breast - Beer And Iron

December 9, 2022

How to Tenderize Chicken Breasts

This how to tenderize chicken breast process will help you with two of the main “Chicken For Dinner” problems:

Dry and Chewy
Flavorless and Blandness

This Chicken Breast Tendering process will help resolve the “chewy” consistency of the chicken meat and “open up” the chicken meat to spices and other flavors that will enhance the chicken breast flavor. That flavor is in there; sometimes you need to tenderize it so the chicken breast can “take in” that flavor.

I have made two videos for this process that may help you along the way. The first one here is the short. A quick 3-minute video to show you how I tenderize chicken breasts. The one at the bottom of the page is the longer version with a “Cooking Montage” at the end.

Chicken breasts are a staple at our home. Not because they are inexpensive either. The price of a pack of chicken breasts are as spendy as a nice roast of equal weight these days. We like chicken breast meat for many different reasons and the main reason is the flavor.

That’s going to surprise many of you reading this when I say, “Flavor.” Most of us do not associate boneless, skinless, chicken breast and flavor.

Bacon? There’s flavor! Ribs? Delicious! Ribeye? Mouth-watering! Chicken breast? Not really. But, consider many things we eat and drink. Beer for instance. Take away the hops or the malts and what do you have? Iceberg lettuce, celery, black coffee, and a bunch of other foods and drinks are often added to or something added with to bring out and enhance the flavors of those foods and drinks. Even our most delicious meats are “dressed” up a bit to enhance the flavor.

The flavor of chicken is enhanced with things like Sage (my chicken go-to), rosemary, and even ranch dip

Then there’s bacon…who needs no help…at all.

Yes. Baked or even “skillet-ed” chicken breast cooked all by itself and without any seasonings does not taste very well. The blandness is only complicated by the consistency and “chewiness.” Eventually your mouth tells your brain, “Hey! We’ve kinda been chewing this for a bit too long; take a sip of something and help me out.”

I am preaching to the choir; I know I am. So, let’s get started with the process of tenderizing chicken breasts.

The Supplies

You will need three items. I’ve placed links at the bottom of this article if you need to find these items:

Tenderizing Hammer
Tenderizing Needles
Cutting Board

Ready to Cook

Step 1: Place the cutting board out on the counter top.

Step 2: Start with the chicken breast’s tapered end (the thinner end) to your dominant side. I am right-handed; I “point” the chicken breast to my right side.

Step 3: Using the tenderizing needle, start on the thin end and “drive” the spikes into the meat and through to the cutting board. Work in a side to side motion and overlap the areas you’ve started to tenderize by ½ the width of the needle tenderizer.

Step 4: When you have reached the thicker areas of the chicken breast meat, your needle tenderizer may “stick” and “pull” the meat upward. If this happens, back up a bit and re-tenderize a thinner area as you move back forward.

A few considerations before step five:

As we thin the chicken breast, the meat will “spread” out and become wider. We need to “coach” this by first using the needle tenderizer and then the tenderizing mallet. The “holes” the needle tenderizer creates will help the tenderizing mallet from “tearing” the meat up too much.

Some tearing is inevitable and should be expected. The meat has been hit with metal tools and the tenderized meat will not “look” as pretty raw as it does before the tenderizing process. After it cooks, it’ll look as “pretty” as tenderized meat and taste MUCH better.

The little holes in the meat from the needle tenderizer will move and even “clip” some of the meat fibers; it will start to thin down with the needle tenderizer. Then, the tenderizing hammer can “spread the meat out even more.

Step 5: When you have gotten to the thickest part of the chicken breast, start moving the needle tenderizer in a circular motion to “press” the meat out (it’s got to go somewhere, right?).

Step 6: Eventually the needle tenderizer will enter and exit the meat without much resistance. That’s the indication that it’s time to get the tenderizing mallet out.

Step 7: Using the smaller, finer spike-side of the mallet, start from the thinner area of the meat and work up toward the thicker area. Overlap the hammer strikes by ½ of the width of the hammer.

Step 8: Once you reach the thicker parts of the chicken, start the circular pattern of tenderizing to finish spreading the chicken out.

What to Expect

FIRST: If the chicken breast was initially very thick, the meat may “tear up” a bit more than the smaller, chicken breast pieces. This is okay. It’s the thicker pieces that are usually the toughest.

SECOND: This method will create much more surface area. The nature of the tenderizing process is to stretch and separate the meat. It will make it easier to cut and enjoy. And, it will take a brine much faster than a non-tenderized chicken breast. Keep this in mind when you are brining the meat.

Use a red cutting board for meat and one that is both dishwasher safe and can actually fit inside the dishwasher. Nope. You don’t have to dishwash the cutting board; there are other ways to clean the board.

Tenderizing is a process. We will often tenderize many pieces of chicken and brine them on one evening. Then, after the brining process, we’ll pat-dry them all and stow some of the breasts in a zipper bag for later. Note the expiration date of the chicken and ditto this on the zipper bag to keep up with that important information. Toss in a dry paper towel in the zipper bag with the chicken breasts. Later in the week, when you need to make a quick meal, the meat is brined and tenderized and ready to cook.