When to salt chicken breast. How long to cook chicken breast - cooking secrets! How long to cook country meat

24.01.2024 Beverages

    You can prepare a huge number of dishes from this product (soups, stews, salads and much more). Due to its chemical composition, regular consumption of chicken breast enters the human body:

  • vitamins of different groups (PP, P, E, C, B12, B4, B6, B2, B1, A);
  • minerals (cobalt, fluorine, chromium, copper, iodine, zinc, iron, sulfur, chlorine, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium).

White chicken meat contains a large amount of easily digestible protein. Breast meat has found its application not only in dietary, but also in sanatorium nutrition.

Eating chicken breast helps improve the functioning of the cerebral cortex, gastrointestinal tract, as well as the nervous and cardiovascular systems, and strengthens the immune system.

How to properly cook chicken breast?

It is better to buy chilled breast, but quite often we see freshly frozen products on supermarket shelves. We take the meat, if it is frozen, defrost it, it is advisable to do this at room temperature. Rinse the breast with cold water. If desired, you can remove the skin from the chicken meat. You can cook the whole breast or chop it.

Cook on the stove. Take a pan, place the chicken breast, pour water. We put it on fire. When boiling, foam will appear, remove it with a slotted spoon. As soon as it boils, reduce the flame and simmer over low heat. Add salt and spices to the broth to taste. It takes 25-35 minutes to cook.

Cook in a slow cooker. Take a multi-cooker bowl, place the chicken breast, fill it with water. Select the “Stew” program and set the cooking time to 40-45 minutes. We monitor the process and remove the foam when it boils. Add salt, bay leaf, spices to taste.

Cook in a double boiler. The meat must be marinated before cooking. The easiest way is to season the chicken breast with salt and pepper, add spices and bay leaves to taste. Let it brew for 1-3 hours. Then wrap the meat in baking foil and place in a double boiler. Set the timer for 45-50 minutes.

For many novice housewives, the question “How to cook chicken breast?” is relevant. After all, this is the most useful part of a poultry! Do we know the answer?

It is recommended by doctors and nutritionists; it ranks first in the ranking of essential ingredients for meat salads (even the famous Olivier initially used chicken breast, and only starving residents of the USSR thought of replacing it with sausage). The broth from it has healing properties, and breast protein is perfectly absorbed even by people suffering from gastrointestinal diseases. At the same time, it contains a minimum of calories, and there are no harmful substances that accumulate, as you probably know, in the legs and liver (you never know what the birds were fed with!). The popularity of chicken meat is off the charts - is it possible not to know how to cook it? Moreover, it is so simple! Even easier than .

There are subtleties everywhere. How to properly cook chicken breast? What ingredients should I add to the broth? Let's think together!

The purchased product, of course, needs to be washed with cool water and all veins and cartilage must be carefully removed. The remaining bone, if there is one, does not need to be cut out - remove it from the finished meat, it will make the broth richer. But it’s better to remove the skin: the broth with it will turn out to be quite fatty. But if you like this one, leave it. This completes the preparatory process.

Cooking breasts for salad

Don't know what to do while cooking? Do you restrain yourself from constantly looking under the lid? Boil the eggs for the same salad! Here you can read, correctly, i.e. so that they don't burst.

Is the breast ready? Do not rush to remove it from the broth - let it cool with it. Then the meat will not be dry and will be maximally saturated with the resulting aromatic liquid.

Boiling breasts for soup

The technology for preparing breast meat for soup or broth differs from cooking it for salad only in that you can pre-cut the prepared “spare part” into strips 1-2 cm thick. This will save cooking time, and at the same time give the meat the opportunity to give the whole broth to the broth myself.

Did you know?

Many kids (and teenagers too) turn up their noses at first courses - they don’t like boiled vegetables. But almost all of them love greenfinch soup. Place a small bowl of freshly prepared broth on the fire and strained through cheesecloth (strainer). When it boils, add a pinch of five-minute vermicelli and finely chopped chicken meat. Chop fresh dill and parsley into smaller pieces and throw in there. Add salt if necessary. In five minutes the soup is ready! Pour it into a plate and call your child to the table.

