Hi All - On my new diet, I will be eating boneless, skinless chicken breast. However when I cook it I don't wan't it to be dry as a rock when I'm done. Yet if I add oil or breadcrumbs it will add calories and carbs that I can't add as I'm keto with extremely low carb intake. Even adding vegetables (except spinach), is a no-go. As it is now, I was going to broil it in the oven. Then someone suggested to buy a crock pot and cook it in chicken broth.
Can anyone suggest options so I don't add calories and it's not dry as a rock?
Thanks!
First question, are you doing low-carb due to insulin reasons? If not, check out IIFYM.
Second, I can recommend 3 ways to cook not-dry chicken:
1. Cutlet method
2. Instant Pot method
3. Sous Vide method
All 3 of these methods require investing in tools, but the payoff will come over time, as your chicken will be really delicious.
Cutlet method:
The first method is the cutlet method:
https://asweetandsavorylife.com/recipe/how-to-cook-tender-juicy-not-dry-chicken-breasts/
I take a slightly modified approach:
1. Preheat a
10" cast-iron skillet ($15), a notch above medium heat
2. Trim your boneless skinless chicken breasts (BSCB) so that there's no more cartilage on it
3. Stick it in a Ziploc gallon freezer bag
4. Whack it on a countertop with a
marble rolling pin ($19), which has a good weight & shape to not destroy the chicken breast. Your goal is not to destroy the meat, but to flatten it. You'll get the hang of spreading it out evenly pretty quickly. Like 3/8" or 1/4" is good..
5. Spray one side with PAM Spray & put that side down on the skillet; cook for 6 minutes
6. Spray the top side with PAM Spray, flip, salt & pepper the top, and cook on that side for 6 more minutes
7. Flip onto plate & salt & pepper the other side
You can use this for everything: grilled chicken sandwiches, cutlets as a main entree, with sauce, with a spice rub, breaded, sliced into a salad, whatever.
Instant Pot method:
An
Instant Pot ($80) is an electronic pressure cooker. Dump food in, press button, cooks food like magic. It does a really good job of cooking chicken under pressure using saturated steam (this is different from "steaming" meat). We have a few threads on it here, such as
this one.
Sous Vide method:
Sous Vide is where you cook the food, sealed in a plastic bag (ziploc or vacuum-sealed), in precisely-heated water, typically for a minimum of one hour. This is best way to make super-tender chicken. I use this method a lot because of the convenience: I vacuum-seal all of my meat, I throw it in the freezer, and then pull it out to cook as needed. Super easy. Here is a sample basic starter kit:
*
Anova Nano sous vide wand ($100)
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12-quart container ($20)
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Silicone lid ($12)
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Vacuum sealer ($50)
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Vacuum bags on a roll ($18)
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Titanium scissors to cut the plastic bags ($10)
Notes:
I'm into food prep and am what I call "proactively lazy", which means that I like to let the cooking appliances do the bulk of the work for me. It is a hassle to have to spend money on new kitchen tools & then to have to learn how to use them, but if you're serious about going keto, then being able to cook non-crappy meat every single day is going to be really important, and having the right tools means that you can get great results with minimum effort required.