Humbling myself here...cooked chicken in recipes?

[lovemywhirlygirls]

OK, be gentle with me. I'm 41 and I know I should KNOW about this topic. My mom did not teach me how to cook and I am not gifted at it, but do OK when I try. When a recipe calls for cooked chicken--like one of the soup recipes in another thread...what do you guys use for the cooked chicken? Do you cook a whole chicken? Do you cook chicken breasts? How do you cook them? I remember hearing somewhere that you have to cook a lot of chicken to get enough shredded chicken for recipes and, armed with no experience in this matter, I immediately filed such things as "too much work" or "I don't know how to do that". I consistently am drawn to things that require pre-cooked chicken (like the chicken tortilla soup in the other thread that I can't stop thinking about) and I would like to learn some tips on how to do this....thus opening a whole world of recipes. Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond!

[Happy]

I usually use chicken breasts, except when I already have part of a roast chicken left.

 

Personally, I like to cook chicken so that it has great flavor all by itself--grilling outdoors, for example, then use it in recipes. Grilled chicken is terrific in chicken enchilidas or chicken salad.

 

Edited to add....when I'm fixing grilled or roast chicken, I often cook more than needed just to have cooked chicken on hand. Freeze if you don't need it immediately.

[mooooom]

If I am making something like chicken caesar salad, I just put some chicken breasts on a baking sheet, put a little oil on them and bake them. For soups, I'd be more likely to cut up some breasts in cubes and kind of stir fry them with a little oil. I never cook whole chickens (we try to avoid the dark meat and fat) but I would imagine it would be easiest to roast the chicken and then pull off the pieces and shred.

[dhudson]

My favorite thing to do for recipes that require cooked chicken is to buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the deli dept. at our grocery store - or you can get an organic one from Whole Foods.

 

I buy a large one and have it for dinner and then use the leftovers for another meal. They are only 5 or 6 dollars so it's fairly inexpensive.

[Sophia]

I'm 44 and my 13 y.o. knows more about cooking than I do.

 

Pioneer Woman's cooking site is where I learned about boiling chicken and shredding the meat for casseroles.

Duh...it's really easy once someone used pictures to show me how to do it.;)

[NevadaRabbit]

You could use one of those rotisserie-cooked chickens from the grocery store, all seasoned and cooked - just take it out of the package, pick the meat from the bones and voila! Basically you don't want to overcook the chicken you're going to use in a soup or casserole because the additional cooking of the finished recipe will make it tough.

 

I just made a batch of Mexican-seasoned chicken yesterday (for tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, or soup). 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - rinse and pick off/discard the big chunks of fat - place breasts (the chicken's, not yours) in a pot, cover with water and place over medium-low heat. You could season the water, or not - depends on motivation. :D Anyway, I prefer not to let the water boil, the chicken gets rubbery. You can tell by the color change (from that opalescent raw color to the opaque white of cooked chicken) that it is getting done. Every few minutes turn the pieces over in the water so the same one isn't on the bottom of the pot. Cut into the breasts and check occasionally - pull them out when they are just a teeny bit still pink/borderline raw on the inside. Discard the water. You can now: slice the chicken into strips, chop it into chunks, or shred it with two forks (just fork it and pull apart into shreds) depending on how you're going to use it - in a soup recipe, a casserole, a stew, or season with a packet of Lawry's chicken taco seasoning and a can of Mexican style tomatoes/chiles and use in tacos or enchiladas.

 

Option 2: cut raw chicken into cubes and put into a nonstick skillet with a dab of oil. Cook over medium heat, stirring/turning frequently, until done. Be careful - overdone chicken gets tough.

 

Option 3: grill whole chicken breasts and or thighs. This works better with bone-in, skin-on pieces; boneless/skinless can really dry out on the grill.

[GSMP]

I will take a package of chicken breast and thighs, skin on. Place this in a huge stockpot covered with water.

 

I will then add some chopped onion, carrots, celery, garlic. I will also throw in some Mrs Dashes Original blend seasoning, maybe some garlic and herb, poultry seasoning, or just an all purpose seasoning that McCormick's make. All of these you can find in your spice section at the local grocery. Bring to a rolling boil and then turn it down for a simmer. I will let this cook for about an hour.

 

I will take a slotted spoon and pick the chicken out of the stock pot, placing it in a strainer sitting over a bowl, allowing the chicken to cool.

 

Depending on how finely I chopped the veggies I will either run it through the blender to finer chop the veggies or just leave it.

 

I will set the liquid aside to cool. This allows the fat to rise to the top and I skim this off. I am rather picky so I will make sure I get all the solid fat out of the liquid.

 

It has been shown that the healthy benefits of the chicken soup for colds has to do with what is in the skin and fat. Which is why I cook it with the skin.