When making broth for such a soup, you can put in it not only whole onions and carrots, but also potatoes (also whole). Then you can take out the vegetables and eat them yourself, without provoking your picky baby.

"Chancellor's Broth"

The original broth recipe was invented in Germany: chicken fillet cut into strips for 40 minutes. soaked in cherry liqueur. After this, the meat was lightly squeezed and cooked for 10 minutes. the classic way (with herbs and spices). With this method of preparation, the so-called. Naturally, there is no need to drain the “first broth”.

How long to cook chicken breast?

How long to cook chicken breast? A good housewife brings it to a boil, lowers the gas and turns on the timer, forgetting about the saucepan until the bell rings.

And the cooking time depends on what kind of meat it is (breast, of course, and not the mistress). The “spare part” of domestic chicken is tougher than the broiler breast, “Bush chicken,” and it cooks for about two hours (very old birds take even longer to cook: up to 3 hours). Whereas tender chicken fillet will be ready in 20 minutes. You can also see how long to cook chicken and how to make the “pensioner” meat softer.

Now you know exactly how to cook chicken breast and how long it will take to cook it. Want even more details? Take a look at the video!

Any housewife knows perfectly well that chicken is not only healthy and tasty, but also a virtually waste-free product. If you buy a fresh chicken carcass at the market on Sunday, the legs will become a hearty lunch dish, the carcass will make a rich broth for soups, the giblets will be excellent stewed in a stew, and the fried wings will delight the head of the family while watching a sports match. As for chicken breast, there are several lovers in every home. Therefore, get ready to divide it between an athlete son who is on a diet to dry out his body and therefore consumes large quantities of chicken fillet, which contains virtually no fat and carbohydrates, and a beautiful daughter who is constantly striving to lose a couple of extra kilos and also prefers dietary chicken fillet to all others. types of meat. The only problem is that both of these picky eaters are already quite bored with the monotonous menu. Invite them not just to boil chicken breast, but to prepare other, more complex, but no less healthy dishes based on it. For example, add boiled chicken to salads, vegetable rolls and low-fat soups. And in order for all this to turn out not only healthy, but also tasty, teach how to properly cook chicken breast.

Chicken breast - composition, benefits and cooking features
The breast is the most dietary part of a chicken carcass, especially if you remove the skin and bone with cartilage that connect the two halves. After such cleaning, only the fillet will remain, which, compared to the meat of other parts of the chicken, is much denser, lighter and leaner. But it is precisely for this reason that chicken fillet is quite dry - so much so that if handled improperly and cooked, it becomes tough, chews poorly and loses its taste. However, breast remains in demand in cooking, especially as part of special nutrition systems that involve preparing dishes high in protein and low in fat and carbohydrates. And these include most therapeutic diets and diets for weight loss. In addition, chicken breast is traditionally considered a basic product in the diet of bodybuilding athletes. And this is not surprising: with a relatively low calorie content (compared to other types of meat and poultry): only 110 kcal, skinless chicken fillet contains more than 19 grams of protein and less than 1 gram of fat per 100 grams. Moreover, the amount of carbohydrates in chicken breast is so small that it is not usually taken into account.

The benefit of chicken breast lies not only in a large amount of nutritious and easily digestible protein, but also in the high content of B vitamins, vitamins A, E, PP, F, H and C. Minerals in chicken fillet are represented by potassium, calcium, sodium, iron , magnesium, manganese, iodine, phosphorus, fluorine, chromium, zinc and even sulfur. Their integrity after cooking meat depends on the time and degree of heat treatment, but most valuable amino acids are preserved. And this made chicken fillet a product suitable for baby food, strengthening the immune system and restoring strength after recovery. For patients with heart and vascular diseases, it is useful for protecting against strokes and heart attacks, and for patients with digestive problems, it helps reduce the acidity of the gastrointestinal tract. The only fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey was the same quality of chicken fillet, which made it dietary: minimal fat content, which makes it difficult to cook chicken breast tasty, so that it is not dry and unappetizing. But it is possible. How exactly - read below.

