Grilled chicken breast always too dry. What do differnt?

[Cibyl]

 

Marinade... first. Stop over cooking it... second. I like a Badia mojo marinade mostly on mine. Google it.

 

 

This^^^

 

Marinating or soaking in a brine is the key to doing boneless chicken breast.

[ke2]

I agree, my point was that you don't have to go Indiana Jones on it. Just throw it on the grill at a good temp, and don't cook it till it resembles your shoe.

Yep, you gotta watch the chicken more closely than beef. It goes pretty fast from nice and "tan" to brick texture

[HumanFuseBen]

And try this marinade on chicken! It will also make the BEST grilled salmon of all time if you marinate that in it, too.

 

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1//4 balsamic vinegar

1 heaping teaspon of Cavender's Greek Seasoning (find it on the spice isle at Wal Mart)

[Rampage]

A good overnight marinade and cooking for a shorter period of time and/or less heat might do the trick. Also, I can only grill them on the warming rack on my grill; not the primary surface. They cook too quickly and dry out before the center reaches 165 degrees.

[JimAnsell]

I can cook a steak med.rare and juicy on the same gas grill. Chicken thighs and wings always come out good too but, I can't get boneless chicken breast right. Too dry. Any one have any good tips?

 

Chicken breasts have very little fat content, so thats one reason.

Proper way to cook a titty.

1)pull it out of the fridge half an hour early or so and let it come up to room temp.

2) dab off moisture with a paper towel (this is so that step 4 turns out better)

3) hit it with some s&p, and a little cooking oil (canola, olive, whatever)

4) either sear each side on in a hot pan (just starting to smoke a bit), or put grill marks on it with your grill, or "grill pan". a well seasoned cast iron skillet is my fav. searing basicly seals in the moisture and makes for a nice flavorfull exterior what with those meat juices get all carmalized and yummy.

5) finish it in the oven. when i say finish, i mean 350-450 (depending on your oven or how quick you want to cook it) bring it up to 150 degreen internal temp, then pull it out and let it rest for 10 minutes or so before cutting into it.

in that 10 minutes, the residual heat will bring it up above a safe 160 degrees.

then you can cut into it, and if if you did it right, it'll be nice and juicy.

 

a simple brine or marinade before hanbd will make it ever more juicy and tender.

 

you should listen to me. i'm a professional.

[bassred]

SLow and low, I grill everything on low to medium and never have any issues. Also, making buttermilk a part of the marinade is a great way to make sure boneless skinless comes out super juicy. Make sure your meat is quality. Make sure it is properly thawed.

 

You cannot go wrong with these tips.

 

I mix Hot sauce and buttermilk to make an amazing and subtle flavor combo..

[JimAnsell]

you can always bard it to.

that means wrap it in bacon

[lumpy555]

REYNOLDS O V E N BAGS!!!!!!! remember to use a WHOLE chix. after its done baking; open bag,flip the chix up-side down, re-seal the bag, let it set bout half hour, that way the WHOLE CHIX BASK IN ITS OWN NATURAL JUICES!!!!

[Narita]

I can cook a steak med.rare and juicy on the same gas grill. Chicken thighs and wings always come out good too but, I can't get boneless chicken breast right. Too dry. Any one have any good tips?

 

 

Been some good suggestions here...I'll +1

 

Marinate

Higher heat (followed by lower heat)

Don't overcook

Baste

Like beef...don't cook it cold.

 

If this doesn't work for ya, then likely you either suck as a griller, or chicken breast isn't for you. Only other thing you could try is a real mayo/lemon/salt dip and bread crumbs....difficult to do on the grill, but easily done in a frying pan with a bit of oil.

[Narita]

 

lol @ all the secrets from the pros. I just grilled up chicken breasts Friday night. No marinade, nothing. Just fresh ones from the store. Popped them on, cooked them till they were JUST done right, and voila. THE best and most juicy chicken breasts I've ever eaten in my life. Most people cook them to death. Get thick ones too, they hold the juices better.

 

 

"Generally"...even the REAL pros recommend "sealing in the juices". Sear the outside...the move it to a lower heat.

 

I do agree with you though...if you know what you're doing, you can just throw it on your grill with wood chips/REAL briquettes and be just fine.

[eudaimonia02912]

brine it for 24 hours before cooking

Works well for pork chops, too

[parrotheada1a]

I have a slightly different opinion, learned from years in the restaurant biz. First part comes from the meat itself. Is it dry or is it already brined? Knowing the diff is important. Finding out what kind it is is required by the FDA, at least in America. Dry meat means that it comes from the store with just a few percent of retained water. Nothing else is added. Brined meat is recognized by a number of terms. If you see the words ''enhanced by a xx% solution'', self basting.... etc, you can be damn sure that it's a water added product. 90% of the time that also means that the meat is very lean, and often of inferior quality. Good for your waistline, not so good for your wallet or your health.

