Hi, everybody.
My name's Amiel Stanek.
I'm the editor of Basically at Bon Appétit,
and this almost every way to cook a chicken breast.
This, my friends, is a chicken breast.
There are two of them on every chicken, it's lean,
mostly protein, a little bit of fat.
We're gonna take these chicken breasts
and cook them in as many ways as we can think of
so you can see the process and the end result.
Up first, baked chicken breast.
There's nothing that sounds quite as boring
as a baked chicken breast, but we're gonna do it anyway.
Just sling it in there at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes.
Look at that, mm, yeah.
Definitely cooked.
So, as expected,
this is a pretty unappetizing looking piece of protein.
Normally, you're baking something
for a slightly longer period of time
versus trying to blast it with intense high heat.
That kinda heat just has more of a tendency
to dry out a lean cut like this
so you won't get a lot of color on it.
Baking is not really a term I would use
in conjunction with meat, generally.
Roasted chicken breast.
Okay, so baking was a little bit of a bust,
but we're gonna roast it now,
which is just baking at a higher heat.
Raise the heat to 425 degrees,
and this is gonna go for a shorter period of time,
18 to 20 minutes.
Alright, it didn't really brown as much as we were hoping.
I don't know if that temperature was high enough
to get exactly what we want,
but it looks a lot better than baked.
It would definitely be a different story
if we had some skin on there,
which could really take on some color
and get crispy and delicious, but yeah,
it's nicely cooked.
Nothing to write home about,
but there's also nothing wrong with it.
Broiled chicken breast.
So, we're not quite done with the oven.
We're gonna put the food very close to the heating element,
get that as hot as we can get it, and see what happens.
Normally, this is a technique that we'd use
just for finishing food, not the whole cooking process.
Alright, doesn't look too bad.
See, there's some nice browning
that we didn't get from the last two.
We got some color on the bottom,
which is kind of surprising, actually.
That is pretty much a perfectly cooked chicken breast,
I gotta say.
The grain is nice and tight without being super cinched up,
it's nice and juicy, it's slicing nicely.
So, if you're gonna cook chicken in the oven,
this is not a bad way to do it.
You know what sounds unappetizing?
Boiled chicken breast.
We're just gonna crank the hear, get this water boiling,
add a little salt to it 'cause we're not monsters,
and then we're just gonna drop this chicken breast
straight in there.
The thing is, as muscle fibers cook,
they can track and tense up,
and then any kind of fat or juiciness in between them
has the potential to end up, in this case,
getting pushed out into the water.
So, you're probably actually gonna end up
with better tasting water than you are chicken
at the end of the day.
This one has zero color
and is incredibly unappealing looking.
This is not a way to cook chicken.
Poached chicken breast.
This water is at room temperature now,
and we're gonna raise the heat over time
with the chicken breast in it,
which is going to cook it a little bit more gently
than the boiling method.
We kinda overcooked this.
It's still really shrunk up and seized up,
which is how you know that a lot of the juices escaped,
but at least it's gonna have some of the aromatic qualities
of those peppercorns, the bay leaf, the garlic.
You know, all in all,
not a terrible way to cook a chicken breast.
Braised chicken breast.
Technically, a braise is cooking something
partially submerged in a flavorful liquid.
So, the first thing we're gonna do is sear it, you know,
maybe five to eight minutes total
just to get some color on the outside.
Now, we're gonna add some onions, carrots, celery,
a little bit of garlic.
Once you see those brown bits,
we're gonna add some wine and nestle our chicken breast
right in there and bring it all up to a boil
and cover it for 15 to 16 minutes.
Well, it definitely smells great.
It's kinda weird to serve it without those veggies,
but we're just evaluating the chicken breast.
Braising is something you would normally do
for tougher cuts of meat,
things that have more connective tissue and fat
to render out and break down,
not normally how you'd cook something like a chicken breast,
which is a lean, quick cooking protein.
But, you know, it's actually pretty good.
You can taste the onion, taste the carrot,
taste a little bit of the wine.
Not the best way to cook a chicken breast, but not bad.
Milk-braised chicken breast.
This is kind of a cool method.
We're gonna braise the chicken in milk then add lemon zest,
making a sauce that's kind of a half whey and a half curds.
We're gonna drop in sage, lemon peel, garlic cloves,
and a cinnamon stick,
then we're gonna pour our whole milk all over that,
let it come up to a boil,
and then drop that temperature down.
