Chicken Recipes - Simple, Baked, Fried & More | Taste of Home (2024)

FAQs

What makes baked chicken taste better? ›

Add a touch of spice to your chicken breast by combining paprika, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, ginger, garlic and olive oil to create a paste. Then cover your chicken breast with the paste and pat down to secure.

Just because the chicken is already cooked doesn't mean it can't benefit from a rub. Before reheating, make a custom blend of your favorite spices like paprika, cayenne, onion or garlic powder. Mix in dried herbs or a bit of sugar for beautiful caramelization, then sprinkle it evenly over the skin.

Brine. Like a marinade, a brine helps chicken breast soak up as much moisture as possible before cooking. It only requires three ingredients: water, salt, and a pinch of sugar.

Yes, you should always season your chicken before cooking when it's raw. You can even do this up to 24 hours before if you have the time. Why? Because leaving the seasoning on your chicken overnight in the fridge will help it start to trap moisture in the chicken, which will make it nice and juicy once cooked.

Marinating not only adds flavor, but the combination of healthy fat and acid in most recipes also helps tenderize the meat. A good marinade is roughly three parts oil to one part acid, plus salt and other seasonings like spices, crushed garlic, or a little natural sugar.

The reaction of cysteine and sugar can lead to characteristic meat flavour specially for chicken and pork. Volatile compounds including 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, 2-furfurylthiol, methionol, 2,4,5-trimethyl-thiazole, nonanol, 2-trans-nonenal, and other compounds have been identified as important for the flavour of chicken.

Just sprinkling a little salt on top of your chicken right before cooking it will only season the surface. But seasoning the chicken with salt well ahead of time or brining it in a salt-water solution will draw salt deep into the meat, resulting in a very tasty piece of chicken.

How do chefs get chicken so tender? ›

Brines and marinades help tenderize the meat by bringing more moisture in the protein. With that extra moisture, you lose less when you cook. The simplest way to do this is with a dry brine — unwrap the chicken breasts, salt them on both sides and let them sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

You see, without a generous sprinkling of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, your chicken is basically destined for blandness. After you've pulled your chicken out of its marinade (or even if you're not using a marinade), always sprinkle all sides of the breast with salt and pepper.

That rule is, basically, when cooking meat, both sides have to be seasoned equally. This makes sense. You want every bite to be perfectly seasoned...exactly like every other bite.

Rub the Spices into the Chicken

Before adding a dry rub, the chicken should be fully defrosted. Place the protein in a baking pan to avoid the spread of bacteria and blot it with paper towels to absorb excess juices. Once dry, drizzle olive oil on the chicken to help the spices stick.

Brush chicken breasts with oil and sprinkle with your chosen seasonings. Rub spices into the breasts to be sure they stick. Don't forget to season both sides for the biggest flavor. Arrange chicken breasts in a single layer in a baking or roasting pan.

Just sprinkling a little salt on top of your chicken right before cooking it will only season the surface. But seasoning the chicken with salt well ahead of time or brining it in a salt-water solution will draw salt deep into the meat, resulting in a very tasty piece of chicken.