How do you cook Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts???

[AZRaptor]

Sous vide at 142. Very quick sear. Sauce of choice.

Yep I sous vide them at 145. You can cook them at the lower temp because of the length of time you cook them. The chart below shows the times for chicken breasts up to 1" thick in a 145deg sous vide bath.

That being said I usually buy boneless, skinless chicken thighs (sometimes marinated) and grill them on the Akorn.

 

[jmed999]

Can we please not highjack this thread into a food safety thread?

:roll: :mrgreen:

 

[jmed999]

Here's tonight's... only jaccarded and no brine. If it's from frozen then I will normally brine but no matter what I usually jaccard. This was a simple spog type rub and you can see how juicy it was. Grill or smoke? It's really both the way I do it because it's over a wood split fire, temp was probably 350-450*

I usually pull around 160* and it'll carryover to 165* as you do not want to mess around with poultry!

These look great! They were pulled at 160F?

 

[jmed999]

smoke it at 275 to 300. I inject with Apple Juice about 30 min before. Pull at 160-165, nice moist and mouth watering

Seasonings can be salt free dizzy dust, SPG, our favorite rub and even glaze with blues hog or something. Have some fun with them! Buy them on sale, and experiment

A newbie question here.....how do you inject a boneless breast? Seems like it would be to thin.

 

[mattmountz94]

i either slice in half length wise and marinade in italian dressing and cook very hot over direct coals or leave them whole put SPOG on and cook them direct/ indirect. I always cook to 155-160 before pulling. 145 just sounds wrong.

 

[Dweverett]

Temp aside, agree on the Italian dressing. Gives a really nice

 

[swamprb]

Sous Vide then sear on a CI pan

 

[CakeM1x]

I pound them to get a similar thickness throughout and sometimes jaccard. Then wet or dry brine and onto a pretty hot grill. Flip when the edges start to whiten up to the other side of the breast and let cook for a minute or 2 until it feels right. Perfect every time.

 

[Fwismoker]

These look great! They were pulled at 160F?

Thank you!

Yepper, pulled @ 160. I always have good success with chicken breast with this one particular drum cooker I have. It's always perfect on the outside and completely juicy on the inside. Now I don't know if it's the jaccard or it's because it's cooked over a fire or neither but I'm not screwing with what works! lol

The only time i brine and even then it's not always is when i get the frozen breasts in a bag. The fresh non frozen ones like the picture just don't need brining for me.

 

[jackmaltby7923]

I didn't know either. Hmh, to smoke it, ok I will try it also. The last time I put in the oven and won't explain you how much I had to scrub the pan to may clean it. So, maybe the next time I should first read before prepare something. Thanks guy

 

[Hog1990]

50% strength Oakridge Game Changer Brine for 1 hour. Rinse well season with your choice of seasoning, I like S&P. Cook indirect at 350 degrees until they reach desired temp.

 

[NCGrimbo]

Lawrys Sesame-Ginger marinade then on the grill until done.

 

[Gore]

Here is the post I always reference on chicken temps and times:

Alrighty folks... 'setcher lil hearts at ease - Most of the USDA's "blah, blah, blah" is designed so the that the average burger flipper can remember it -

Let me ask this question though, would you consider chicken kept at 137 for an hour to be:
A) Lethal - WTH are you trying to do to me man????
B) Just right! Bring it on, I'm hungry fo' that!

FDA says... Good to go! What???? AYFKM???!!!! (Are you freaking kidding me??)

Now, I'm not saying that the taste & texture will be what you want, but - technically, safe.


From USDA.gov - pages 5 - 16: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISNotices/RTE_Poultry_Tables.pdf

Times for given temperature, fat level, and species needed to obtain
7-log10 lethality of Salmonella*
------------------------------------ fat%=9 ------------------------------------
Temperature (
o
F) Time for Chicken Time for Turkey
136 74.8 min 67.6 min
137 59.7 min 55.3 min
138 47.7 min 45.4 min
139 38.3 min 37.3 min
140 30.8 min 30.8 min
141 24.9 min 25.5 min
142 20.1 min 21.1 min
143 16.3 min 17.4 min
144 13.2 min 14.4 min
145 10.7 min 11.9 min
146 8.6 min 9.8 min
147 6.9 min 8 min
148 5.5 min 6.5 min
149 4.3 min 5.2 min
150 3.3 min 4.1 min
151 2.5 min 3.2 min
152 1.8 min 2.4 min
153 1.4 min 1.9 min
154 1.1 min 1.5 min
155 51.4 sec 1.3 min
156 40.7 sec 1 min
157 32.2 sec 49.7 sec
158 25.4 sec 40.3 sec
159 20.1 sec 32.7 sec
160 15.9 sec 26.6 sec
161 12.6 sec 21.6 sec
162 10 sec 17.5 sec
163 <10.0 sec 14.2 sec
164 <10.0 sec 11.5 sec
165 <10.0 sec <10.0 sec

As far as I'm concerned, if I bring the temp up above 150*, I'm good, because I know that chicken has sat on the grill and will be sitting 5 minutes before anyone gets to it. I also know the temp of the coldest part of the chicken will climb as the chicken reaches equilibrium. Note the link to the original FDA article is no longer active, but all the data is taken from a scientific study.

