I will never again cook chicken, turkey, or pork chops without first brining as long as I have the time. I find it does a lot of the taste, texture, and juiciness of the meat.
Otter, I do not measure anything in mine and all I use (for chicken at least) is salt and water. I just go by taste. For chicken breasts I try to make the brine taste "pleasantly salty". Basically I try to make it taste a little less salty than the ocean. You should be able to take a little brine in your mouth and not have to spit it right out because it is so salty. I keep my breasts in the brine for 2 hours. I would go 3 max, but not longer than that. I find 2 hours works just right for me. Some people also put sugar in their brine. I have tried this with pork chops and it works great. It does not make them sweet. I have not tried this with chicken yet, but I will soon. I think I would start with about half as much sugar as salt. Give brining a shot. It might take a little trial and error to get your proportions and timing right, but it is well worth it.
One great thing about brining is that you have a lot more leeway in the temp you cook your chicken to. I have pulled breasts off the grill that read 185 (has too much to drink and forgot I was cooking) and these brined breasts were so juicy and delicious you would never know they were overcooked.
The only reason I just use a simple salt water brine is that I can get real lazy. If you are not as lazy as me then a brine is a great place to throw in some herbs. Whatever you like can work here.
My wife and I did a taste test once. I have one breast that was brined and one that was not. We made a stir fry and mixed all the bite size chicken pieces together in one dish. It was obvious which was which when we were eating it. We ended up fighting over who got the good (brined) chicken
