I cook and freeze chicken and poultry to use for meals later. I'm finding that the meat is very dry. Any suggestions on how to prevent this from occurring?
I am chuckling about this because everyone is giving you cooking tips, but that isn't your issue. It is how the chicken comes out after freezing it. The only thing I can think of is that you freeze it in some juice/gravy as well, then when it thaws it will thaw in the juice unless of course if you grill it. This is a tough one because I am not sure there is a definite solution. Sorry I wasn't much help.
What works for me is to cook my chicken in a crockpot versus oven. I like dark meat chicken, so I will buy family packs (when on sale) of boneless thighs, cook in crockpot on a weekend afternoon. Shred or cube chicken, and store in freezer bag. I also make sure to get as much air out of the freezer bag as possible..I think this may help as well.
Thanks to the editors for posting all the previous replies about dry chicken ~
I should clarify -- the chicken is fine after being cooked, it is when I freeze it and it thaws out that it becomes dry. So I am havig issues with the freezing step.
Any Suggestions?
My answer to freezing cooked chicken is; freeze it in a 1/2 cup of chicken broth or gravy. You can also use a 1/4 cup of water instead. When you thaw it, drain it. You will have very moist chicken.
