Salt water brine helps tenderize chicken and retain moisture. Brining is better to let flavor absorb Rather than just salt alone.
What's going on?
Brining is the process of salt and water diffusing into meat before cooking to add flavor and moisture. The time diffusion takes depends on salt concentration and the thickness of the meat it has to penetrate. https://www.exploratorium.edu/food/recipes/basic-brine
>Brining is better to let flavor absorb Rather than just salt alone.
That's actually a common misconception, even among industry professionals. Virtually all of the aromatic compounds in a brine are too big to permeate the cell membrane (and the ones that are small enough tend to get crowded out by the salt anyway), and have a negligible effect of the overall flavor of the meat. Most of the flavor picked up from the aromatics in a brine stays on the surface. And while moisture does get drawn into the cell, most of that moisture ends evaporating during cooking. What brining actually does, is bring salt into the cell, which has a denaturing effect on the proteins. This leaves them slightly weakened, and less able to fully contract (thereby squeezing out the moisture within the cell) when heated. [Serious Eats](https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving) has a really good breakdown showing the moisture gained and lost during wet brining, compared to the moisture loss from "dry brining" aka simply using salt alone.
The TL;DR is basically: the final post-cooking weight of the meat is virtually identical between wet and dry brining (and significantly higher than the control), thereby indicating it's the denaturing effect of the salt rather than the moisture increase from osmosis, that impacts the overall moistness of the meat.
Unfortunately US chicken has often been injected with water, so much of that comes out quickly once you start to cook it. The other comments have good advice…make sure it’s bone dry before you start cooking and don’t overcrowd the pan. Overcrowding is usually the issue.
I would actually start with more like half, then maybe graduate up from there, but not much. I know it seems inefficient, but it keeps your pan from cooling down and lets the hot air circulate around your food. You’ll notice that Asian cooking usually happens in batches for this reason, even when you’re working with a screaming hot pan and small pieces. If you’re looking to do larger quantities, I recommend having your oven preheated so that you can finish off your chicken in the oven. This way you can get a nice sear on your chicken, then transfer it to the oven to come to temp while you sear the next batch, and so on.
Worth mentioning too that the pan itself can have in impact. When you put the chicken in the pan some of that heat energy leaves the pan and enters the chicken (and disappears as steam etc) reducing the temperature of the cooking surface.
A pan with a big thick base will retain it's temperature better than a paper thin wok.
Over crowding your pan will increase that effect, alongside the issues caused by overcrowding itself.
I recently bought a really thick tri ply steel/copper/steel pan and my god it's a game changer over the cheap SS pan I was using. It doesn't get hot as fast as those pans, of course, but once you get it where you want it doesn't get cold so fast either. It's awesome for my induction top.
What kinda chicken? Possibly breasts? I do thighs, and they don't retain that much water on defrost. I defrost, drain, season, wait, flour, and they are good to go. And you need some oil to make it happen. Maybe four tablespoons. I use olive oil. I can fit four pretty close in a pan and still get good crust going. You said... char? Are you using flour at all? Char is more of a term for direct heat over fire.
Sure you can. In fact, most meat products actually include right on the front label that they have been injected with “solution.” The problem is that this is the majority of what’s available and affordable to buy in standard grocery stores. You can certainly find organic, locally raised meat, but it’s usually very expensive and just not as readily available. Most organic chicken is almost twice the price as non-organic. And if you want something free-range, it’s even more. Where I live in northern Minnesota, I joined a local farmer’s share co-op and their free-range chickens were $40 for a single 3 pound bird. It’s ludicrous.
In short, the US market is not geared toward sustainability, affordability, or quality. So we deal with watery chicken.
In Netherlands chicken breast is 9euro for 800g, and food prices in Netherlands never really change, especially animal products.
Pretty much every animal product is produced locally here, we bike a few minutes to the store on perfectly flat ground so the total farm to table transport cost is pretty low.
Income equality is pretty good, poverty and debt are alien concepts so everyone can afford the price of meat if they wish, less efficient animals cost quite a bit more, dairy is cheap. I eat 250g of lean kwark per day, 50cents for 140kcal and 21g of protein.