 

The remaining liquid either becomes the pot of soup for that night or is frozen into cubes or in baggies for future use in soups needing stock.

 

If short of time, I have used the Swanson's low sodium canned chicken.

 

Then I go back and pick the chicken. Now that the weather has turned colder I will be doing up some chicken. My sister will come over and we will cook about 10 chickens. Split all the meat and some of the stock. She doesn't use as much of the stock as I do.

 

The stock is great for using as a base for all your soups especially potato soup.

 

Pioneer women is a great place.

 

If you have any questions, pm me if you want.

Edited October 19, 2008 by GSMP
Edited for understanding..:-)

[VaKim]

I just throw a bunch of chicken breasts in the crock pot all day with some seasoning and onions. They nearly fall apart then, and I can shred it up and freeze it until I want to use it.

If we are making chicken fajitas, I cube the breasts and fry them because we prefer chunks instead of shredded in our fajitas.

[Stacy in NJ]

It depends on the recipe. For chicken soup, I boil the whole chicken. I grill chicken frequently for salads, pasta dishes and sandwiches.

[lovemywhirlygirls]

OK, seriously...THANK YOU! It's absurd to never have done this and I am very grateful for your kindness in responding so quickly and so thoroughly! I can do this and I WILL do this and my family will thank you for it! Grilling is a fantastic option! I'll be very careful not to overcook.

 

MMMMM. Can't wait to try some new recipes!

 

My girls and I just worked up a schedule of when they'll be my kitchen helpers and they're ready to start cooking! I'm loving sharing cooking with them. It's a loss I feel that my mother didn't do this with me.

 

Thanks, Ladies!

[lovemywhirlygirls]

OK, Jill,

 

I spit my mouthful of water ALL OVER my computer screen when you said "place breasts (the chicken, not yours) in a pot." Hilarious! Thanks for that!

[NevadaRabbit]

OK, Jill,

 

I spit my mouthful of water ALL OVER my computer screen when you said "place breasts (the chicken, not yours) in a pot." Hilarious! Thanks for that!

 

Just making sure you were catching all the details. :D

[PiCO]

My girls and I just worked up a schedule of when they'll be my kitchen helpers and they're ready to start cooking! I'm loving sharing cooking with them. It's a loss I feel that my mother didn't do this with me.

 

Your girls will grow up thinking you're a great cook. My mother learned to cook in a home-ec class in high school, because her mother would not let any of her kids in the kitchen with her. My brother & I grew up helping in the kitchen. I always thought she was such a great cook, but really we just loved helping! But now I can cook without a recipe, or combine multiple recipes, and things turn out great, just because I'm comfortable in the kitchen.

 

Anyway, just wanted to tell you "Good Job!" for making an effort to include your children in your cooking. They will appreciate it. (If only my mother had taught me to clean...)

[WTMCassandra]

We normally roast two chickens at a time. We eat roast chicken for that meal, and then my DH picks the meat off the bones and I make another meal or two out of what's left. Voila! Cooked chicken ready to put into anything! It makes life much simpler.

 

Since we do two chickens at a time, that cuts in half the times we have to heat the oven, clean the pan, and clean up the mess.

[Sparkle]

For me, the easiest way is to boil chicken breasts, then drain, let cool, and cut up. The crockpot also works great. You can use water or chicken broth, add a few seasonings if you like. I've also cooked them in a skillet with a little oil, or used the George Foreman grill.

 

I'll confess I've never roasted a whole chicken (or a turkey either for that matter). :blush5:

[lovemywhirlygirls]

I HAVE roasted chickens and turkeys...I guess I just need to plan ahead better to think about saving that meat for other recipes. It's the whole roasting a chicken for the purpose of shredding it to use for another recipe that seems like a big ordeal. I'm a low maintenance/low energy kind of gal (you can read "lazy" here) in a lot of areas (and I'm not proud of that--trying to change myself) and probably would never do that. I REALLY need to learn the things that some of you have mastered when it comes to planning ahead and making full use of ALL available resources.

 

Thanks, ALL!

[WTMCassandra]

Oh, I hear you about not wanting to roast a whole 'nother bird just to shred it! That's why I went to the "two at a time" strategy. One is the meal right now, and the other (plus some leftovers from the first) are for other meals that week.

[Ottakee]

Well, I do as others and cook up more than needed for a meal so I have some for the freezer.

 

This was my latest LAZY way. I was making chicken soup in the crock pot. Normally I use 2 frozen chicken breasts for the soup and then shred them just before we eat and toss the meat back in the soup. Last time though I put 4 chicken breasts in the soup to cook all day. I took 2 out and froze them for later and put 2 into the soup.