**This conversation on 7 Tips for Perfect Perfect Chicken at Home is brought to you by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. My experience and my opinion are my own.** #ChickenatCheddars #NationalChickenMonth
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I love chicken. My kids love chicken. It is a protein that we all can agree makes dinner better! I make chicken several times a week and I feel like, it is good, but I never can get that restaurant quality we all love. Sometimes it is dry. Sometimes the flavor does not come through. Sometimes it is too tough. Every once in a while I can get it to be as juicy and flavorful as the experts at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, but it is rare! So when I saw that Cheddar’s was celebrating National Chicken Month, I loaded up the kids and headed that way! I sunk my teeth into Fried Chicken Fried Steak and the kids devoured chicken tenders. It.was.heaven. Now I have to know how to make better chicken at home. Thanks to Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, these 7 Tips for Perfect Perfect Chicken at Home!
Now listen, we have all done it. I do it at least once a week. I grab my chicken, dice it up, throw it in a pan, salt and pepper it and call it done. I almost always end up with dry chicken. Or I put it in a baking dish, add some broth and hope for the best. The only way I can get juicy chicken in my house is in the slow cooker. And even that is hit and miss! So these 7 tips, which may be common knowledge to most, is actually quite helpful to me!
Chicken needs a minimum of 30 minutes to marinate. For the most flavor, allow your chicken to marinate for up to 6 hours.
Yea, I never do this and I should. Marinades can be as easy as onion mix in chicken broth or soda. Any liquid that can absorb and add some flavor to the chicken! Even beer makes an amazing brine and marinade for chicken!
Allow your chicken to “take a rest” after it has been cooked. All the natural juices will soak back into the meat instead of being left on the baking sheet. No one likes wasting flavor!
I do this with beef so I don’t know why I don’t do it with chicken! It seems so simple to just let it rest a little bit!
For an evenly sautéed chicken, set a foil-covered brick on top of the meat. The weight of the brick will quickly and evenly sear your chicken.
This never occurred to me! I have a stack of bricks outside that will now be put to good use. Just dust them off first!
If you want to cook chicken in a slow cooker, make sure you have one quart of space for each pound. Too little room will dry out the meat. (E.g., to cook three pounds of chicken, you’ll need a 3-quart slow cooker.)
Hmmm… another great one for me since the slow cooker is my life! I tend to cram the chicken in thinking the liquid was the most important thing! Apparently, chicken needs space!
When storing chicken in the freezer, pour some marinade into the bag as well. As the chicken freezes, the marinade will soak into the meat for an even more savory flavor!
I have never done this but it is now on my list! In fact, I don’t tend to freeze chicken because it never tastes the same. Now I know why!
Using a food mixer instead of a fork to shred cooked chicken can get the job done in 30 seconds or less!
I have seen this all over Facebook lately! I never knew you could do this!
It’s best not to rinse chicken before cooking it. Rinsing it could cause bacteria and germs to be splashed throughout your kitchen.
**Red faced** and guilty! I don’t know why I thought this would help! I will be stopping the rinsing immediately!
There you have it! 7 Tips that will make your chicken at home better! But if you really want good chicken, head to Cheddar’s to taste and devour everything from their homemade Chicken Pot Pie to their Dijon Chicken and Mushrooms plate! YUM-MMY!!
Want to eat some chicken at Cheddar’s on me? ONE of my readers will WIN a $50 Cheddar’s Gift Card! Just enter below and GOOD LUCK!
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