It seems no matter what part of the chicken it is, or how I plan on cooking it, I end up with nasty chicken juice all over the kitchen. And lately I'm not even good at cooking it. It's either too dried out or too rubbery. Please give me your best hacks/recipes for dealing with chicken. The price of beef now is insane. And I do like pork but that will clog the arteries, or so I'm told.
Help me learn to love chicken because I really don't like it
byu/persimmon19 inFrugal
Posted by persimmon19
31 Comments
Throw boneless, skinless chicken into a slow cooker with salsa and spices of choice, now you got shredded chicken meat for days if not weeks. Good on tacos, with eggs, sandwiches, quesadillas, etc.
Open the package of chicken directly next to the casserole dish or frying pan or whatever, that nearly eliminates having juices everywhere. Just keep trying random things until you find what works for you. Have you ever tried shake ‘n bake? It’s wonderful!
If you can, get a sous vide machine.
I end up with the juiciest, perfectly cooked chicken with hardly any mess.
If cooking breast, get a digital meat thermometer so you don’t overcook it, otherwise you’re never going to enjoy. Follow [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/mef396/how_to_make_chicken_breasts_not_suck_a_complete/) and you’ll get a tasty piece of meat.
Would also encourage you to buy thighs as well. Much tastier and more forgiving, in my experience.
Look up some Chinese recipes that include chicken. Learn to velvet. Makes cooking good chicken pretty foolproof.
If you really want to step your game up, get a sous vide and never worry about over/undercooking chicken ever again.
Buy a whole fully cooked rotisserie chicken and use it how you like. $5 at Costco and Sam’s Club. $6ish at Walmart and Target in my area. It’s already cooked so you don’t have to deal with not cooking it right. A whole chicken lasts me many meals.
where you buy it makes a difference. for me, TJ’s chicken is rubbery no matter what. organic from whole foods is usually better.
Bake it in the oven whole over some potatoes. Eat the nice parts and make a salad with the leftovers the next day. 45-60 min, 200 degrees celsius, simple rub such as salt, pepper and cayenne or smoked paprika.
Make something flavourful with it like a Thai Curry or Gumbo or Chicken pot pie. It’s my least favorite meat but it picks up flavors well so it’s easy to cook with.
Cook chicken thighs bone in for the best tasting part, with garlic, pepper, salt, onion, Italian seasoning, maybe a spice blend you like, (slap ya mama).
Heat the pan for a minute, then put in a bit of oil and lay in the thighs. Leave them be for a few minutes and they can get a nice bit of char, adding lots of depth of flavor. Flip and don’t overcook them. Chicken thighs are less susceptible than breasts but can still easily dry out and dry chicken is terrible. Use a meat thermometer if possible or cut it open when you feel it might be done.
Its possible you don’t like chicken, but give it a few tries, this is just one way but chicken is one of the most versatile proteins and at a great price, especially if you buy whole chickens down the line. You can get free fat and stock alongside the best prices for chicken around. Good luck and YouTube has been a great help to me in learning how to cook
I have 5 pet chickens (4 hens and a cuddly rooster) who are the coolest little animals, each with a unique personality. I love my chickens and will continue to do so until they die of natural causes and go in the ground. Frugal because free eggs.
You don’t have to eat it. Rice and beans can be amazing. If you generally like when it’s prepared well and that’s the problem then:
1. Prep – the only thing I can think if you’re getting juice everywhere is maybe your cutting board is too small? A sharp knife might also make things easier and cleaner. Otherwise stop throwing it around like a maniac.
2. Cooking – meat thermometers are cheap and amazing. Cook to 165 and pull them off, comes out great every time.
3. The slow cooker suggestion is also great. Plenty of great flavor combinations out there.
Watch a few America’s Test Kitchen on Chicken recipes.
They explain the science to seasoning correctly, cooking methods, and giving tested recipes.
I hated chickpeas until I found out that I was torturing the chickpeas and myself with my cooking skills.