Mission: cook delicious chicken breast
The universal cooking rule for chicken fillet is not only true, but generally becomes a necessary condition for obtaining a truly tasty and juicy boiled chicken breast. It consists in the fact that to create a tasty broth, the meat begins to be cooked in cold water, so that when heated it gives off its taste to the liquid. But the meat itself remains almost tasteless, “squeezed out.” Therefore, in order to cook a tasty fillet, you need to do exactly the opposite, using a pan with heated water. But there are a few more tricks that will help you cook chicken breast correctly. Read and remember:

  1. Fresh meat, steamed or slightly chilled, is always tastier than meat that has been stored in the cold for some time. To cook chicken breast, look for just such a product or use fillet from a carcass you cut yourself. If you can’t buy fresh breast, then frozen chicken fillet can be cooked more or less tasty. But to do this, when defrosting it, do not use running water and a microwave - let the breast thaw first on the top shelf of the refrigerator, and then at room temperature.
  2. Chicken fillet always contains a minimum of fat, but the breast of a home-grown chicken will still be juicier after boiling than one raised on a poultry farm. This depends on the bird’s diet and directly affects not only the taste of the boiled fillet, but also the cooking time. The breast of a more plump homemade chicken will be cooked for about half an hour, while a fillet from the supermarket will be ready in about 15 minutes.
  3. The cooking time for chicken breast depends on its size. If the fillet weighs more than 250 grams, then to speed up the cooking process you can cut it in half or into more pieces. Try to keep them the same size, otherwise they will cook unevenly. But remember that cut fillets will be less juicy than whole cooked fillets.
  4. Before cooking, remove the skin and membranes from the chicken breast - this will make the fillet more dietary, but also drier. If you leave the skin on, you can retain more of the flavor and softness of the boiled chicken breast, and the calorie content of the finished product will be slightly higher.
  5. To cook one bone-in chicken breast or two separated chicken fillets, use a suitable small saucepan. The smaller the volume of the cookware, the faster the meat will cook, but do not use a ladle that is too small: the breast should be completely covered with water. Bring the water in the pan to a boil and when the first bubbles appear, lower the chicken breast into it. The protein will immediately coagulate, which will “seal” the juice inside the piece of meat and prevent it from being completely boiled down.
  6. Cook chicken breast over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. The exact time depends on the weight of the fillet. Determine readiness by the color and density of the chicken breast: it should turn white and the fibers should be slightly loose.
  7. Salt the boiling chicken breast no earlier than 5 minutes before cooking, so that the salt water does not make the fillet even drier. Along with the salt, add a couple of bay leaves, black and/or allspice corns to the pan. You can also cook the chicken breast in vegetable broth instead of water, which will complement the flavor of the clean meat and make it more interesting.
  8. There is a special way to cook chicken fillet, tender fish and vegetables. It consists of simmering the product in hot, but not boiling water. The process takes longer than traditional cooking, but the result is more tasty and juicy. Try submerging the chicken breast in hot water or vegetable broth and reducing the heat under the pan to low. Leave the breast to cook for 40-50 minutes so that only a few small bubbles rise from the bottom of the pan, but the water never boils (this is achieved at a temperature of about 85°C). Chefs call this technique poaching.
  9. You can steam the chicken breast in a steamer - this will take 30 to 40 minutes. In the microwave, cook the chicken breast at maximum power in a glass container filled with water for 10 minutes after the liquid boils.
  10. If time and opportunity allow, boil the chicken breast in water with the addition of white wine or cider, add a stalk of celery, onion, leek, chopped carrots, fresh or dried herbs, cloves (one or more of these ingredients as desired) to the boiling water. . This will not reduce the juiciness of the fillet, but will give it additional flavor.
  11. After the chicken breast is cooked, do not rush to take it out of the water, but let it cool a little and finish cooking in the water in which it was cooked, without heat, in a saucepan with a lid. Do not wait for it to cool completely and after 10 minutes take out the fillet and serve.
Whole cooked chicken breast is best cut into slices and added with a vegetable side dish, served with porridge or made into a sandwich. Boiled chicken breast, cut or torn by hand into smaller pieces, is often used in salads and appetizers, where sauces and gravies provide rich flavor. It is tastier and healthier immediately after cooking, but if necessary, boiled chicken fillet can be stored in the refrigerator for two to three days, after which it will be less juicy, but still suitable for use. Some housewives prefer not to cook, but to bake chicken breast in foil or heat-resistant dishes. A baked chicken breast actually retains more flavor, but it is not always softer than a boiled one, especially if you cook the chicken breast correctly. Therefore, you have different ways at your disposal to successfully cook chicken breast for yourself and/or your loved ones.

