Weeknight Chicken 3 Ways

If you’re like me, chicken is a staple in your meal rotation. Whether it’s chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas, raman slaw salad, or Chicken Provence , you’re serving up poultry often. I do our family shopping and meal prep work on Sundays and I almost always decide to cook some chicken for the week ahead. By doing cooking ahead, I know I have at least one “go to” plan for dinner. I have three standard methods I use depending on how I think I’ll use the chicken.

 Roasting

Not only are chicken breasts on the bone MUCH cheaper than boneless and skinless breasts, they always yield the juiciest, most flavorful meat. I use Olive Oil, Kosher Salt, & Freshly ground pepper and bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of the breast).  90% of the time I’m unloading groceries while these babies cook up making me feel like an accomplished multi-tasker!

These are great to have in the fridge when I travel because Billy will cut off the meat and toss with steamed veggies for an easy meal.

Poaching

In the summer especially, I make a lot of chicken salad and I don’t want the roasted flavor to factor into the recipes.  As a result, I poach skinless, boneless chicken on the stovetop.  First heat water, with a healthy pinch of kosher salt in a deep saucepan to boiling.

Then cook on one side for 5 minutes (the pink will fade significantly).Turn over the breasts, cover the pan and turn off the heat.  Allow to cook for 10-15 minutes more.  Allow to cool before cutting up.

Rotisserie

Finally, the easiest thing to do is roast an entire chicken.

Isn’t that gorgeous?  Of course, my secret is to buy this in the deli section. There is no shame in letting someone else do the work on a rotisserie chicken! I’ll do some work after we’ve eaten and make my own chicken broth, but I love the safety net of having a chicken ready to be heated at a moment's notice.

Do you use any of these shortcuts?