If you don’t like it don’t eat it, I’m confused. Beans and eggs are cheaper anyway.
Chicken breast is great, but chicken at large isn’t better for your health than pork or beef. I can’t imagine you’d be in r/frugal eating only chicken breast without mentioning caveats, and the dark meat is all full of saturated fat as well
If you’re just looking for protein and not necessarily cooked chicken dishes you might look for canned chicken (like tuna.)
You can make a nice chicken salad to eat in a sandwich or on a salad.
I almost exclusively marinate it and grill it. Only boneless skinless chicken breast, fill the freezer when it goes on sale
First of all – you might not like chicken and that’s OK. You’re allowed to not like things.
There are other sources of protein that aren’t chicken (or pork or beef). Plant proteins are a thing. Beans. Seafood.
Second thing – do you have a meat thermometer, if not, buy one. If you’re not cooking meat (any meat) with a thermometer, you’re not cooking. A Lavatools Javelin is $25 and is an excellent thermometer for the money.
Thirdly – Thighs. FDA would like you took poultry to 165. Realistically you can get away with 150F and be fine on your breast – as long as you hold it there for 3 mins. Your dark meats (thighs) you actually want to cook higher – around 190F.
Lastly – if cooking breast – pound it out to where it’s even thickness throughout. The issue with the natural (curvy) shaped breast is that by the time the thick part reaches temp, the thinner ends are dry. If it’s even thickness – it cooks at the same speed. If grilling or pan frying, you also wanna go medium-high heat.
Also don’t wash your chicken. It just spreads salmonella around and gross chicken juice all over your kitchen. Just pat it dry with some paper towels.
TL;DR — Use a thermometer, pound it out.
It would help if you say how you are currently cooking it.
btw, curious to know how you end up with chicken juice all over the kitchen. It’s just a matter of doing some basic prep before opening the package.
Take your time and get organized before you start. If you are cooking say breasts in a skillet, don’t crank up the heat and throw the chicken in. Start with a medium heat to begin the cook. The heat needs time to permeate.
Also, flip the chicken over at least mid-way through. Once it’s mostly cooked, you can increase the heat a bit to sear the outside.
btw, as others have noted, crockpots can be pretty foolproof for cooking chicken, but they do take time.
Have you ever had rotisserie chicken from either Sam’s or Costco? It’s a bargain. They are tender and flavorful. Make a meal with it when you get home then take the rest of the meat off the bones. There are tons of recipes out there for using that meat but a simple one I like is Cajun Alfredo. Dice a bunch of the breast. Dump a jar of Alfredo sauce into a pan. Rinse the jar with some milk or half and half and add that to the pan. While it’s heating, add some Cajun seasoning, how much depends on your personal tastes as well as the strength of your seasoning mix but start with a teaspoon. Cook your pasta. Add the chicken to the sauce a few minutes before you are ready to eat.
You can add all kinds of things to this. Some of my favorites are sautéed mushrooms, sautéed garlic, and broccoli. You can even omit the Cajun seasoning (but I never do) and replace it with pesto or your favorite seasoning blend.
I made my best chicken ever after I learned a simple trick from America’s Test Kitchen on PBS. Turn the skillet heat up to high, add olive oil to cover the bottom. When you can just smell the oil fragrance, add the chicken (I like bite sized chunks of breast), but do not crowd the pan. Do not attempt to turn it until it will come away from the pan without sticking. I do this by lightly prodding pieces every few seconds. When turned, the chicken should be lightly browned. Continue until all sides are brown. Then turn to low and let cook another minute or so. Chicken tastes great and is very tender. The most important things are to have the pan hot enough that the chicken juices get seared inside and don’t leak out to steam or boil the chicken, which turns it rubbery, and not turning it until it will come away easily and not stick.
Learn how to blend it
There’s alot of good advice in the thread, so the only thing I would add is not to get chicken breast.
Ts is nasty and it’s easy to dry out.
