The versatile chicken breast

A chicken breast is one of the most versatile pieces of meat that you can cook. It can be fried, baked, grilled, broiled, sautéed or poached. You can serve it with a sauce, gravy, battered or with an endless variety of seasonings. It is easy to cook and inexpensive to buy. It is, in fact, perfect for just about any occasion.

Chicken breast can be cooked on the bone, cut into tenders or just served boneless. Simple or complex, there are many ways to cook chicken breasts.

When cooking a chicken breast, it is very important to make sure that it is cooked thoroughly. The exact internal temperature that is considered fully cooked is minimally 160 degrees to 170 degrees. To check the internal temperature of a chicken breast, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. If it registers 160 remove it from the heat source, the temperature will continue to rise while it rests.

The wonderful thing about chicken breasts is that they require very little preparation. If the breast has the bone in you will need to decide if you want to keep the skin on during the cooking process. To add layers of flavor to the breast, you can marinate it for about an hour prior to cooking. You can make your own marinade or you can use a commercial one. A very simple choice is oil and vinegar with lemon pepper added.

You place the chicken and the marinade in a plastic bag with enough marinade to cover the amount of chicken that you are cooking. Shake the bag to get all the breast coated and let rest in the refrigerator. Turn the bag over after about 30 minutes. A bottle of salad dressing such as Italian, Caesar or Balsamic Vinaigrette will also work very well.

With a boneless chicken breast, stuffing it is very popular. The breast needs to be cut in half or butterflied. You can then place a wide variety of stuffing between the two pieces. You can use vegetables such as spinach or meat and cheeses like ham and Swiss cheese. Another method uses butter and herbs. Use your imagination. After you have stuffed the breast, use twine to tie the two halves together and bake according to recipe directions.

The sky is the limit when it comes to coating the chicken breast. You can dredge it with flour, salt, and pepper and then dip it in buttermilk to mimic fried chicken or to make a fried chicken breast. You can crush nuts and roll the breast in the nuts and then bake or pan fry. A simply flavored bread crumb coating is always tasty and if you want it even simpler, brush the breast with olive oil and then sprinkle with dried or fresh rosemary. Use your imagination, you can use almost anything to coat and season your chicken breast.

The amazingly versatile chicken breast can be adapted to almost any method of cooking. If you need to come home to a prepared meal, you can place your boneless chicken breasts into the crock pot with a jar of spaghetti sauce or a can of creamy soup, throw in a few chopped veggies and some macaroni or rice and come home to dinner ready to place on your plate with a tossed salad.

Turn on the grill and cook your chicken breast with some grilled vegetables for another quick choice. Set your oven to 350 degrees and you can bake your chicken breast for less than 30 minutes for boneless and slightly more for bone-in.

Place some butter and olive oil in a heavy fry pan and set to medium-high, add the chicken breasts and cover. After 5 minutes check how well it has browned. When it reaches the correct color, turn the breast over. When both sides are brown, lower the heat to medium-low and allow to cook for 5 more minutes, check the internal temperature, Remove when it reaches 160 degrees.

A stir-fry is a great way to use chicken breast. Place four boneless skinless chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag with one cup of teriyaki sauce. Marinate in the fridge for an hour. In the mean time prepare a cup of uncooked white or brown rice.

Prep the vegetables. You can choose almost anything, I prefer red, green, and yellow peppers, one leak, a small red onion and one cup of leafy greens such as spinach or kale or broccoli.

Remove the breasts from marinade and slice into one-inch pieces. Using a wok heat some olive oil or whatever oil you prefer. Add the chicken. Place the vegetables in with the chicken and add a splash of fresh teriyaki sauce.When the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a platter on top of the rice and serve.

Chicken breasts adapt well to ethnic dishes. Whether it is a stir fry or chicken Marsala, you can impress guests and your family with just a few ingredients and very little cooking expertise. For the new cook or the expert, the chicken breast places the entire culinary world at your fingertips.  Chicken breasts never get old, how could they with an almost endless variety of ways to cook  them?