how can you get the chicken to be soft

[speck725]

I try to make tuscan chicken or chicken cacciatore by just cooking it in a skillet but it always comes out a little hard. Hard as in you are not able to just get through it with a easy cut of the knife. I let the chicken thaw out completely and I even pound it a bit before i cook it. Can someone please help because I think that there is something i am missing which is making all the recipes come out bad.

 

[Andy M.]

Welcome to DC.

Sounds like it was overcooked.

For a stew type dish such as cacciatore, you are much better off with thigh meat. Boneless breasts that have been pounded cannot stand up to the long cooking times.

Consider using bone in thighs or at least a cut up whole chicken. After browning briefly, a cut up chicken will cook through in about a half hour. If your sauce needs longer to cook, cook it separately before adding the chicken.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Andy; Need I say it? Yup. You nailed it.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[suzyQ3]

Andy; Need I say it? Yup. You nailed it.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

I third the advice. But if you must use chicken breasts, brown them quickly, cook them at a fairly low temp, and check them often to avoid overcooking. Nothing worse than tough breasts.

 

[urmaniac13]

If you do want to use boneless skinless breast in cacciatore type dish, brown the chicken separately, which takes just a few minutes, check it frequently and as soon as the inside is no longer pink, get it off the heat.
Then prepare the sauce separately and serve the sauce over the chicken, or cut the chicken in bite sizes and mix them into the sauce when the sauce is ready. It is not the same, but at least it is much better than rubbery chicken!!
If you want the flavours of the chicken and the sauce better integrated, try a good quality thigh meat to cook in the sauce, as Andy suggested.

 

[jkath]

speck, Andy's right on with this one.

That said, I've always made my chicken cacciatore in the crock pot. Talk about moist!

 

[amber]

Welcome to DC.

Sounds like it was overcooked.

For a stew type dish such as cacciatore, you are much better off with thigh meat. Boneless breasts that have been pounded cannot stand up to the long cooking times.

Consider using bone in thighs or at least a cut up whole chicken. After browning briefly, a cut up chicken will cook through in about a half hour. If your sauce needs longer to cook, cook it separately before adding the chicken.

However, if one doesnt like the thigh, breasts work well in this type of sauce if the breast is slice up or chunked and cooked in the sauce for several hours.