Stick with thighs.
They are more flavorful and juicy and if you buy them boneless and skinless, they’re so easy to make.
But also, if you get tired of these chickeny adventures and experimentations, just eat pork.
It won’t clog your arteries.
That is silly.
Who even said that?
Big Chicken? 🤣
There are alot of tasty and healthy things you can do with pork. I’m thinking to do some barbecue pork and beans this weekend myself.
Go eat your pork and go on about your piggy business. 🤣
>I’m not even good at cooking it. It’s either too dried out or too rubbery.
You need to get a meat thermometer and pay attention
Do you feel the same way about home cooked fried chicken?
rotisserie chicken from Costco. Ready to go. I make fajitas, chicken fettuccine, burritos, add it in eggs, or sometimes I eat it straight in case I’m hungry and I want to avoid carbs late night
I eat beans, tempeh, or tofu instead of meats. Way cheaper and just as filling. No clogged arteries
First, it’s ok to not like chicken. There are other options. And cutting meat consumption can be a good way to save money.
That said, slow cookers are a great way to cook chicken, as some others have mentioned. If you want to grill it then Ethan Chlebowski has a great video on cooking chicken at home (look for Recipes Remastered Grilled Chicken Breast). Basically the big step is to dry brine it for at least an hour, pat dry, rub with oil (or a small amount of mayo), cook a few minutes each side until it’s 155F in the thickest part.
As for the gunk and slime, you can totally use gloves. And I find that dumping it straight into the bowl I’m brining it in really helps keep the mess down.
PAN. BONE IN CHICKEN. SAUCE, OIL, GREASE. SPICES. MASSAGE THAT CHICKEN GOOD. LEAVE IN THE OVEN FOR 45 MINUTES AT 400 F. (200 C) REMEMBER TO PRE-HEAT THE OVEN.
[Let Jacques Pepin show you how to debone a chicken.](https://youtu.be/SN8xn152NXA?si=KPEwj5xsE8G0qtIC)
You probably won’t need to debone a chicken every day, but there’s a lot of solid fundamentals there and it’ll help you cut up leg quarters or whole wings and carve a whole bird
Buffalo wild wings sauce on pan fried chicken chunks, is just boneless unbreaded chicken wings. So healthier, cheaper, and same flavor as going to bww
why force yourself to eat it? that’s such a weird concept to me. not eating meat is so much cheaper anyway
1. Throw all chicken meat you have /no skin/ in the meat grinder. 2. Add whatever you might have in the veggie bin in the fridge: onions, apples, garlic 3. Add some old bread soaked in milk or water to make it soft. Grind and mix all together. Add salt, pepper, whatever spices you like, form patties and fry. There will be barely any chicken taste and you will have yummy chicken meat loaf
1. Put the package in the sink before you ever begin to open it. Keep it there as you deal with the chicken.
2. Have a bowl close at hand. Rinse the chicken under cold water (it makes it last longer as leftovers while removing the disgusting stuff). Put each piece in the bowl when it’s rinsed. Carry the bowl of chicken to the preparation area.
3. Line a roasting pan with foil. Wrap a wire rack that fits in the pan with nonstick foil and use a knife to make slits in it. Put the rack in the pan.
4. Apply oil to the chicken. I like to put it in a large container that has a tight lid and add a little oil before I put the lid on and shake it up.
5. Lay the pieces on the rack. Sprinkle the chicken with either poultry seasoning or the spice blend of your choosing unless you intend to apply BBQ sauce.
6. Cover it all with another piece of nonstick foil.
7. Roast it at 350° F until the interior temperature is 160°. If you want to apply BBQ sauce, do so when it reaches 150° F, and finish the cooking process with the chicken uncovered (it bakes the sauce on).
8. Let it rest for five to ten minutes before you cut it! This is another secret to moist chicken.
Someone else will have to help you with frying it. This method also applies to whole hens (but be sure to remove any giblets from the cavity).