I will stress that these guidelines are for the entire part of the bird (coldest part especially), and that the temperature of a cooking piece of meat is not uniform by any stretch of the imagination unless you're doing something like sous vide. I fell comfortable with 150* because I stab by breasts in a couple places and aim for the thickest part.

How do I do them? Lots of ways. The last ones I just emptied into an Al pan and seasoned with Foil Hat Rub, cooked for about an hour (or so) at 275* with some oak.

 

[robinfresno]

Sometimes marinade them if I have the time; if not just a heavy coating of rub. Wife really likes some olive oil, cavender's seasoning, and dry oregano rubbed on them. I'll cook them indirect for 15-20mins depending on thickness @ 350f before I start checking for temp. 155f is when I usually pull them as they carry over to 160 no problem. Don't flip em and usually work on rest of dinner while they are going.

Sliced, marinated, on a skewer satay style other times.

Othertimes I just throw them in a vac bag with spices and sous-vide them if they're going on a salad.

If I'm not grilling and watching any calorie content I butterfly them, flatten them between some plastic wrap to keep the mess down, dredge in seasoned flour and toss in freezer while butter heats up. Take em out and sauté them until nice on brown on each side then take out and deglaze pan with either lemon juice or dry marsala wine; reduce that, take off heat, melt about 2T of butter into the sauce and add breasts back in the coat and serve. The pure lemon juice makes a crazy good picatta and sometimes i'll add capers when I'm reducing that one.

 

[highergr0und]

I cook them all different ways. It's a good utility meat, and we go through A LOT since my wife only eats poultry and fish. I like to buy the perdue flash frozen stuff from Costco that has most pieces of the same thickness, little on the thin side. I hate the really thick ones where you end up waiting forever, charring the outside and overcooking the skinny end trying to get the thick part to temp.

9/10 times, if I'm cooking breasts outside, they've been marinating, go on the gasser at medium/medium high heat and they cook fast. The breasts are good brined and coated with a nice bbq sauce that's set over heat, but I just kind of stopped doing it. I'll do drumsticks that way more often.

I cook them much more inside than outside though, at least during the winter. I make a lot of chicken as the protein base for delicious sauces that go on top. Last night was a carmelized onion and jalapeno sauce. Very good.

 

[Yendor]

Personally I prefer thighs, but here is how I prepare them both. Rub it with whatever we feel like having for the day, usually something that will pair with our sides.
Then I prep the kettle for an indirect cook with some lump and add pecan wood for some smoke. I have all the vents open and place the chicken below the open top vents on the opposite side of the charcoal and wait. Usually about 25-30 minutes, but I start checking temp with my super fast Thermapen on fire @ about 20 mins, until IT is 160°, pull, tent, rest for a few minutes, then pig out.

 

[cheeaa]

Yes, the Italian dressing marinade overnight works great. And if you want to cook to 140, that's cool, but like everyone else you're gonna get some real juicy chicken grilling to 160. I do everytime. Just sear each side until it looks good, flip, repeat then let it go indirect to desired temp.

 

[ichbin73]

BS Chicken Breasts is what I do most of here at work. At least twice a week I will grill 15-30 pounds of it. Makes a BIG difference if its random size, which ends up being almost all huge pieces that grill hard and are dry when done... Or if its a good sized (read smaller) breast that grills quickly and is better end product. I prefer a 5 oz split breast for size and bite. Most often mix italian dressing, worchestershire, Honey Dijon dressing, lime juice, Lawry's, Natures Season, Black pepper and dried dill weed. pour about a cup of this mixture into the bag of frozen chicken and toss. after an hour or up to 3 hours I grill it on the Akorn grill. Its pretty good. Sometimes use Soy sauce instead of Worchestershire and add a little bbq sauce and brown sugar for a huli huli affect. The honey Dijon dressing is what I use for the mayo in it, Mayo on grilled chicken really helps keep it juicy. Also helps to grill from frozen. Just some observations from many years of grilling boneless skinless chicken...

 

[Tom Sellecks Mustache]

All of the above. Sometimes marinated, some times just a rub, some times just S&P but I almost always do a reverse sear.

 

[Fire Flinger]

I brine in brown sugar and salt water then smoke to 160-165 at 225 - 250. It takes about 1 to 1.25 hours. Obviously it depends on the fire and the thickness of the meat. Smoking is not the best cooking method for this cut IMHO. Grilling over charcoal on a kettle with the lid down and a chunk of wood is my preference. Indirect setup would work great also.