Free Range Chicken Breasts Skin-Off | ±580g

Chicken Breasts, Skin-Off - Pan and Oven

±580g. Serves 2. Defrost 12–14 hours. Around 15 minutes of cooking.

1. Defrost
Move the pack from freezer to fridge. Leave it in its packaging, on a plate. Allow 12 to 14 hours. Cook within 48 hours of defrosting. Do not refreeze.

2. This is the leanest cut on the bird
No skin and no fat means nothing to protect it. It must be cooked through, and it dries within a minute of getting there. Everything below is about hitting that point and stopping.

3. Brine them, if you have an hour
Optional, and it makes a real difference. Two tablespoons of salt in a litre of cold water, breasts submerged, 45 minutes in the fridge. Rinse and pat completely dry afterwards.

4. Even out the thickness
A breast is thick at one end and thin at the other. Press the thick end flat with the heel of your hand, or butterfly it, so the whole piece finishes at once.

5. Sear, then finish gently
Pat dry, salt, and sear in a hot ovenproof pan with a little oil, 3 minutes a side. Then transfer to a 180°C oven for 6 to 8 minutes.

6. Cook to 75°C and stop
Probe the thickest part. Chicken is cooked through, never pink. Use a probe rather than guessing, because with this cut the margin between juicy and dry is about ninety seconds.

7. Rest
5 minutes, loosely covered. Then slice across the grain rather than along it.

Give it a sauce. With no skin or fat of its own, this cut takes one better than any other part of the bird. Mustard and cream, lemon and caper butter, or a pan sauce from the resting juices.

Delivered frozen. Keep frozen at -18°C until needed. Use by the date on the pack.
Defrost in the fridge, in its packaging, on a plate. Allow 12–14 hours. The pack will release liquid as it thaws.
Never defrost at room temperature or in a microwave.
Once defrosted, keep at 0–4°C and cook within 2 days.
Do not refreeze once thawed.