5 Ways You Should Be Seasoning Chicken Breast But Aren't

Poultry protein is lean, nutritious, and easy to find. What's more, there are so many different ways to prepare chicken that you can make everything from basic breakfasts to simple lunches and weeknight meals without ever running out of ideas. Whether you're using a two-step cooking method for chicken breasts or roasting a whole chicken in the oven, the one thing you should always be mindful of is your choice of seasonings. With chicken breasts in particular, there is often the risk of bland or dried-out meat. Choosing the right spices and marinades is key to cooking your chicken breasts to perfection. Take a cue from cuisines around the world and elevate your next chicken breast dish with flavors like peri-peri sauce, sumac, sansho pepper, tamarind, and shashlik marinade.

Basic poultry seasoning is typically a mixture of savory spices, including rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, and black pepper. While these are all fine and good for a typical chicken dish, it definitely benefits your palate and culinary skills to think outside of the box with different flavors. Trying sauces, spices, and seasonings from around the world will breathe new life into old favorite dishes and even give you ideas for new recipes and techniques to try out.

Hailing from Mozambique, peri-peri (or piri-piri) sauce is composed of bird's eye chilis, garlic, onion, lemon, and bell peppers. What makes piri-piri sauce unique is its impressive level of heat and a chunky texture that makes it an ideal marinade for chicken breasts. This sauce can be easily replicated at home with a little time, patience, and a good food processor. Otherwise, you can also find several different store-bought variations, such as Nando's Peri-Peri Sauce in several intensity levels ranging from mild to XX hot.

If you aren't already accustomed to using peri-peri sauce in your cooking, make sure to taste test it first, especially if you're using a store-bought brand. You'll want to make sure that the spice and heat are tolerable before adding it to your chicken breasts. To get the best flavor, prepare your chicken breasts by marinating them for at least two hours to an entire day if time permits before grilling, pan frying, or baking them. Remember, the secret to the juiciest chicken breast ever is adding a small splash of water to your marinade when getting your chicken ready for cooking.

Made from dried sumac berries, this popular Middle Eastern spice is an excellent choice of seasoning for chicken breasts because of its distinct earthy and tart flavor. It is also included in za'atar seasoning, bringing a punch of citrus taste to the mix. You can use sumac by itself for a heavy presence of tanginess or mix it with other complementary spices and sauces to create the ultimate seasoning blend or marinade for your chicken breasts.

Simply swap chicken breasts in place of chicken thighs in a tahini-marinated Mediterranean grilled chicken recipe, which combines sumac with a variety of spices, tahini, and yogurt for an unforgettable meal. You can also experiment with making your own homemade za'atar blend and adjust the ratio to include more sumac to suit your tastes. Whether you bake, broil, grill, or pan fry your chicken breasts, the zingy addition of sumac will definitely elevate the entire dish.

Speaking of citrus, sansho pepper packs a punch of citrus flavor albeit with a much heftier level of tingly spice. Similar to the Chinese sichuan peppercorn, Japanese sansho peppercorns also create a numbing-like effect on the tongue when consumed that make for a unique mouthfeel when used to season chicken breasts. You can either use sansho pepper on its own as a dry rub or mixed into a seasoning blend such as shichimi togarashi, also known as Japanese seven spice.

Remembering that a little bit goes a long way with such a potent spice, start slowly and taste as you go. Sansho pepper also goes well when mixed into a marinade with such complementary flavors as soy sauce, rice vinegar, and miso paste. You can use this to prepare chicken skewers for grilling or make a baked chicken dish to serve with a side of steamed rice or a green salad, remembering that you'll want whatever accompanying dish to be mild enough to contrast the heavy citrusy spice.

It's time to stop overlooking tamarind, especially when making chicken. The fruit that grows in brown, pea-shaped pods boasts a balance of sweet and sour flavors, perfect for several cooking applications. A staple ingredient of southeast Asian cuisine, tamarind is often found in pad Thai dishes, Indian chutneys, Filipino soups like sinigang, and much more. Tamarind can be store-bought either as whole pods of fruit or in the form of blocks, as a paste, or a powdered seasoning like Raw Essentials Tamarind Powder (available on Amazon).

Using tamarind seasoning is an easy way to elevate a basic chicken dish, but there are a lot more options beyond just baking and grilling. Take a cue from Filipino cuisine and try a riff on a simple Filipino fried chicken recipe by creating a seasoning blend with tamarind powder and other sour spices to sprinkle on top of freshly fried chicken breast tenders. You can also mix tamarind paste with BBQ sauce for a dipping condiment to use with your favorite fried chicken.

If you're a fan of chopping chicken breasts into chunks fit for kabob skewers, then a traditional Ukrainian shashlik marinade might be right for you. Even if you intend on baking your chicken breasts as-is without cutting them into chunks, this unique blend of tart, savory, and spicy ingredients will make a perfect seasoning for your dish. Shashlik comes in many forms and is closely associated with the countries of Georgia, Russia, and Turkey, though there are also other variations found throughout Indian cuisine which are inspired by dishes such as chicken tikka and chicken Manchurian.

At the heart of this popular marinade is a base of either yogurt or sour cream mixed with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, dill, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and green onions. Slather this on your chicken breasts for a taste sensation that you can grill, bake, or pan fry. Be sure to serve it alongside a complementary dish, such as vinegret, a Russian pickle and beet salad.