 

Processors mass inject chemical solutions into the meat, making them suck up water like a sponge. The piece of meat blows up like a balloon and looks real pretty in the meat case. What happens when you cook water added meat is that the water gets cooked out. Real quick too. Grilling, pan frying.... doesn't matter. So the whole thing shrinks like crazy and then dries out before it has time to cook up right.

 

The thing is, grilling isn't really the best way to cook a tittay. Use the dark parts of the bird for grilling, they have more fat... and will be moister in the process. Use the breasts for stir fry, deep fry, and braised stuff where you can add water /oil into the cooking process.

[meelosh123]

If it ends up dry and bland, slice it up and toss it with a marinade/vinaigrette.

[Cougar Hunter]

Am I the only one who thinks marinades are a waste of time and ingredients?

 

Seriously, if you can't make a decent boneless chicken breast with some peanut oil, a dry rub, and some charcoal, you should just kill yourself, immediately.

[primeholy]

Last breasts I made I just used dale sauce. Came out righteous! I do get times where I overcook though and they come out kinda {censored}ty dry. Depends on how paranoid I am that day!

[IbanezJon]

Had the same problem when frying it in a pan. Since using a convection oven, haven't had any problems, it's juicy and tender like a roast. Those ovens aren't very expensive either. I'm talking about the small portable ones which are like a glass blender bowl with a lid on the top that has a coil heat thing in it, with a fan, that's it. The main difference between that and a normal oven is the fan that circles the air around, other then that it's just smaller. It does make a big difference in the taste though. Especially if you like your meat juicy and cooked evenly.

[ComOp]

learn2brine

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=brine

[almightycrunch]

boneless skinless chicken breasts are 25 minutes at 350 degrees, and no flipping whoops, sorry, didnt read thoroughly enough the first time, I dont cook them on the grill.

actually, I should have added that I always pan sear them quickly on high heat as well, prior to baking, to carmelize the exterior and develop flavor.

[reddt1]

Letting chicken breast rest for 10 minutes is the key (assuming you didn't overcook it in the first place).

[Chris.novak]

If you can, get a crown so on the bone. If not use a whole chicken, brine it whole and then poach it in either water or chicken stock on a low heat until just cooked, and rest for 15-20 min. Then remove breasts and fry very quickly in hot oil until skin starting to go brown. Then add a little butter and it with start to froth and baste it with the froth until the butter turns nutty brown.

Searing any meat does not "trap" any moisture. This goes for any meat. It's just creates a very fast reduction of juices which come out giving you a more intense flavour.

[jonny guitar]

If it hasn't been said yet, Brine it before cooking; if it has been said, +1 to the Brining it before cooking.

[JimAnsell]

Am I the only one who thinks marinades are a waste of time and ingredients? .

 

 

i hope so, cause its not true at all.

you can take grilled chicken to a much higher level flavor wise with a bad ass marinade.

[SteveiJobzz]

 

Am I the only one who thinks marinades are a waste of time and ingredients? Seriously, if you can't make a decent boneless chicken breast with some peanut oil, a dry rub, and some charcoal, you should just kill yourself, immediately.

 

 

Absolutely not. I'm not a fan of marinades. Or at least the hype behind marinades. All marinades do is add (usually) acidic content (vinegar, citric acid, etc.) which usually masks (read: brightens the {censored} out of) all the things that are good about grilling (deep, smoky, dark flavors).

[ss454]

I'm not sure what everyone else here said but I can tell you this first hand. I cook 90% of the time with a gas grill. I know it's a no no but it's faster and much easier for me AND I already have mine seasoned so the food is still tasty. Now with to cook chicken on an open grill without it being dry you need to put on a rub of some type. My favorite rub is the Rendevouz from Memphis. Roll the breasts in canola (it won't burn on the grill) then give them a generous rub in the Rendevouz and slap them on the grill. Mine has a regular surface and a higher up rack. I sear them on one side on the lower rack for 5 min then flip them onto the top rack for another 20 minutes and then wrap them in foil and let them sit for at least 10 minutes before you serve them...same for steaks.

[JimAnsell]

Absolutely not. I'm not a fan of marinades. Or at least the hype behind marinades. All marinades do is add (usually) acidic content (vinegar, citric acid, etc.) which usually masks (read: brightens the {censored} out of) all the things that are good about grilling (deep, smoky, dark flavors).