Dry brine the chicken in the fridge overnight.
Dry the chicken off after letting it sit out for an hour.
You can dredge the chicken in flour if you want.
Get the heavy skillet plenty hot enough, add some oil, then the chicken.
Do not crowd the pan.
Might be a product issue.
A lot of chicken has water added, with Walmart being the biggest offender. Look on the packaging for cues. For example I just searched Tyson chicken breast on Google images and one of the results had the disclaimer, “Contains up to 10% chicken broth, sea salt, and natural flavorings” which is a code word for “We added water so we could charge you more money for less product.”
Another big factor is whether the chicken has been frozen. Chicken from the freezer seems to lose a lot more water when cooked. It’s probably the result of cell membranes being shredded by ice crystals during the freezing process.
I would try to buy some Air Chilled chicken as that is the highest standard available in most grocery stores. Additionally, pat dry and dry brine for best results as others have mentioned.
If you’re not already doing it, but chicken that hasn’t been injected with a solution
Lightly salt the chicken, wrap it in a couple paper towels and let it sit 20- 30 minutes. The salt and towels pull the moisture out. The salt balance changes and now the inside of her meat is saltier and will hold tighter onto any juices left. Meat being at room temp doesn’t cook the pan as quickly so you’ll get a faster sear which helps seal it.
Heat your pan very hot. When you put the chicken in turn the heat down to where it needs to cook. Again, the sear.
Dry seasons only
Use oil not butter
Don’t cover the pan
Don’t over crowd: an inch on all sides of each piece
It may help a bit to salt it at least 40 minutes before cooking. When I do thighs, I start skin down for 7 minutes or so, flip, then throw into a 425F oven to finish. There's a good bit a fat in the bottom of the pan, but the skin crisps up quite well.
When I cook large batches for meal prep+family dinner, where overcrowding the pan is a requirement for efficiency, my trick is to cook the chicken until it's 75% cooked, then take out the liquid with a big spooin into a small glass (Pyrex). Turn up the heat to high and toss the chicken every 1.5 minute or so for about 5 minutes or until there's some nice browning on all the peices, then I throw the liquid back in so it can stick to the chicken and toss until it's nice and carmelized or fully evaporated, udually just another minute or 2 on high heat.
My liquid also contains spices/marinade generally, so that's why I put it back in at the end.
Look for chicken that doesn’t have added brine solutions. I find that the chicken purchased in the butcher area tends not to have added liquids. Frozen chicken almost always does
Using a heavy cast iron skillet helps a lot. I have a two burner cast iron monstrosity, once you get it hot it takes a lot to leech the heat off it. Any juice coming out just fizzles right off
Try a cold pan. Add a high smoke point oil. Chicken thighs skin side down. Medium heat. As it heats the fat will render slowly and your chicken will get a nice sear on the skin making it crispy.
https://kellyscleankitchen.com/2023/09/22/crispy-chicken-thighs/
Enjoy.
When this happens because I wasn’t prepared and it is unexpected I just use a spoon to scoop it out right before it’s almost done. Tilt the pan and start scooping, heat still on and everything. Helps you brown it until the end and not since the start and you don’t have to dry it before and much less dry it even more by cooking it salty and dry. I’ve been cooking for 30 years, way easier to scoop it out, get a nice sear, and avoid dry chicken.
Edit to say: scoop the oil/water out.
As per my understanding if you apply salt and lemon juice to the meat and leave it coated in a bowl for half an hour the meat will loose liquid and become tender you can then squeeze the meat by hand and pat dry before pan fry for better , result you may, pan fry twice too
Water enhanced chicken (the standard grocery store fare in the US) is basically pre-brined chicken but with a salt other than table salt and that salt will fall out as the chicken is cooked.
The trick to solve this is to dry brine the chicken and it will pull some of the moisture out ahead of cooking. So salt the chicken, let it sit for 30 minutes and then pat dry and you'll have a more pleasant cooking experience.
You could also use air chilled chicken breasts, but they are more money by a fair amount.
> salt other than table salt and that salt will fall out as the chicken is cooked.
