What to do with Chicken breasts, or I need an alternative meat

Soldato
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Three weeks into my protein focused diet and I'm really sick of Chicken. I'm not a great lover of plain Chicken in the first place but now I am gagging when swallowing it so I need to do something with it to enhance the flavour or swap to another meat. I usually eat it straight from the Fridge too, I tried it heated in the Microwave for 1 minute once but it didn't seem to add anything. I can try it heated again though if recommended.

The breast I'm eating right now I put some Heinz BBQ sauce on, just a little and I spread it over with a knife. Anyone have some tips to add flavour when cooking or after it's cooked, I cook Chicken from raw.

At ASDA the other week I saw a big chunk of Gammon for about £7 which I'm considering trying. Or to keep having Chicken I buy pre-coated, the Chilli and Lime I tried last week was quite palatable, or I buy breadcrumb coated fillets which ASDA also do a good deal on, and I don't mind adding some carbs.
 
If you soak your chicken in bicarb and water overnight before cooking (about a tablespoon per KG) it helps significantly with its texture, especially when eating it cold, as it'll be soft and tender even when cold. It works better if you've chopped it up a bit, so that there aren't any large pieces, like full breast size.

As for flavouring it when cooking, I've found that some white pepper, salt, five spice (and I like some MSG with it too) makes quite a nice seasoning for chicken, or meats in general.

Depending on how you're cooking it, you could make it in to a rub by adding oil to the seasoning.
 
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Couple easy suggestions which you may or may not be doing already.

If this is going to be a major part of your diet going forward I would give some thought to getting a meat thermometer - you can get a Thermopop for 20 quid which will do you fine for all sorts of things. Chicken cooked at home is often woefully overcooked beyond 'safe' and using this will mean you end up with a moister chicken to start with that reheats better as well.

Brine your chicken for a couple hours before cooking - this makes it more resistant to overcooking and will help keep it juicier when reheating also.

Get a cast-iron griddle pan and cook it on that, the grill marks will add taste and contrasting texture and make it less boring when eating cold.
 
High protein should still include a load of vegetables, fruits, pulses, beans, nuts and seeds. They will add a lot of flavor and texture.

Chicken tends to be bland, the breast especially so. Try chicken thighs instead, and just eat plenty of other meats.
As Rich_L says, most people massively overcook chicken until it is dry and chewy. It should be most and juicy. It only has to be heated until the pathogens are killed.

Cooking method goes a long way, griddle pans are excellent for imparting good flavor as Rich points out. Also, BBQ and grill work very well. Mailard reaction is fairly key IMO with chicken.

Otherwise the good thing about chicken is it is pretty robust and goes well with a huge variety of different sauces giving it any flavor you want. Any kind of curry, stir-fry, fajitas, saltimboca, kiev, pacatta milanese, soulaki, souther fried.
 
How low carb are you going? If it's like 50-100g a day loads you can do.
If it's like sub 20g then you have limited options.

Lean pork and turkey are both lower calorie than chicken breast.
Prawns are very low calorie although expensive and les protein.

Give us some idea and I expect there will be a fair few recipes.
 
Three weeks into my protein focused diet and I'm really sick of Chicken. I'm not a great lover of plain Chicken in the first place but now I am gagging when swallowing it so I need to do something with it to enhance the flavour or swap to another meat. I usually eat it straight from the Fridge too, I tried it heated in the Microwave for 1 minute once but it didn't seem to add anything. I can try it heated again though if recommended.

The breast I'm eating right now I put some Heinz BBQ sauce on, just a little and I spread it over with a knife. Anyone have some tips to add flavour when cooking or after it's cooked, I cook Chicken from raw.

At ASDA the other week I saw a big chunk of Gammon for about £7 which I'm considering trying. Or to keep having Chicken I buy pre-coated, the Chilli and Lime I tried last week was quite palatable, or I buy breadcrumb coated fillets which ASDA also do a good deal on, and I don't mind adding some carbs.

Stay away from the processed foods, those bread crumb coated chicken things are processed, buy straight chicken, even the frozen chicken fillets processed.
 
How low carb are you going? If it's like 50-100g a day loads you can do.
If it's like sub 20g then you have limited options.

Lean pork and turkey are both lower calorie than chicken breast.
Prawns are very low calorie although expensive and les protein.

Give us some idea and I expect there will be a fair few recipes.