Let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes
on the lowest possible heat and voila,
chicken cooked in milk! (bell rings)
It really looks and feels a lot like
the braised chicken that we already had,
but it's perfectly cooked inside,
and it's got some of that dairy richness
and the aroma of the sage and the garlic.
This is probably one of the most delicious ones
that we've had so far.
Steamed chicken breast.
Instead of submerging the chicken in water,
we're gonna let the water boil underneath
and the steam come up. (bell rings)
We got no color, but at least it does feel pretty juicy
and we've got some nice, even cooking.
Microwave time!
Pop it in there,
make sure the microwave in set on high for three minutes,
and see what happens on the other side.
(bell rings) This is definitely
the least appealing chicken breast we've cooked so far.
Some might even call it corpse-like (groans).
Rotisserie chicken breast.
Alright, we're gonna...
Um, okay.
Uh, just get it...
I'm just gonna get it hooked on there.
Around and around she goes.
This is not a good idea.
(bell rings) Cutting into it,
it looks really dry and mealy.
Rotisserie, no bueno.
Alright, so we're gonna play around with the deep fryer now.
We've got our neutral oil at 350 degrees,
and then we're just gonna drop our naked chicken breast in.
You definitely wanna use a neutral oil here,
something with a high smoke point.
The thing that's cool apartment deep frying something
is that the heat is super direct
and it's all around the chicken at the same time.
The oil is heating and driving moisture out of the chicken
at a super consistent rate.
Okay, it's not looking so bad.
It's got a lot of color on it,
but I'm a little worried
that the exterior was kind of crusty,
and not in a good way.
It's actually fairly moist.
I'm not mad at it,
but this would definitely be even better if we,
say, coated the breast in tempura batter.
The coating protects the chicken and provides a shell
that's gonna trap the steam and juices inside.
We're gonna come back in about 12 minutes
and see what our chicken looks like,
making sure that we flip it halfway through
'cause it's not fully submerged.
That's like a perfect medium well.
You've got that cool kind of crackly exterior,
you've got that crispy crust.
Very juicy looking inside.
That's perfect.
This is a pretty great way of cooking a chicken breast.
Okay, so this is more a country-fried chicken breast.
Get it in the seasoned flour then into some beaten egg,
and then we're gonna put it back in the flour
so you can develop a nice, thick coating.
We're gonna get that in 350 degree oil for 10 to 15 minutes
and then we're gonna turn it after about five minutes.
Okay, there is no possible way
that you can look at this country-fried chicken breast
and not think it looks delicious.
Has a ton of texture, it's crispy, it smells great,
it's nice and juicy on the inside
and because we weren't directly exposing the meat to heat,
you don't dry it out.
And instead, it's got this protective, delicious,
edible shell, kind of like we did with the tempura.
My name is Amiel, and I endorsed this method.
Seared chicken breast.
Alright, I'm just gonna get this pan real hot,
a little olive oil in there,
salt on the chicken, and slap it in.
Chicken breast works better with gentle cooking methods,
but the pay off will be
that we can manage to get the exterior nice and crusty,
then we can keep it juicy and tender on the inside.
This seared chicken breast definitely has more color
on the outside than previous iterations,
but we may have actually burned it a bit on this side.
Feels tender, it's got a little bit of pink on the inside,
so this is definitely gonna be one of the juicier,
tastier ones.
Next up, we've got the old college dorm room delight,
the George Foreman Grill.
We're gonna slap it on here
and it's gonna make sure there's kind of a direct heat
on all parts of the chicken.
This'll probably go for about 10 minutes.
So, look, I mean, this has got those grill marks
that you see in a commercial chicken breast.
This actually might be a great method for cooking chicken
because you've got that nice direct,
but moderate heat on both sides.
You've got some browning, the inside is nice and juicy.
Really not a bad way to cook chicken breast
if you don't have a kitchen.
Hot salt block cooked chicken breast.
Here we got a pink Himalayan salt block ripping hot.
It's kind of like a cast iron,
just kind of a silly way to cook a chicken breast.
I feel like there are probably other things
that the salt block is better for,
but at least the flavor is spot on.
Chicken breast under a brick.
We have this pre-heated brick
that we're gonna plop right on top.
You know, it actually looks pretty good inside,
nice and moist,
and that exterior might be a little bit leathery,
but it definitely cooked quickly
and we got good color on one side, at least.
Ironed chicken breast?
Say you're in a hotel room, wanna cook some chicken breast.
You've got an iron. (bell rings)
You know, it's actually, it's not that bad.
You've got nice sear and color.