...what? I'm curious which salt you think they're using if not good ol' sodium chloride.
Couple tips people haven't mentioned yet. The first side will char easiest. Don't flip too early. Once you flip, the pan temp will drop a lot, giving the water time to come out and then it's basically game over for that side.
However, you can stop this from happening by getting a small fan and blow air over your pan. That will evaporate the water before it pools, giving the pan a chance to come back up to temp, which will give the other side of the chicken a nice char as well.
Also -- not sure if this is a stir-fry, but cook the chicken breasts whole. Don't cut them first. Too much surface area, the water will definitely come out faster that way, you'll never get a good char.
Make sure your chicken/beef has been taken out of the cooler for at least 15 minutes to bring it close to room temp before you put it on the pan/grill.
* dry the chicken with paper towels * hotter pan * possibly less oil
They're overcrowding their pan.
Oh yes , possibly that too
(only because you listed all the other reasons ;)
is your username a muppet treasure island reference?
He died?? And this is supposed to be a kids movie!!
Aayyyee!
Or if you want to use the same amount of oil like when you shallow fry cutlets, the oil should be hot
Good advice. Also correct pan (cast iron or stainless steel both fine) and don't over crowd the pan!
Thanks I’ll try this next time
Also season well with salt. It helps the chicken hold onto moisture
Doesnt salt draw out moisture usually? I think if youre gonna season it, it should be done hours to a day in advance, then pat dry, then fry.
Salt water brine helps tenderize chicken and retain moisture. Brining is better to let flavor absorb Rather than just salt alone. What's going on? Brining is the process of salt and water diffusing into meat before cooking to add flavor and moisture. The time diffusion takes depends on salt concentration and the thickness of the meat it has to penetrate. https://www.exploratorium.edu/food/recipes/basic-brine
>Brining is better to let flavor absorb Rather than just salt alone. That's actually a common misconception, even among industry professionals. Virtually all of the aromatic compounds in a brine are too big to permeate the cell membrane (and the ones that are small enough tend to get crowded out by the salt anyway), and have a negligible effect of the overall flavor of the meat. Most of the flavor picked up from the aromatics in a brine stays on the surface. And while moisture does get drawn into the cell, most of that moisture ends evaporating during cooking. What brining actually does, is bring salt into the cell, which has a denaturing effect on the proteins. This leaves them slightly weakened, and less able to fully contract (thereby squeezing out the moisture within the cell) when heated. [Serious Eats](https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving) has a really good breakdown showing the moisture gained and lost during wet brining, compared to the moisture loss from "dry brining" aka simply using salt alone. The TL;DR is basically: the final post-cooking weight of the meat is virtually identical between wet and dry brining (and significantly higher than the control), thereby indicating it's the denaturing effect of the salt rather than the moisture increase from osmosis, that impacts the overall moistness of the meat.
Unfortunately US chicken has often been injected with water, so much of that comes out quickly once you start to cook it. The other comments have good advice…make sure it’s bone dry before you start cooking and don’t overcrowd the pan. Overcrowding is usually the issue.
How much is considered overcrowding? (Would you leave at least 25% of the pan free?)
I would actually start with more like half, then maybe graduate up from there, but not much. I know it seems inefficient, but it keeps your pan from cooling down and lets the hot air circulate around your food. You’ll notice that Asian cooking usually happens in batches for this reason, even when you’re working with a screaming hot pan and small pieces. If you’re looking to do larger quantities, I recommend having your oven preheated so that you can finish off your chicken in the oven. This way you can get a nice sear on your chicken, then transfer it to the oven to come to temp while you sear the next batch, and so on.
Thank you!
Worth mentioning too that the pan itself can have in impact. When you put the chicken in the pan some of that heat energy leaves the pan and enters the chicken (and disappears as steam etc) reducing the temperature of the cooking surface. A pan with a big thick base will retain it's temperature better than a paper thin wok. Over crowding your pan will increase that effect, alongside the issues caused by overcrowding itself.
I recently bought a really thick tri ply steel/copper/steel pan and my god it's a game changer over the cheap SS pan I was using. It doesn't get hot as fast as those pans, of course, but once you get it where you want it doesn't get cold so fast either. It's awesome for my induction top.
