creamy Chicken Recipes
What's your favorite way to cook chicken breast?
EatingWell Associate Food Editor Hilary Meyer spends much of her time in the EatingWell Test Kitchen, testing and developing healthy recipes. She is a graduate of New England Culinary Institute.
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