I don't know that I would fully endorse the iron
as a method for cooking chicken breast,
but it's not the worst thing that you could do.
Air-fried chicken breast.
So, what you're looking at right now is an air-fryer.
It's a kind of gadget that circulates air around with a fan
to try and mimic the deep frying process.
Alright, so we're gonna set this to 390 degrees,
and we're gonna let it go for about 13 minutes.
And yeah, that looks like a cooked chicken breast, alright.
You know, and it feels pretty good.
We've got these kind of spots on it,
which I guess could pass
for some kind of browning or coloring.
The inside's looking pretty okay.
A bit leathery, but on the whole, this gets a passing grade,
but like a C, not like a B plus.
Everybody loves an instant pot.
It's basically just a pressure cooker
with a lot more buttons on it.
We're just gonna throw the chicken breast in there
with a little bit of water, some salt.
There we go, 10 minutes.
It's really nothing to write home about,
but it was cooked with pressurized steam
instead of regular steam.
When you have it in that steamed pot,
you can't really check on it, which is a bummer.
This method really works a lot better for fattier meats
or things that want a slow braise.
I'm not really impressed.
Slow-cooked chicken breast.
The whole idea behind a slow cooker
is that it maintains a low heat for a long period of time.
We're gonna add some celery and carrot,
which is gonna add a little bit of sweetness, some parsley.
We're gonna pop that lid on,
and we're gonna cook it on low heat for two to three hours.
If this was a chicken thigh, this would be falling apart,
juicy, tender, but instead, it's falling apart, dry AF,
and doesn't have that much going on.
Maybe if you're the kinda person who likes dry,
shredded chicken tacos,
this would be a great way to cook chicken,
but if you like food, this is a bad way to cook chicken.
So, here were have a Romertopf.
It's a German clay pot.
We're gonna put the chicken and some aromatics
then a little bit of liquid in here,
and then we're gonna put it in the oven
and let the temperature slowly come up.
It'll be that nice, even heat over the course of 45 minutes.
Alright, so after all of that,
the clay pot chicken breast looks pretty much the same
as the poached and steamed and boiled.
One thing that's hard is we weren't able
to really monitor what's going on,
so you just kinda set it and hope that it's done at the end.
This actually looks a little bit dry and overcooked,
but at least it smells nice.
So, that's something.
Sous vide chicken breast.
Sous vide literally means under a vacuum.
This device is called an immersion circulator,
and it's gonna keep that water at a consistent 150 degrees.
You're gonna seal your chicken breast in an airtight pouch
and let it sit until the chicken comes up to temp
in about three hours.
There is absolutely no chance of overcooking
because the water is gonna stay
at that same temperature the entire time.
Alright, chicken's sous vide. (bell rings)
It looks pretty much the same
as the other moist cooking methods,
but it feels extremely tender.
It's like perfectly cooked,
but kind of in a spooky ghost-like way,
which is why people tend to sear things
after they've cooked them sous vide.
It may not be exciting, but you're gonna nail it every time.
Okay, so we're gonna use this gadget called a Searzall.
It's really a diffuser that you attach
to a regular camping torch
so you're not hitting food with a direct jet of flame.
I have no idea how long this is gonna take.
Normally, you'd use the Searzall to brown something
that had already been cooked,
but here we're gonna use it
to actually cook this chicken breast all the way through.
That char is definitely more on the burnt side
than the brown side. (bell rings)
It's not got that caramelized flavor that we're looking for,
and it's definitely a little bit over.
This method is super hard to control,
so I don't know that I would recommend it.
Dehydrated chicken breast.
Look, I've never dehydrated a chicken breast before,
but the idea is, alright, you've got this dehydrator,
it's just a box with a fan
and it's got a small heating unit in it
so you can set it to an extremely low temperature.
We're gonna put the chicken breast in,
and then we're gonna leave it for 24 hours and come back,
and hopefully that will slowly drive out the moisture.
That does not look like food.
That is not food.
That was chicken, and now it is a piece of wood or rock.
Don't really think that anybody should eat this,
and I actually don't know if there is a way to eat it.
This isn't edible, do not do this.
Now, en papillote. So, we have this nice little
heart-shaped parchment situation,
and we're gonna get that chicken breast in there
and hit it with a little bit of salt, some aromatics,
just some lemon and thyme,
and we add a splash of wine so it kind of steams
and puffs up in this little parchment paper pocket.
We're gonna cook this bad boy at 350 degrees
for about 28 minutes
'til the packet kinda puffs up a little bit
and we can just see a little bit of steam escaping.