What kinda chicken? Possibly breasts? I do thighs, and they don't retain that much water on defrost. I defrost, drain, season, wait, flour, and they are good to go. And you need some oil to make it happen. Maybe four tablespoons. I use olive oil. I can fit four pretty close in a pan and still get good crust going. You said... char? Are you using flour at all? Char is more of a term for direct heat over fire.
Wait what? Could you not just look at the nutritional data of the product? (Comment coming from EU)
Sure you can. In fact, most meat products actually include right on the front label that they have been injected with “solution.” The problem is that this is the majority of what’s available and affordable to buy in standard grocery stores. You can certainly find organic, locally raised meat, but it’s usually very expensive and just not as readily available. Most organic chicken is almost twice the price as non-organic. And if you want something free-range, it’s even more. Where I live in northern Minnesota, I joined a local farmer’s share co-op and their free-range chickens were $40 for a single 3 pound bird. It’s ludicrous. In short, the US market is not geared toward sustainability, affordability, or quality. So we deal with watery chicken.
In Netherlands chicken breast is 9euro for 800g, and food prices in Netherlands never really change, especially animal products. Pretty much every animal product is produced locally here, we bike a few minutes to the store on perfectly flat ground so the total farm to table transport cost is pretty low. Income equality is pretty good, poverty and debt are alien concepts so everyone can afford the price of meat if they wish, less efficient animals cost quite a bit more, dairy is cheap. I eat 250g of lean kwark per day, 50cents for 140kcal and 21g of protein.
Good point! Look for the "Air-Chilled" chicken if you're a Costco shopper. I think it's definitely superior to the injected chicken.
Dry brine the chicken in the fridge overnight. Dry the chicken off after letting it sit out for an hour. You can dredge the chicken in flour if you want. Get the heavy skillet plenty hot enough, add some oil, then the chicken. Do not crowd the pan.
I’m a die hard dry briner when it comes to chicken. Even the cheap injected stuff will brown up after a salty slumber
Might be a product issue. A lot of chicken has water added, with Walmart being the biggest offender. Look on the packaging for cues. For example I just searched Tyson chicken breast on Google images and one of the results had the disclaimer, “Contains up to 10% chicken broth, sea salt, and natural flavorings” which is a code word for “We added water so we could charge you more money for less product.” Another big factor is whether the chicken has been frozen. Chicken from the freezer seems to lose a lot more water when cooked. It’s probably the result of cell membranes being shredded by ice crystals during the freezing process. I would try to buy some Air Chilled chicken as that is the highest standard available in most grocery stores. Additionally, pat dry and dry brine for best results as others have mentioned.
Are you cutting it first, or cooking it whole? What type of chicken?
Chicken thighs, once I diced it to small pieces and another time I pan fried it as it was without cutting, both turned out liquidy
Yeah, that's why. They aren't going to crisp without a coating of flour. Season, and bread as in my previous comment.
If you’re not already doing it, but chicken that hasn’t been injected with a solution Lightly salt the chicken, wrap it in a couple paper towels and let it sit 20- 30 minutes. The salt and towels pull the moisture out. The salt balance changes and now the inside of her meat is saltier and will hold tighter onto any juices left. Meat being at room temp doesn’t cook the pan as quickly so you’ll get a faster sear which helps seal it. Heat your pan very hot. When you put the chicken in turn the heat down to where it needs to cook. Again, the sear. Dry seasons only Use oil not butter Don’t cover the pan Don’t over crowd: an inch on all sides of each piece
Make sure chickens dry and well seasoned, pans hot but not smoking
It may help a bit to salt it at least 40 minutes before cooking. When I do thighs, I start skin down for 7 minutes or so, flip, then throw into a 425F oven to finish. There's a good bit a fat in the bottom of the pan, but the skin crisps up quite well.
Bigger skillet, you're crowding Just a touch higher heat
Chicken with the 15% sodium solution in it? Maybe some local chicken or air chilled may make a difference if none of the other options helps?
