Chicken is one of the most versatile foods not only here in the UK but across the globe. When it comes to chicken breast, there are myriad ways on how you can prepare your chicken. You can stir fry, roast, fry, sautee, or even grill. So whether it is your first time cooking or you are simply looking for new ways to make your chicken, you are in the right place. Check out the chicken firecracker recipe which will give you a new twist to your regular cooking methods. Other than that, we have compiled four of the best ways you can transform your chicken and also a couple of recipes.
Fried chicken breast
Frying is one of the many ways you can transform your chicken breast. The whole secret about getting the perfectly fried chicken breast is maintaining the oil temperature between 160 to 200 C. any temperature hotter than that, the oil will probably start to smoke. Here is a recipe you can easily follow.
Next Level Fried Chicken Breasts
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 8 chicken breast pieces
- Cooking oil for deep frying
Spice
- 1 Chicken stock cube
- 2 tablespoons of paprika
- ½ a teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon of chili powder
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of garlic granules
- Buttermilk marinade
- 1 egg
- 500ml milk
- 2 tablespoons of cider or white wine vinegar
Coating
- ¼ teaspoon of turmeric
- 100g of self-raising flour
- 100g of cornflour
Preparation
- Make the spice mix by combining all the spice ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- To make the marinade, combine the vinegar, some salt, milk, a tablespoon scoop of the spice mix, and the egg. Whisk in a separate larger mixing bowl.
- Put the chicken breast between two parchment papers and flatten with a rolling pin. Place them in the marinade and allow them to marinate preferably overnight.
- Combine the flours, salt, turmeric, and most of the remaining spice mix sparing only 1 teaspoon.
- Remove and drain the marinated chicken breasts and reserve the marinade. Now dredge each breast in the flour mixture, into the marinade, and again into the flour mixture. Press to make sure everything sticks well.
- Now heat the oil in a large frying pan to a temperature of 175C. Put just enough pieces of the chicken breasts and let them fry for 3 minutes. Flip and cook further for another 3 minutes.
- Transfer to a tray with paper drain before putting them into a low-temperature oven to keep warm as you finish up with the remaining pieces of chicken breasts.
- Once you are done frying, stir some salt into the spared 1 tablespoon of the spice mix and sprinkle atop before serving.
Baked Chicken Breast
Most people confuse roasting and baking because they seem quite similar processes. There is one major difference when it comes to these two processes. The baking involves separate and individual chicken parts, for instance, chicken breasts. Roasting on the other hand involves cooking the chicken as a whole. Here is an easy recipe for you to transform your chicken breast.
Baked Chicken Breasts with lemon
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 sprig thymes
- Olive oil
- 1 lemon with half of it finely sliced
- 4 chicken breast with or without the skin
- Salt and black pepper for seasoning
Preparation
- Bring the oven to a temperature of 200C.
- Pour some olive oil on the roasting tray, put in the slices of the lemon before sitting the chicken breast slices on top.
- Brush the top chicken breast pieces with some olive oil before seasoning with enough salt and black pepper.
- Squeeze the remainder of the lemon over the chicken breast pieces and place the sprig thymes in between.
- Now bake the chicken breasts in the oven for 25 minutes until they are brown and cooked through.
- You can confirm this by putting a knife through the chicken breasts, if the juices run clear then they are ready.
- Remove from the oven, cool for a while before serving.
Again, chicken is so versatile and can be combined with other foods and ingredients to spice up the rather boring and conventional cooking techniques. One recipe that is not only easy but also a perfect example of how chicken breast goes well with other ingredients is;
Chicken, broccoli, and rosemary risotto.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 50g of finely grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 200g of coarsely shredded broccoli
- 1 finely chopped onion
- 1L of hot chicken stock
- 2cloves of crushed garlic
- 1 large glass of dry white wine
- 2 chicken breasts sliced into smaller bite-size pieces
- Some rosemary stalks
- 350g risotto rice
Preparation
- Bring the oil to heat in a large frying pan. Preferably with a thick base.
- Throw in the garlic and onions, cook them for five minutes until soft but don’t turn colour.
- Go ahead and put in the chicken and fry for another 5 minutes tossing frequently.
- Tip in the rosemary and rice and stir continuously until the rice gets a little translucent.
- Now pour the vinegar and stir continuously until it has cooked into the rice before adding enough hot stock and season accordingly.
- Reduce the heat and allow the risotto to cook slowly as you add the hot stock in intervals.
- After 15 minutes, throw in the broccoli and the stock and stir continuously for around 8 minutes until the rice is cooked but with a little bite left.
- Remember the texture of the risotto should be creamy so add more stock or water if necessary.
- Once done, remove from heat and stir the parmesan cheese gently. If the consistency is too thick, add some more stock.
Grill/BBQ
It goes without saying that one of the good pieces on a chicken to grill or BBQ is the chicken breasts. Let’s take a look at this easy recipe
Cajun chicken burgers
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Coking Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- Mayonnaise for serving
- 4 skinless chicken breast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 small handfuls of baby spinach
- 4 rashers smoked bacon
- 4 thin slices of cheese of your choice
- 2 avocados
- 4 split ciabatta rolls
Cajun seasoning
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
Preparation
- Begin by combining the seasoning in a medium mixing bowl, add some pepper and salt then set aside
- Bring the grill to high temperatures, flatten the chicken breasts on a board with a rolling pin.
- Coat each breast with oil before covering with the seasoning evenly.
- Put the remainder of the oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken breast on each side till they are nice and firm then push the chicken to one side and fry the bacon for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, half and slice the avocado.
- Toast both halves of the buns.
- Place cheese on the buns and grill till all the cheese melts.
- It’s time to assemble the burger. Spread mayonnaise on one side of the buns, followed by a generous handful of spinach, and top with the bacon. Finish stacking by topping with avocado and then the bacon. Cover the stack with the remaining bun.
