12 January 2010
50 ways to use a Grilled Chicken Breast, ok maybe not 50, but here’s my story. I was surprised the other day when I was at a play date with my four year old 
and I was talking to a Mom. We were discussing how she should cook the roast she had purchased for a family Sunday dinner. Her butcher had prepared a roast about twice as big as she wanted but she bought it anyway. She was perplexed about how she would use the leftovers. I was a bit surprised by this. I have mastered the art of making something from leftover meats. Sorry that sounded a bit over confident.
One of my busy Mom strategies is to actually have food leftover from my meals! Yup! I want left over vegetables and meat! And I will actually cook grilled chicken even though I don't plan on serving it the day I grill it. Crazy! Well, not really.
At my house everyone gets packed lunch, so leftovers are many times used as the next days lunch. I also do some marathon cooking on Sunday for the week. This way there are foods in the frig to be heated on the nights I am at work late. I try to make two meals on Sunday for the week ahead.
OK let’s get back to the grilled chicken topic…Here’s what I do: over time I have discovered that chicken cutlets rather then chicken breast are easier to cook evenly. So now I always buy the chicken cutlets from the butcher. A cutlet is just a breast which has been cut to a thinner, even depth. This makes cooking it easier. At the beginning of the week I will marinate 4 chicken cutlets in a oil/vinegar based salad dressing. I either put them in a big zip lock or a container. If you poke the cutlets with a fork I do think the marinade infuses better. But I’ve gone with out poking them and they are still delicious. Marinate the cutlets in the frig for at least 2 hours. I typically leave them to marinate over night in the frig.
Then I grill them in my grill pan. I love my grill pan! I don't even use my outdoor gas grill anymore, yup. I would never have thought I could live without my outdoor grill but I haven't used it in a year.
So I heat the grill pan to a medium high heat. The pan must be hot before you add the chicken . Depending on the pan, you may want to spray a light layer of oil on the pan to prevent sticking. My pan has a wonderful patina on it now so I rarely need to oil my pan for cooking.
Lay the cutlets down in the pan, they will sizzle. Don’t touch them! Let them cook for 2 minutes or until you can see the edges start to be opaque. At this point the cutlet will have nice grill marks on it. Using tongs, turn the cutlets over. Again flip them and leave them, don't poke at them or move them. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes or until the temperature of the interior of the cutlet reads past 160 degrees. You can use a meat thermometer. Ok so you don't have to measure the temperature of your cutlets every time, but do measure it on a few occasions when you make this chicken until you have your temperature and time mastered. And although you may not have known this; the risk of any salmonella surviving in cooked chicken is negated when the internal temperature is past 160 degrees.
So now the chicken is cooked, with the tongs take it out of the grill pan and let it rest on a plate for 4-5 minutes before cutting and or serving. Letting meat rest allows the natural juices to redistribute and the poultry or meat will taste more tender.
I typically grill my chicken ahead of time and refrigerate it for future recipes. So what can you do with this grilled chicken? Well I typically use the chicken in one of the following recipe ideas:
1. Dice up a cutlet for tacos
2. Dice up and use in a chicken soup
3. Dice up and use in Quesadilla's
4. Dice up and make chicken salad sandwiches
5. Make grilled chicken Panini's
6. Make chicken parmesan (this might be better if grilled chicken was not marinated)
7. Use chicken on a homemade pizza
8. Add chicken to a vegetable stir fry and serve with rice
8. Add chicken to my favorite vegetable chili
9. Add chicken to a warm pasta tossed with vegetables
10. Slice the cutlet into strips and put on a stick. My son eats anything on stick with dipping sauce!
OK so there you have it, yeah so I have listed only 10. Can you add some?! Add some of your leftover chicken ideas! I’d love some new ones.
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Use as topping for tortilla pizza
Wrap sandwiches! Fill it with whatever you like.
Try this...Use chicken as filling in a lettuce wrap.
Toss with whole wheat pasta and your favorite veggies and tomato sauce
Don't forget about the ever popular chicken smoothie, or maybe try a kickin chicken martini.... just kidding!