A soft rain fell all morning and right now it is a breezy comfortable 72 degrees. This means it is finally cool enough to cook that 8lbs of chicken I stashed in the freezer last week. I love to keep precooked chicken and ground beef in the freezer; having the basis for a quick meal is a real lifesaver on busy days.
Here's how I like to prepare chicken for the freezer:
Get some large baking dishes; mine hold about 4-5 pounds each. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil in each pan. Place chicken breasts trimmed of fat into the pan and turn to coat lightly with the olive oil. Next it's time to season them. I use a variety of seasonings but here is what I used today:
2 Tbsp of Poultry Seasoning
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
I combine all of the seasonings in a small dish and then sprinkle over both sides of the meat. Once the seasoning is on add a 1/4 too 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth to each pan and cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees until no longer pink (usually about an hour).
Let the chicken cool thoroughly and then chop and place into freezer bags or containers.
Other seasonings that work well are rosemary (fresh rosemary is unbelievably good, but dried is good too), thyme, and sage. If I know for sure I'm going to use a whole pan of chicken for Mexican dishes I will season that dish with adobo chile powder, chipotle chile powder and cumin.
Post Title → Chicken Preprep