My carbs are between 50 and 150 I reckon. My typical day is like this;

0630 - I wake up(duh) and to start my metabolism I eat a Jacobs mixed grain crispbread cracker or a wholegrain rusk, which is a Swedish toast thing according to the packet.

1030 - Smooth Peanut Butter sandwich(Sunpat) with 2 pieces of brown bread.

1230 - Chicken Breast/Meat of choice with Spinach or other greens and sometimes Pasta. Two days last week I had Corn Beef Hash.

1430 - Piece of fruit either an Orange or a Pear.

1700 - Same as 1230 and a T6 pill. T6 is an energy booster and fat burner.

1800 - Up to 2 hours at the gym.

1900~2000 - Banana

2300ish - Bed

Throughout the day at work I drink Tea with semi-skimmed milk and 2 sweetners, about 4 mugs a day. At home I drink fridge chilled Water.

My Chicken breasts I oven cook for about 30mins as suggested on the package, there's slight browning on the outside in places and I cut to the middle to check it's white. The first week I did dice them but the second week I had pre-seasoned Chilli and Lime thighs and the Corn Beef Hash. This week I'm back on Chicken breast and didn't bother to dice them.

I went into Tesco on the way home from the Gym and bought some Gammon to try.

I'm trying to keep as close to a bodybuilders diet as possible without being to extreme. I'm making a real commitment to lose weight and get my fitness up. I've had good results so far after 2 weeks of being at the Gym 6 days a week for up to 2 hours.
 
Your better of going and posting in the sports section, it doesn't sound like a high protein diet at all, and is pretty high in crabs. Most people who do high protein do lower carb, not all though. Is that what you are trying to do.
 
Without weights/measures it's pretty hard to work out hw good/bad the diet is. It's certainly not a low carb diet but it doesn't sound like an awful one.

Certain things jump out a bit though - "starting your metabolism" and "2 hours at the gym" suggest a lack of knowledge of the way your body works and potentially a lack of structured approach to the gym. Neither are going to kill you but you could probably get better and faster results if you sort these things out.
 
Your better of going and posting in the sports section, it doesn't sound like a high protein diet at all, and is pretty high in crabs. Most people who do high protein do lower carb, not all though. Is that what you are trying to do.

Maybe not high, but that is what I am trying to focus on having more of while having as little as everything else as reasonably possible. Outside my 2 main meals at 12:30 and 1700 I'm just trying to keep that as healthy food. Peanut Butter sandwich is a new addition, I swapped it in last week for it's protein, replacing a piece of fruit.

Most of my diet mimics the owner of the gym, he also does the bodybuilding competitions. Where he eats those round rice crackers, I eat the grain cracker or rusk, I hate those rice crackers. He eats Chicken and greens 3 times a day where I have it twice a day and instead have an extra bit of fruit and the Peanut Butter sarnie. He probably takes no milk too.

[EDIT]

More on the carbs, let me see the packages here... adding it all up it's about 117 carbs which Google says is a moderate intake but still ok for losing weight inactively, so my gym work has done me ok on that but I am still going to drop it and aim for 50. I've never added it before and didn't realize it was quite that high. I knew the milk wasn't good and the bread, but those 2 alone I thought would be ok. What I underestimated is how much is in the fruit, especially a Banana, I really like Bananas too :/ my grain crackers are 6 carbs and rusk piece is 8, those are cool, could snack of those when feeling hunger instead of fruit

I have np cutting out 99% of carbs but in it's place I need more Protein, and that means nice tasting chicken for starters :)
 
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I wouldn't worry about that amount of carbs, especially if you go to the gym. Ultimately you want a slight calorie deficit achieved by matching diet to your exercise. Having a high protein ratio can make it easier to have a calorie deficit but it isn't required. If you do lots of exercise you will appreciate lots of carbs. I know a lot of runners and their lunch often consists of potatoes, pasta, bread, big salad and some chicken. Before big races they will be consuming over 3000s calories of carbs a day trying to maximize glycogen storage. If you go to the gym most days 117g carbs is not an issue.
 
Boneless chicken thighs, for more flavour over chicken breast. Bash them with a rolling pin between some clingfilm till thin...
A glug of olive oil and nando's rub, then griddled.
Awesome with roasted sweet potato wedges and corn cobs.
 
As above, don't get too carried away about the idea of low carb. At the end of the day the important thing is the kcal deficit. Having additional protein can help with recovery and maintaining muscle mass whilst on a cut though.

Yesterday I ate 310g of carbs for instance and my diet is going fine :p I do a lot of exercise however.
 
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