boneless chicken breat--low-fat cooking

Hi all--

Both me and my wife are trying to lose some weight, and we are eating a lot of boneless chicken breasts. I am always looking for new, quick and interesting ways of preparing them at home so it's not always the same old same old. When I cook them, I usually cover them with Chinese Guilin Chili paste and some dijon mustard, and grill it w/o oil in the cast-iron frying pan. But I'm open to other suggestions. Thanks.

Charlie

Hi Albinoni, this is what I learned from growing up in a Chinese household:

I usually slice one chicken breast into thin, bite-sized pieces, season it with a teaspoon of sesame oil, a Tablespoon of soy sauce, a bit of cornstarch and a some black pepper. Then I stir fry it with a selection of fresh veggies. These can include sliced celery, toasted cashew nuts, thinly-sliced carrots, small florets of broccoli/cauliflower, rehydrated Chinese mushrooms and baby sweetcorn cut into inch-long segments. Sometimes, if I want to give it a kick to make up for a lack of fat (I only use 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil to stir fry), I add in a dried Asian chilli or two.

If you want a bit of gravy with it, this is what I do: I mix a Tablespoon of oyster sauce, a teaspoon (or half-teaspoon depending how thick you want the sauce to be) of cornstarch in about 1/4 cup or so of water/stock, pour it in at the last minute, wait for it to bubble and thicken, then scoop the whole yummy lot out onto mounds of fluffy, steaming hot steamed Thai jasmine rice mixed with brown rice.

quote:

Originally posted by albinoni

Hi all--
trying to lose some weight, and we are eating a lot of boneless chicken breasts.

Charlie

I'm also losing weight, and need to be on a no sodium diet. I am hypothryoid with edema symptoms. So...

For stir fry, I use teflon fry pan, and a few squirts of pure extra vigin olive oil I keep handy in a squirt bottle.
I use fresh ingredients, not frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts which have salt solution injected, basted, that seems imposible to get rid of. I slide the chicken breast against the grain in about 1/4" slices.
I keep fresh garlic and ginger handy, as well as dry mustard, crushed red pepper and cayenne. The garlic, ginger, pepper help elevate metabolism a bit.

It would probably taste better with the sesame oil, but I only eat in asian restaurants, don't have experience growing up in asian family. :-) But I don't use any processed carbs in my cooking/diet. So corn starch is out. Salt free...so I pass on the soy sauce.

I use long grain basmattie rice...the lowest glycemic index rice.
I keep washed organic salad greens handy.
I slice fresh mushrooms, or hydrate ****aki.
Fresh unsalted almonds.

I vary the spices. Sometimes garlic & ginger; other times ginger mustard. Sometimes I make rice, and have salad on side.
Other times I serve up the chicken on the greens.

I alternate with broiled salmon fillet.

WildWalker
Walking Wilderness, Wilding edible plants

Lunch today was delicious:

Fresh Boneless, skinless chicken breast marinated in Cornell Chicken marinade (see other topic here under Chicken). Cooked in fry pan in more reserved marinade. Added fried fresh white button mushrooms, on a jumbo hot dog bun. Salad of organic greans topped by a few marinated artichoke hearts. Delightful.

WildWalker

Poach those puppies a bit, chop or shred them and set them aside. and in a frying pan, saute' some garlic and oninons, add chili powder and cumin to taste, (some Dinosaur Foreplay rub too if you have it), heat until the spices overwhelm the kitchen. Add the chicken, a cup of chicken stock, a quarter cup of salsa, some chopped pickled jalepenos, and finally cilantro. Cook until the liquid is gone, serve as tacos, tostadas or burrito filling, just go easy on the cheese.

I had chicken marsala last nite. It was really tasty. Saute chicken and set aside. Throw some minced shallots and mushrooms in the pan and saute. Add half a cup of marsala and heat the alcohol out and then add half a cup of chicken stock. Reduce the sauce, add more marsala if needed to your taste. Just replace the sauteed chicken in the pan to heat through in the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste naturally.

I don't remember where on the web I found the recipe, but a few months ago I made chicken saag with the boneless breasts. Basically, it's a curry with chicken and spinach. If I recall correctly, I chopped some onions, garlic, and ginger, then sauteed them together. The next step was to add chicken stock (1/2 c?) and curry powder, then cook till the liquid was gone. In next was a drained can of diced tomatoes, which I again cooked till the liquid was gone. I then browned the chicken--cut into bite-sized pieces--in the mixture, then added spinach and chicken stock. After letting that simmer a bit, we ate it over rice. Good stuff, pretty nutritious and low in calories, and except for the stock and tomato parts, not much work.

We like Catalina Chicken

1 pkg. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle fat free Catalina salad dressing
1/2 jar Apricot preserves
1 pkg. onion soup mix

Mix salad dressing, preserves and soup mix with about 1/2 cup water.
Pour over chicken breasts in a casserole dish.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or till done.

Serve over rice.

GRILLED ORANGE CHICKEN FINGERS (serves 4)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/ 2 Tbsp, Dijon mustard
1 1/ 2 Tbs. frozen orange-juice concentrate, thawed
1 1/ 2 Tbs. honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/ 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Cut chicken crosswise into 3/ 4 inch wide strips. In a bowl, whisk remaining ingredients together until smooth. Add the chicken strips to the sauce and toss to combine. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare grill or preheat the broiler. Lightly oil rack or coat with nonstick cooking spray. Remove the chicken strips from the marinade, discarding any extra marinade. Grill or broil for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until no longer pink in the center. Do not over cook.

168 calories and 3 G fat per serving

Will you consider boneless, skinless chicken THIGHS? They grill better. Open up the pieces (they always come rolled) and marinate in Roasted Garlic Teriaki sauce. I use the electric Farberware grill with the grate raised and cook them for about 20 minutes per side. On charcoal they take about 25 minutes total. Use a basket, and turn (both over and around) every 3-4 minutes.