And it's puffed, we got a puffed papillote.
(bell rings) Smelly really good,
super lemony and kind of herbaceous.
This has promise.
Those aromatics didn't have a whole lotta time to penetrate,
but definitely a cooking method
that lends some flavor to the meat.
Alright, more French.
Poulet au pain.
I don't know, chicken in bread, I think.
We got some puff pastry here.
We're gonna put the chicken breast in there
and make a little chicken pop tart,
crimp the edges with a fork so it stays nice and tight,
brush it with a little bit of egg wash
so it gets nice and gloss, and once it's sealed,
we're gonna pop it into a 375 degree oven
for about 25 minutes.
Mm, chicken hot pocket. (bell rings)
It's nice and brown, smells real buttery.
It actually looks like the bottom puff pastry
absorbed a little bit of that chicken liquid,
so it's not quite as cooked as we might want it to be,
but it did trap the heat in.
What's not to like?
This is a good way to eat chicken.
Salt-baked chicken breast.
This is just salt that's been mixed with beaten egg whites
to kind of the consistency of wet sand.
We're gonna pack the chicken breast in it,
pop it in a 400 degree over for about 40 minutes.
At this point,
you can definitely see that there's kind of more browning
around the edges where there isn't chicken.
So, this method is definitely better
for a skin-on piece of chicken.
That salt kind of drew some of the moisture
actually out of the exterior.
This isn't awful.
It's definitely a little bit overcooked,
and the saving grace of this method may just be
that the chicken is very well-seasoned, even if it is dry.
Ah, the great outdoors.
Propane grill.
We've got these grated pre-heated over medium high heat,
and we're just gonna set the chicken breast
straight down there.
The thing about a propane grill
is that it's super convenient.
You don't have to wait for it to get going.
You tend to get these grill marks
that kinda make it look like a TV commercial,
but we don't get the kind of even,
all over caramelization
that you might get from a charcoal grill.
But it's juicy, it's tender, it's tasty.
At the end of the day, it's a chicken breast cooked outside.
Smoked chicken breast.
Alright, we're gonna sling that chicken breast
directly in there and let it go at 225
for an hour and a half to two hours.
Alright, let's unlock this thang, and the chicken,
it definitely has gotten a lot darker.
It smells like smoked food.
You can already tell cutting into it
that it's a little bit on the dry side, a little bit tough.
I think this would've been really delicious
if it was a bigger chicken breast
or a bone-in chicken breast.
Cooked this way, it's a bit dry on the outside,
but the flavor is really delicious and smoky.
Coal-cooked chicken breast.
Okay, so we got our charcoal grill going,
we've got chicken, we've got tin foil.
We're gonna wrap it up.
Some people might call this a hobo pack,
some people might call it a steamboat,
but the idea here is that we're gonna seal it
and we're putting it directly on the coals.
So, you've kinda got direct heat on one side,
but then the chicken juices are steaming
and creating a moist, hot environment
that'll eventually cook the chicken.
It's up to temp,
and it's almost got a little bit of browning
on the bottom side where it was in contact with the coals.
If you were camping,
this wouldn't be a horrible way to cook it,
but you'd probably wanna incorporate
some aromatics into the situation.
What could be better than cooking chicken outside?
Campfire cooked chicken breast, Boy Scout style,
just above the flames,
kind of like you're cooking a marshmallow.
Turn it around like a hot doggie.
It's kind a like a chicken lollipop.
Alright, chicken a la stick.
I roasted this over the fire,
it actually has some nice color on it.
Let me get rid of this stick here.
Okay, it actually looks nice and juicy,
just a little bit of pink in there.
Got that nice band of smoke around the edges.
Let's see how this tastes.
It has a nice kind of smoky, wood roasted flavor.
This actually may be one of the best methods we've done yet.
Alright, a few takeaways.
One, that boneless, skinless chicken breast
is kind of always going to be at a disadvantage
for direct heat cooking methods
because you don't have any skin or bone
or any kind of insulation.
Two, because chicken breast is super lean,
it doesn't love the super low and slow method,
but low is a good way to go.
And three,
chicken breast is always kinda gonna be a blank canvas.
It wants some extra flavor applied to it,
whether that's in the form of aromatics in a braising liquid
or some kind of marinade or glaze.
And that's it,
that's almost every way to cook a chicken breast.
I personally cannot look at another chicken breast
for another year or so, so if you come up with a better way,
you can just go ahead and leave it in the comments.
I'll find it eventually.
(fire roaring)
