Juicy Boneless Chicken Breasts

The Secret To Cooking Juicy Boneless Chicken Breasts

It is important to know the safe temperatures for the chicken to be cooked to. Here are some tips and tips to make sure that you are cooking chicken safely.  

Temperature For Food Safety

People often associate chicken being safe to eat based on the color that it is.  Instead, what you should really focus on is the temperature of the chicken while you cook it.  People also often get scared when they see blood in the chicken and view that as a hazard.  It is okay to eat a chicken that has blood in it as long as the temperature is appropriate.     With any type of meat that is being cooked, with the temperature being higher, more juices will be drawn out of the meat making it drier.  The best way to make sure that the meat is safe is to use a cooking thermometer to measure the internal temperature.

What Is A Good Temperature?

When cooking chicken, an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit is when all of the bad bacteria in the food is completely gone.  This is the standard for where you need your chicken temperature to get before it is safe to eat.   When cooking the chicken legs, it is ideal for these to be an internal temperature of 170-175 degrees Fahrenheit.  Because leg meat is not as filled as the rest, it needs to be cooked a bit more.  Even if you cook the legs and thighs to a higher temperature, the chicken should still be juicy and delicious.  

Can Cooked Chicken Be Pink?

Young chickens can cause the meat to still be pink even when the internal temperature is where it needs to be.  The stain on the meat that looks to be red/pink is nothing to worry about as this is normal and does not reflect on the internal temperature.  Another reason that you might be seeing red/pink spots in the chicken is that the more active a chicken is, the more myoglobin.  Ingredients

• 4 cups of water
• ¼ cup of kosher salt
• One 2 pound chicken breast, split bones and skin removed.
• Once you have your brine prepared, you need to allow your chicken breast to brine for 24 hours.

Once you have your brine prepared, you need to allow your chicken breast to brine for 24 hours. Once the chicken breast has brined for 24 hours, remove it from the brine, rinse the chicken breast, pat it dry, and then proceed with the rest of your preparation. If you want to marinade it this is the time to do it. Place the chicken breast into a plastic container with a lid or into a sealable bag. Add the marinade and return it to the refrigerator for 2-4 hours. If you are going to go straight to the grill with it, make sure that you season it well on both sides and have your grill pre-heated. Boneless skinless chicken breast cooks rather quickly so you will want to keep your thermometer at the ready. Grilling boneless, skinless chicken breast requires monitoring the cooking and pull temperatures closely so that it is removed from the grill at the right time to prevent the chicken from being too dry when it is finished. Ideally you want your grill hot when you place the chicken breast on the grill, skin side down, this is the side that you removed the skin from, then you want to give it a few minutes to produce the grill marks and then turn the grill down and turn the chicken breast over. This is one meat that you really want to close the lid with and keep the temperature down lower. This will also help keep the chicken breast moist and tender. Pull temperature is always 5⁰F-7⁰F lower than finish temperature. Poultry needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165⁰F to kill all the bad bacteria and for it to be safe to eat. That makes the pull temperature between 158⁰F-160⁰F and once you pull it, let it rest for 5 minutes and carry over cooking will get it to 165⁰F. Always take your temperatures in the thickest part of the meat, this will give you an accurate internal temperature and will make sure that you get to the safe cooking temperature it needs to be at. When grilling any kind of meat, give it enough time when you first place it on the grill to give the grill marks you want but try not to get in a hurry, the meat will stick to the grill until the marks, caramelization, takes place and the meat will naturally release from the grill. Once it releases you can flip it over, or turn it 90⁰ to make cross hatch grill marks, and once the grill marks are finished, turn the meat over and turn down the grill or move the meat to the coldest part of the grill until it finishes cooking and reaches the correct internal temperature.

Finaltouch X10

The Finaltouch X10 thermometer from ChefsTemp gives an accurate reading not only for the inside of food but for surface temperatures as well.  The diversity of the thermometer’s usage is second to none compared to other thermometers.  By getting a reading within 1-3 seconds, the Finaltouch X10 from ChefsTemp is prepared to take on any task it is given. Related Articles: How to Cook Safe and Juicy Chicken?