I've tasted some damn fine chicken either a la carte or on a salad in many restaurants. Even fast food has moist and tender chicken. Whataburger has the best grilled chicken sandwich around right now.

I know brining is the key but I cannot replicate the final product to save my life. Do you guys have a complete winner when it comes to juicy moist mouth watering chicken breasts?

Low and slow with a temp probe.
Grilled chicken will come out dry. 20 mins
Beer can chicken was much better. 75-90 mins
Smoked chicken lower and slower was a game changer for me. 3hrs.

I don't brine anything.

Yes on sous vide. Other option is to think ahead and brine them. And as mentioned above, it's easy to overcook.

+1

Quick cooking and delicious, relatively speaking. We're still talking about chicken breast here.

We eat a LOT of chicken breast. Usually do 2 packs of the giant breasts from HEB on Sunday night to eat throughout the week.

For me, I keep it simple. Pound to even thickness. Season both sides. Oven at 400. Sick the thermometer in the biggest one after 20min. Pull at 160-165.

gigemags87 said:

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Get a good thermo like Thermapen. Brining is great but not required for a moist chicken. I've had good luck with bone in breasts too.

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phideaux_2003 said:

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Bribe and cook to 155*F internal temp

That's really all it takes.

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i'm all for bribing as well.

Hahaha ok that's good.

Maybe some crickets or grubs? What do you bribe a chicken with?

I brine, sear in cast iron, and then move to the loved to finish. Delicious every time.

Yeah pulling at 155 has been key for me. Someone with meat science background can correct me if I'm wrong but I figure most of the bad bugs are going to be on the exterior of the meat which will be well at 165 if the internal is 155 plus you'll get some carry over.

You can pull chicken breast at 150F as long as it rests for at least 3 mins. Do it at 155 as others said if you want to be safer. As with other meats I cook, I also pat them dry and salt them at least a couple hours ahead of cooking, letting them sit in the fridge.

Sous vide allows you to experiment with lower temps and still remain safe. I am not a huge fan, though. Meat changes shape as it cooks sous vide and in my opinion it becomes more difficult to get a good sear and texture on the meat after it is cooked this way. I prefer learning how to cook it in a pan or on a grill and manage the temps properly.

fta09 said:

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You can pull chicken breast at 150F as long as it rests for at least 3 mins. Do it at 155 as others said if you want to be safer. As with other meats I cook, I also pat them dry and salt them at least a couple hours ahead of cooking, letting them sit in the fridge.

Sous vide allows you to experiment with lower temps and still remain safe. I am not a huge fan, though. Meat changes shape as it cooks sous vide and in my opinion it becomes more difficult to get a good sear and texture on the meat after it is cooked this way. I prefer learning how to cook it in a pan or on a grill and manage the temps properly.

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As long as I pat my sous vide proteins dry before spritzing with oil and searing, it should get a seat just fine.

For me it is the shape they are in after cooking sous vide. When you place raw meat in a pan or on a grill, it lays flat. Cooked meat bulks up and is firmer, so not as much of the surface area contacts the cooking surface.

Never tried it, but couldn't you just butterfly before the sous vide?

As mentioned above there is a good table for time and temp pasteurization. At 165 it's instantaneous but it only take like 30-40 seconds of continuous 155 do get "done chicken". I am either smoking it at 250-275 for a couple hours or spatchcock cocking a whole chicken and searing on a red hot cast iron skin side down for a few minutes then finish in the over in the same pan. The residual heat from the pan will cook it thru if you pull it at like 150 internal at the deepest part of the breast.

The only way I know to replicate the chicken at restaurants is to use a vacuum tumbler. Back when I was in the restaurant business, we'd purchase boneless breasts that contained a 15% solution of water, salt, and sodium phosphates. The most efficient way to get that much moisture in a breast is thru a vacuum.

One might be able to purchase frozen, IQF breasts at the grocery store that have been moisture marinated. By law, the percentage that's incorporated into the breast must be stated on the label.

Almost all chicken you purchase has been injected with a 10-15% sodium phosphate solution. Even the stuff labeled as "natural" or "organic". The simple reason is that saltwater costs $0.01 or less per pound, but when they sell it inside the chicken it fetches a price of ~$1.50+ per pound. There's no incentive for the factory NOT to "plump" up the chicken with some salt water injections.

Bruce Almighty touched on it. The boneless skinless chicken breast you get it stores have you gotten way too big. Even butterflied, they tend to suck. I usually buy the whole organic chicken breasts and debone them myself. That will get you much closer to the 6oz size they serve in restaurants

Quick and easy juicy chicken?

Hear me out...

Air fryer.

Whole chickens on my offset smoker for 3 hours at 275.

Let rest. The whole chicken (white and dark meat) is moist and juicy. Never have brined. What do you brine in and for how long?

So I have to admit I have had the same problem as OP.

Last night I brined 3 ridiculously big chicken breasts for 30 min then butterflied them. I hate pounding chicken breasts!

Put them in the pellet smoker until they hit 155 and pulled them off. Wow! They came out great! I've always been paranoid about going to 165 and they've been crap 95% of the time.

I appreciate the OP and the replies!

FIDO*98* said:

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Bruce Almighty touched on it. The boneless skinless chicken breast you get it stores have you gotten way too big. Even butterflied, they tend to suck. I usually buy the whole organic chicken breasts and debone them myself. That will get you much closer to the 6oz size they serve in restaurants

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Even the heb organic fresh ones suck now.

We finally gave in and just started raising our own. Our local processor will clean and package our birds for $5 each. No mess no fuss.

So isn't FDA recommendation to cook chicken to 165 with no rest? Think I have that right. I will tell you the same thing as many others in this thread... that FDA advice sucks. It sucks for pork also.

austinag1997 said:

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So isn't FDA recommendation to cook chicken to 165 with no rest? Think I have that right. I will tell you the same thing as many others in this thread... that FDA advice sucks. It sucks for pork also.

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i think the FDA now says 145 for pork, but i might be mistaken.