A New Way to Cook Chicken

There are so many different ways to cook chicken and they all produce different results. We love chicken in our house, especially boneless skinless thighs. I have developed a new way of cooking chicken that I think is very tasty and the end result produces chicken that is cooked well with great flavor. Let's start shall we.

What I like to do first with my thighs is to clean them, see the beginning of this post which shows you how I clean my chicken. This gets off additional fat and that vein that's on the inside. No rinsing necessary.

Next, add some cooking oil to a preheating skillet (I use extra virgin olive oil). The trick to my method is to have the oil HOT, not smoking, which will prevent the chicken from sticking to your pan (especially if you're not using a non stick pan). As I clean my chicken, I leave it on my chicken board (I have a designated board and knife for raw meats) and prep it for cooking. I lay them out and sprinkle salt, pepper, and a mix of granulated garlic and onion (to increase flavor) on one side. 

Place chicken flavor side down and don't crowd the pan, if you have a lot to cook, do it in batches or use another pan.

Immediately set a timer for 3 minutes or just eye ball your time by watching the clock. Then season the exposed side.

After 3 minutes are up, turn chicken over to cook the other side for another 3 minutes. It's ok if you get a little bit of stickage, if it totally won't lift up, then cook it a little longer.

When those 3 minutes are up, remove your chicken to a dish or plate - I use a pie pan. **Note: if you just wanted cooked chicken - for salad or sandwiches, you can cook your chicken for another couple of minutes on each side then use for desired recipe.**

 Now you can have fun. Mix up whatever sauce you want - in this case I was making Shoyu Chicken. This is just a mix of soy sauce (wheat free tamari) and water in equal amounts. Here I did a 1/4 cup tamari to a 1/4 water.

If you are left with a lot of oil at the bottom of your pan, you'll want to take most of it out. I use a small mason jar to keep used oil - it's still good to reuse (probably no more than 3 times). You will be left with some glorious brown stuff stuck to your pan. All that stuff is gold, you want all that for extra flavor.

Pour in your sauce.

Let it heat up and bubble up some.

You'll want to scrape up some of the gold that's stuck to the pan. If you want a thick sauce, you can mix about 1 tablespoon of arrowroot or cornstarch in some water and mix in while the sauce is hot.

After things get loosened up and your sauce is hot, place chicken back into the hot sauce, turning to coat.

There should be some juice from the chicken left on your plate or pie pan, throw that in with the chicken too - that's extra flavor.

Cook for another couple of minutes on each side and you're done. 

Serve with sides of your choice - here I have quinoa, kimchi, and sauteed kale, it was delicious!

Cooking chicken this way has changed the way we eat chicken. Honestly, it tastes better than just dumping sauce on the chicken and throwing it in your oven or in a pan. It just takes a few extra minutes to get flavorful, juicy chicken. Along with Shoyu Chicken, I've done BBQ, teriyaki, adobo, and sweet and sour. Give my technique a try, and I promise, you'll never to back.

What's your favorite sauce you like on chicken?

Comments or questions are always welcomed. I would love to hear what you think of this post or any of my other posts. Thanks!