Chicken meat is a dietary product and is often eaten due to its rich protein content. Chicken can be consumed as an alternative to lamb, pork or beef.

The most dietary part of chicken is chicken breast, which is rich in amino acids, vitamins and other mineral elements.

There are several main ways to eat chicken breast, of which the most common is boiling.

If you follow a number of rules, cooking breast meat is very simple. First of all, you need to correctly approach the issue of choosing chicken in the store. There are several options:

  • fillet;
  • with skin;
  • on the bone.

The most convenient option is considered to be ready-made chicken fillet, which is sold without skin and bone. When choosing chicken breast, you should pay attention to the appearance of the chicken and its storage conditions. Chicken and its components are stored in the refrigerator, chilled or frozen.

You should be wary of frozen chicken because the chicken may not be fresh when defrosted. The best option would be to purchase chilled chicken.

A good product will have no bruising and the entire surface of the chicken will be a uniform pale pink color. If you buy meat on the bone, then broken bones or bruises on the surface are not allowed.

You should also pay attention to the veins; they should be either white or pink. It is not allowed for the chicken to be slippery or have an unpleasant odor - this means that the product has already been spoiled.

When purchasing, you need to pay attention to the sizes. If the chicken was fed growth hormones and injected with a lot of antibiotics, then the breast will be unnaturally large.

Since many chickens (broilers) are now injected with antibiotics and hormones, you should definitely study the chicken before purchasing, since these substances tend to accumulate in the human body, having a negative effect on the kidneys and liver.

Chicken meat may contain parts of bacteria, so preliminary heat treatment of meat is required. Breast is much healthier than other parts of chicken due to its low fat content and high protein content.

Boiled chicken breast is found as a staple in a large number of diets; doctors recommend consuming it for patients with high blood cholesterol levels.

Nutritional value and benefits of boiled chicken breast

Compared to beef or lamb, chicken is a low-calorie, dietary product that is ideal for consumption by athletes, losing weight, people with various diseases, and simply to improve the immune system.

The calorie content of the cooked product is 137 kcal per 100 grams of product.

Chicken meat contains a low amount of fat and is rich in vitamins such as A, B9, B12, C, E, PP, and also contains all the necessary micro- and macroelements (iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, etc.).

Boiled chicken breast is a universal product that can be added to salad, soup, or eaten separately.

Chicken breast cooking process

Once the chicken breast has been selected correctly, you can begin the cooking process. Ingredients:

  1. Water.
  2. Salt pepper.
  3. Chicken breast.
  4. Onion (optional).

Before cooking, you need to prepare the breast:

  • Defrost.

If the breast was purchased frozen, you must first defrost the chicken. When cooked without defrosting, the top may become cooked while the middle remains raw.

You can defrost it using a microwave oven, you can leave it to defrost overnight at room temperature, but if the weather is hot outside, the breast may spoil overnight; it is best to leave the bird in the refrigerator overnight.

Do not place frozen product in hot water, as the meat may lose its taste.

  • Rinse.

After defrosting, the chicken must be thoroughly rinsed with tap water. You should avoid washing breasts with soap or detergent, as if not washed properly, residual harmful substances from the product may end up in the food.

  • Place chicken in a saucepan of cold water.

