10 replies to this topic

[sillyken]

Hello all,

I know this has been discussed so forgive the repeat. I love the way this recipe smells when making it.

6 Boneless chicken breasts halves
Salt and pepper
1 cup of maple flavored syrup
1/2 cup of fruit or white vinegar
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of brown sugar.

The problem: she calls for it to bake for 1 1/2 hours covered and baste for a half hour uncovered. The chicken always comes out tough and dry. What advice would you have to make the chicken more moist.

Ken

[sa1937]

I can't imagine cooking chicken breast halves for 2 hours total and not having them come out dry. The cooking time is just too long...what oven temperature do you use?

[sillyken]

325

[missmellie]

I totally agree with Sylvia. That cooking time is much too long unless the chicken breasts are huge and frozen solid to begin with.

[sillyken]

So about how long do you suppose it should take?

[sillyken]

For those that might be interested to know the answer to my last question of how to make a chicken so it doesn't come out to dry please refer to the following article:

http://busycooks.abo...ocookchixbr.htm

It says that you should soak the chicken in salt and sugar water. How long depends on how thawed the chicken is.

I know it's a silly question but hey that's just me.

Ken

[love2travel]

For those that might be interested to know the answer to my last question of how to make a chicken so it doesn't come out to dry please refer to the following article:

http://busycooks.about.com/od/chickenrecipes/a/howtocookchixbr.htm

It says that you should soak the chicken in salt and sugar water. How long depends on how thawed the chicken is.

I know it's a silly question but hey that's just me.

Ken

That is called a brine. I brine whole chickens, duck, pork, etc. Sometimes my brine contains juniper berries, bay leaves, citrus zest, maple syrup, etc.

But 1.5-2 hours is crazy long for chicken breasts. I would bake for 30 minutes and then see if they are done. It also helps to pound the chicken into an even thickness - often breasts are thicker on one end than the other.

[sillyken]

Oh My Gosh!!!! I have found heaven. I soaked that bird for almost two days and put it in the slow cooker for four hours. You want to talk about something good. You have got to try this recipe!!

[sa1937]

Oh My Gosh!!!! I have found heaven. I soaked that bird for almost two days and put it in the slow cooker for four hours. You want to talk about something good. You have got to try this recipe!!

So what recipe did you finally use, Ken? Inquiring minds need to know.

[sillyken]

I still used the recipe above but I believe the brining was the key. When I went to slice the chicken it fell off in nice juicy pieces. No dry chicken here. I'm going to use some of it for a pot pie later this week. Thanks for all your input. No more dry chicken for me!!

[love2travel]

Yes - brining makes ALL the difference for chicken breast as it is a dry cut of meat to begin with. Just wait until you experiment with various brines. I have an entire book on just brines.