Cooking chicken can be easy as long as you avoid certain mistakes and adopt tips to have a tasty dish. Unlike chicken thighs and drumsticks which remain slightly moist after cooking, breasts tend to toughen. Fortunately, there is a foolproof trick to achieve a tender chicken texture. We tell you everything.

This simple trick will revolutionize all your favorite Chinese dishes like noodles, cashew chicken or any other chicken dish. This is the method called “Velveting Chicken” which uses only one ingredient to make chicken breast incredibly tender and juicy. (You can also apply this trick on the top of the chicken leg)

How to get tender chicken once cooked?

This method is simple to set up. It will help improve the texture of the chicken and make it more tender. However, this trick doesn’t add any flavor to the chicken. The taste will then be based on the choice and quality of the ingredients as well as on your skill in the kitchen.

Read also:  How to ripen an avocado in 2 minutes?

• Baking soda, the secret to tender chicken

For a melt-in-your-mouth piece of chicken, take the baking soda out of the kitchen cupboard. This ingredient with multiple properties is perfect for tenderizing chicken meat.

For example, if you want to prepare 250 g of chicken, mix the meat in a bowl with   3 or 4 teaspoons of bicarbonate  .  Rub the surface of the meat with the powder then leave to marinate for 20 minutes or more in the refrigerator. Rinse with clean water to remove product residues and dry with absorbent paper. All you have to do is cook your dish as intended. Baking soda neutralizes the acid and raises the pH on the surface of the meat. This process will make the meat more tender and moist.

Other foolproof tricks for tenderizing chicken

Like the baking soda technique, other tricks make it easy to tenderize chicken meat. Here are some.

• Using a hammer, an effective technique for tenderizing chicken

To ensure the chicken is tender, you can take some simple and easy steps before putting it in the oven. One of the most common is to massage the meat by first dipping your hands in olive oil. To obtain a satisfactory result you can complete your gesture using a hammer. This hammer-like wooden or metal kitchen utensil will help you crush meat evenly across the entire surface. This technique is mainly used on chicken slices. It relaxes the chicken fibers and speeds up cooking times. 

Read also:  What is the 4th side of the grater for? A super useful unknown feature

• Making a marinade, the popular method for tenderizing chicken and making it flavorful

The marinade method is the most common. The principle is simple.  Simply immerse the meat in a liquid preparation and leave it to marinate for one or more hours depending on the desired purpose.  In addition to adding flavor to your chicken recipe, this technique helps tenderize the meat. Different ingredients can be used to enhance the taste of your dishes such as lime, soy sauce or ginger. Yogurt is a fundamental ingredient for softening chicken and making it less dry.

As you may have understood, many techniques can be used to tenderize chicken. The choice of chicken is also decisive because the fresher the meat, the less tough it is. Furthermore, avoid prolonged cooking which will certainly harden the meat fibres.