The water should completely cover the chicken while cooking. Before boiling, the breast can be cooked at maximum heat; after boiling, reduce the heat by half. Also, if the water boils away during the cooking process, you can add hot water from the kettle to maintain the cooking temperature.

  • How long to cook chicken after boiling.

The chicken (if it is not frozen) is cooked for 10 to 30 minutes (depending on the type of breast) over low heat. At this time, you can add salt and pepper to taste, and leeks if desired. Cover the pan with a lid and wait until the inside of the chicken is no longer pink and is completely cooked through.

  • Remove from heat.

The water in which the chicken was cooked can be drained or left as stock for making soup.

How many minutes should you cook chicken breast after boiling?

Before you start cooking, keep in mind that each type of chicken breast has its own cooking time. The time until boiling is about 10 minutes, and then it all depends on what product is used in cooking.

Thawed chicken fillet can be cooked within 10 minutes, while meat on the bone can take up to 30 minutes. You can cook chicken with the skin on, but it is advisable to remove the skin before cooking because the skin absorbs all harmful substances and is very oily.

If there is no time to defrost, the frozen breast can be placed in boiling water - in this case, the cooking process may take more than an hour, but the quality of the meat will deteriorate and it will become tough. It is not advisable to use frozen parts of the bird, as they may not be cooked through inside.

Also, to speed up the cooking process, you can divide the breast into several parts and remove the bones, after which the cooking time after boiling will be reduced to 10 minutes.

How to cook chicken breast for salad, soup, broth

The cooking technology for most dishes is the same, but, nevertheless, there are several different points:

  1. For salads.


For a salad (for example, Caesar), it is advisable to use chicken fillet, as it is juicier and more tender. Before cooking, you need to defrost the fillet or use it chilled.

Divide the fillet into equal parts so that it is cooked as much as possible. After the breast is cooked, drain the water and place the fillet beautifully on a plate.

  1. For soup.

Thaw the breast, divide into pieces and place in a pan with water. After boiling, remove any foam that has formed to make the broth clear.

  1. For the broth.

You can use different types of breast, preferably without skin. Before starting cooking, rinse the breast, place it in a saucepan with cold water and put it on high heat. After boiling, remove the foam and cook over medium heat for 50-60 minutes. You can add salt both immediately and after boiling.

Cooking in different ways

You can cook the breast in the following ways

Microwave

Pre-defrost the chicken breast and marinate it in sour cream and spices. Sour cream is used to soften meat. Place the marinated meat in a baking bag and place in the microwave at 800 W. Total cooking time: 15 minutes.

For another quick and tasty recipe for cooking chicken breast in the microwave, watch the video.

Steamed chicken breast in a slow cooker

For this dish you can use either fillet or bone-in breast. First you need to remove the skin and bone, part of the fat, if any. The fillet is rubbed with spices and placed inside the multicooker. The amount of water used to create steam should be at least a liter. Mode - “Steamer”, total cooking time - 40-50 minutes.

To prepare juicy breast, you must first boil water and then add the product to the water. After the water boils again, you can turn off the stove, cover the pan with a lid and leave to brew for 20-30 minutes. During the cooking process, it is recommended to use salt and pepper as the main spices.

There are also a number of ready-made solutions in the store (baking bags with a set of spices), using which you can get very juicy chicken. You can pre-prepare a marinade from sour cream and spices, which will prevent the chicken from drying out during cooking in a baking bag.

Chicken breast goes well with any of the side dishes. Boiled or raw vegetables will perfectly complement the dish for those who do not like high-calorie dishes. You can also use fillet for salads - in this case, no side dish is required. Boiled breast goes especially well with mashed potatoes or potatoes.

Among the main meat dishes, chicken breast and other chicken dishes stand out due to a number of advantages - the low cost of chicken compared to beef or lamb, low calorie content, and many dish options.

Chicken breast is used for preparing light salads, and for preparing soups or independent poultry dishes. Fillet goes well with a number of seasonings; its preparation does not require complex culinary skills or expensive accompanying products.

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!