The Best Way To Cook Chicken

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Chicken, it’s what’s for dinner.  Or in my case, it’s what I accidentally forgot to take out of the freezer and defrost so now we have nothing to eat for dinner.

I have a love hate relationship with chicken.  On the one hand, it’s super healthy and a relatively inexpensive protein.  But on the other hand, it’s hard to cook when you’re busy.  And that is why when my mom mentioned dry poached chicken and how she makes it in bulk I was immediately interested.

My husband isn’t a fan of chicken cooked in the crockpot and pan frying can be messy and take a lot of time if you want to do it in bulk.  

Dry Poached Chicken

anaheim moms blog The thing I love about dry poached chicken is that you can use simple ingredients or you can get complex with flavors – it’s all about how much time you have and what you want your chicken to taste like when it’s done.

I decided to use salt & pepper with a little lemon juice and lemon zest.  

The chicken was going to be used in different salads that had different dressings so I didn’t want it to be too bold of flavors.  Just enough flavor that it would taste delicious in anything that I put it in.

Olive oil is a must.  You can also substitute and use butter if you prefer the flavor.

poached chicken Start with parchment paper.  Drizzle the parchment paper with olive oil and place your chicken breast on top of that.  Then, flip your chicken over so both sides of the chicken are coated with the olive oil.  

Then, lightly coat the chicken with your seasonings.  Flip the chicken over and coat the other side with seasonings.

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Then, outline your chicken in olive oil and begin to fold the parchment paper around your chicken breast.  You want to make sure that the entire piece of chicken is covered in parchment.  This ensures that all of the juice and flavors stay inside.  After that, place the chicken in a pan that is lined with parchment paper.  I love parchment paper.

Cook for 45-55 minutes at 400 degrees.  Depending on the thickness of your chicken breast it may take more or less time to cook.

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And that is it!  We chopped up the chicken and put it into baggies for individual use, but you can always freeze the chicken still wrapped in the parchment paper for future use.  I love that the chicken is moist, and not mushy.  

And I love that I can make a lot of chicken quickly.  Makes my life a lot easier!  What are some of your kitchen hacks?