How to perfectly tenderize the chicken

Read on to know how you can tenderize the chicken well for a perfectly cooked meal!

Biting into a piece of juicy and perfectly cooked chicken is a dream that is seldom realized. Chicken is a very temperature sensitive meat that turns dry even with a slight temperature variation or may become dangerous to eat if not cooked till the optimum temperature.

Tenderizing the chicken is a great way to ensure that you cook chicken perfectly each time. There are many ways to tenderize the chicken breast where you can either inject the chicken filet with some kind of liquid, or pound the chicken well, or marinate it in a great solution. Here is how you can correctly tenderize the chicken at home.

Pounding

Wrap the meat in a plastic wrap or a sealable bag to prevent splashing of the meat juices. Use a mallet to pound the chicken but make sure to not do it too hard as it can damage the structure of chicken. Pound the chicken unless you get the chicken piece of even thickness. Unwrap and cook as decided.

Slicing chicken

This technique works best when preparing burgers or sandwiches as it results in an evenly cooked chicken. Place the chicken piece on a flat board and with a sharp knife slice it into half through the middle horizontally. This will result in two identically sized chicken slices. You can then pound these pieces individually and cook as desired.

Pounding without a mallet

In case you don’t have a mallet, use a saucepan or a skillet instead. Rolling pin and metal mallet usually tear the meat. So, it is best to use something flat at the base and not hit it like a hammer but be gentle towards the meat.