Coat Frozen Chicken Breast With Fat To Keep It Moist And Juicy While Cooking
Frozen chicken breast works great in a pinch, but with the convenience of freezing comes a few inconveniences. Specifically, frozen chicken requires more time to cook than the fresh version, and often results in an adverse texture; chicken that's sat in the freezer for more than two months tends to be less tender than its original self. It therefore runs the risk of becoming too dry — a texture for which there's, luckily, an easy fix. Rather than skimp on juiciness, simply add a form of fat to your post-freezer chicken breasts. A fatty supplement helps revive your poultry with necessary, added moisture, combatting the impact of the freezer.
To pull off this technique, you can brush frozen chicken breasts with a form of fat before baking. Baked chicken, in particular, runs a high risk of drying out, so you'll want to add this coating before popping chicken in the oven. As for what kind of fat works best, the options are relatively wide open. Start with your preferred flavors — or whatever you have on hand — and go from there.
Coat chicken in everything from oil to mayonnaise to limit dryness
For this trick, you'll need to get your hands or brush dirty — but the result is well worth the fat. Properly and thoroughly coating chicken in something with a high-fat content will preserve the chicken's exterior; the poultry will absorb some of the moisture while the meat cooks to a safe temperature for consumption. For this step, you can incorporate a slew of options. Oil and mayonnaise are common, popular ingredients, as are butter and yogurt. Such fats also tend to comprise marinades — though marinades don't necessarily add moisture to chicken.
Once you've covered your chicken, you can cook it in a multitude of ways. When baking, aim for a temperature of 425 degrees Fahrenheit for the duration of about half an hour. If you'd rather forgo the oven entirely, you can alternatively use the stovetop, Instant Pot, or air fryer. Frozen chicken doesn't have to limit you, your cooking technique, or your desired flavor. So long as you preemptively add moisture, you may barely taste the difference between frozen and fresh.