The reasons why your chicken breasts are dry, bland, and meh.
They donthaveto be bland and dry.
Ivetalked to chefs,taken notes from cookbook authors, and done my fair share of testing.
Simplhy Recipes / Getty Images
A brine is a salt solutioneither dry salt or salted waterthat helps chicken breasts retain moisture and flavor.
If youre sick of dry chicken breasts, try this technique.
This tenderizes the meat and allows the salty water to seep back in.
Simplhy Recipes / Getty Images
Try a marinadepreferably one that coats the chicken overnight.
Cookbook author J. Kenji Lopez-Alt suggestsmixing mayonnaise with a marinadeabout equal parts each.
Don’t Cook Unevenly-Sized Chicken Breasts
Chicken breasts are thicker at one end and thinner at the other.
Pound your chicken breasts so that theyre a uniform thickness.
To pound a chicken breast, wrap it in wax paper or plastic wrap.
Alternatively, you could slice the breast into even pieces and reserve extra chicken for later.
At the end of the day, an overcooked breast is an overcooked breast.
No amount of pounding, brine, or marinade can save chicken thats climbed well past 165F.
Thats why you should always keep a thermometer on hand.
Its one of the best tools a cook can have and one of the simplest to use.
When you think your chicken is almost done, test its temperature.
The internal temperature will continue to climb.
The bone and skin provide natural flavor and protection from overheating or drying out.
So when possible, bone-in, skin-on is the way to go.