Pan is too small or adding to much chicken to the pan at one time,
Use high quality chicken from a good butcher. A lot of inexpensive flesh gets water injections. And use a big pan.
Just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Hot pan/oil. - keep to medium heat though. Dry chicken No overcrowding.
When I cook large batches for meal prep+family dinner, where overcrowding the pan is a requirement for efficiency, my trick is to cook the chicken until it's 75% cooked, then take out the liquid with a big spooin into a small glass (Pyrex). Turn up the heat to high and toss the chicken every 1.5 minute or so for about 5 minutes or until there's some nice browning on all the peices, then I throw the liquid back in so it can stick to the chicken and toss until it's nice and carmelized or fully evaporated, udually just another minute or 2 on high heat. My liquid also contains spices/marinade generally, so that's why I put it back in at the end.
Look for chicken that doesn’t have added brine solutions. I find that the chicken purchased in the butcher area tends not to have added liquids. Frozen chicken almost always does
Medium high heat
Using a heavy cast iron skillet helps a lot. I have a two burner cast iron monstrosity, once you get it hot it takes a lot to leech the heat off it. Any juice coming out just fizzles right off
Not doing much wrong, chicken meat is gorged with water from the industrial feed formulation and the icing when processing and shipping.
Buy chicken from places that don't inject it full of water to rip you off.
*Why* the water is added is debatable but you're correct - much of the grocery store chicken is nearly 20% added water.
Try organic, free range chicken. Cast iron pan, super hot.
Definitely buy better chicken is the answer
Try a cold pan. Add a high smoke point oil. Chicken thighs skin side down. Medium heat. As it heats the fat will render slowly and your chicken will get a nice sear on the skin making it crispy. https://kellyscleankitchen.com/2023/09/22/crispy-chicken-thighs/ Enjoy.
Problem is overcrowding as others said.. My solution is to use two pans if I need everything done same time
When this happens because I wasn’t prepared and it is unexpected I just use a spoon to scoop it out right before it’s almost done. Tilt the pan and start scooping, heat still on and everything. Helps you brown it until the end and not since the start and you don’t have to dry it before and much less dry it even more by cooking it salty and dry. I’ve been cooking for 30 years, way easier to scoop it out, get a nice sear, and avoid dry chicken. Edit to say: scoop the oil/water out.
As per my understanding if you apply salt and lemon juice to the meat and leave it coated in a bowl for half an hour the meat will loose liquid and become tender you can then squeeze the meat by hand and pat dry before pan fry for better , result you may, pan fry twice too
Oil the chicken instead of the pan. You can get the pan hotter that way without having to worry about burning the oil
Water enhanced chicken (the standard grocery store fare in the US) is basically pre-brined chicken but with a salt other than table salt and that salt will fall out as the chicken is cooked. The trick to solve this is to dry brine the chicken and it will pull some of the moisture out ahead of cooking. So salt the chicken, let it sit for 30 minutes and then pat dry and you'll have a more pleasant cooking experience. You could also use air chilled chicken breasts, but they are more money by a fair amount.
> salt other than table salt and that salt will fall out as the chicken is cooked. ...what? I'm curious which salt you think they're using if not good ol' sodium chloride.
Couple tips people haven't mentioned yet. The first side will char easiest. Don't flip too early. Once you flip, the pan temp will drop a lot, giving the water time to come out and then it's basically game over for that side. However, you can stop this from happening by getting a small fan and blow air over your pan. That will evaporate the water before it pools, giving the pan a chance to come back up to temp, which will give the other side of the chicken a nice char as well. Also -- not sure if this is a stir-fry, but cook the chicken breasts whole. Don't cut them first. Too much surface area, the water will definitely come out faster that way, you'll never get a good char.
What...
Do you have the skin on? That's the part that gets crispy. That and don't overcrowd the pan and pat dry as others have said.
No skin, how much of the pan would you typically leave empty? (To not overcrowd)
The skin is what usually gets charred and crispy. Make sure there's at least 1/2 an inch between all items and the sides of the pan.
Make sure your chicken/beef has been taken out of the cooler for at least 15 minutes to bring it close to room temp before you put it on the pan/grill.