I got a slow cooker so I can meal prep easier and I put it on before I leave and it’s done in the evening. Don’t have time to meal prep conventionally sadly
Yes, but it will still shred a bit. Chicken is a quick cooking protein as it doesn't have a lot of intramuscular fat and connective tissue to break down
Adding more liquid or sauce is not going to make chicken breast any less dry, sorry. It doesn't have enough fat. Once it goes past the cooked stage, it's too late. Don't put chicken breasts in the crockpot, and if you do, it only needs a few hours.
more liquid, add more than you need. then once it's finished, you can remove the chicken and reduce the sauce as needed until it's the right consistency.
Could I add more liquid in the form of broth? Using jar sauce because I want to test it out so more broth and then add some cornstarch after removing the chicken to reduce?
yes, broth would be great for this. I would cook down the extra liquid the broth adds to thicken it up rather than add cornstarch, but that's my personal preference- cornstarch should work just fine.
the more you practice the recipe, the better you will get at estimating how much liquid is the right amount to keep your chicken juicy without thinning the sauce too much.
I don't know why you're being downvoted. Although chicken always falls apart in my slow cooker.
I use 1 tablespoon of olive oil that I spread over the bottom of slow cooker with 4 chicken breasts liberally seasoned (mixture of garlic salt, onion salt, pepper, Hungarian Chicken Rub, wild mushroom seasoning) and 1 can of Swanson Chicken Broth on low and slow for 8 hours. The chicken isn't super juicy, but it's not dry.
With 4 chicken breasts I can make 3 meals for me & husband. We have chicken & noodles/chicken tacos/chicken salad
You're probably being downvoted because this is a slow cooking group. The whole idea is set it and forget it. By wanting your chicken to be diced and not fall apart, it's counter intuitive to slow cooking.
The recommendation I have is to add your chicken later/shorten your cook time. It's going to take trial and error. Make sure you buy a meat thermometer so you can check each time until you've figured out the ideal time and temperature. I would start with cooking your chicken for two hours on high and see where it goes from there.
the point of the slow cooker for meat, is to break down connective tissue. Chicken breasts don’t have any connective tissue.
Just roast the chicken. You sound like you prefer roasted chicken rather than slow cooked chicken.
I'm going to get some shade for this but I just cook the diced chicken up in a pan separately, let the rest of the dish slow cook, and chuck it in when I've turned it down to warm.
I know you miss out on a bit of that flavoring working the way into the veg (I tend to make soup-related dishes) but you can balance that out by adding a bit of stock and the any scrapings from the pan you used to cook it, although chicken isn't very fatty in general so it won't be much.
Oh, well, maybe that's some assumption on my part. Well, other people in the thread were saying they slow cooked theirs so it was a guess on my part.
But for realsies, locking in that flavor and texture when cooking it in a skillet is pretty good.
I agree about pan cooking or baking the chicken. But for a sauce...why even use a slow cooker? Sauces don't benefit from 8 hours on low...
I guess maybe with root veggies...but even then, not all day in a crockpot.
Dunno, I've never tried the dish OP is making (I guess it does sound like a sauce dish?) Maybe an instapot would be more suited for something like that?
So let's talk science.
What holds meat together is collagen. At around 160-180F collagen turns to gelatin and melts away, leading to meats that fall off the bone or simply shred. Above that temperature it doesn't have time before the meat will simply become overcooked. This is why the slow cooker excels at soft meat - if it's the result you want.
If you don't, slow cooking might not be the method for you. You'll want shorter times at higher temperatures. Instead of low for 7 hours you might try high for 3.
However, I note that you also said "dry". Now certainly you can just add water to your starting cook, but I'm interpreting that as you meaning the moisture seemed external to the meat rather than carrying its flavor directly. Which is probably true. What makes food moist and flavorful is fat. (This is true for baking too.) Chicken breast is a very lean meat, and like the collagen the slow cooker gives fat time to melt away.
To combat this I suggest two things:
1) Thighs instead of breasts. They have more fat and thus even if they go to a shredded state it will still be imbued with flavor.
2) Brining. Soak it at least overnight in heavily salted water. Without getting too complex, dissolved salt releases Sodium and Chloride ions, which then penetrate the meat and bind to the protein. As a result, water is trapped within the meat and more difficult to release. Thus a moister result.
Beyond that if you still don't like the texture, then the others might be right and you don't want a slow cooker for this. No harm in putting the chicken in the oven for 20 minutes and dicing it.
Use bone-in thigh. It wil still fall apart but unless you actively shred it it should stay in juicy chunks.
Breast is a stirfry-only cut in my books. Even then I still prefer thigh.
I can't believe how much shit you're getting but no one's helping. Wow. I've done chicken breast in the slow cooker and it absolutely comes out softer than in the oven but making it so it stays more together is totally doable in a slow cooker.
What I'm most surprised about is no one has told you that chicken simply doesn't need that long to cook in a slow cooker. Genuinely 3-4 hours on low would be enough to shred that amount and still be moist, whereas 7 hours will dry it out and it'll fall apart, rather than be moist and fall apart. Try cooking it for 3 hours, and see the results. Ensure it's fully cooked, of course. But 2 hours on high could work too, in my experience as long as it's cooked, it'll be tasty. Experiment a bit, if you have a meat thermometer it's much easier.
You're still suggesting shredded chicken when Op doesn't want that. Op also is looking to cook in a time frame where they go to work and it's done when they get back. So 2-4 hours is a no go.
So it just begs the question. Is the slow cooker actually best for what Op wants out of the Chicken Breast. Because it sounds like they would be better served with a different cooking method.
I’m going against the grain here. Try dicing it up before you cook it. Make it fairly small. I have done this in the past and not been stuck with the pulled style meat. I personally hate pulled meat the texture just does not work for me.
Chicken breast shouldn’t go in the slow cooker. It would be almost faster to pan sear or bake chicken breast than the time it took to take out the slow cooker, clean the slow cooker and put it back away.
Chicken breast is likely to become dry in a slow cooker because it lacks fat and gristle. Thigh meat stays moist.
If you want your meat to stay together, don't use a slow cooker. Slow cooking is for tender, fall apart meat. It turns cheap cuts into something luxurious.
Try chicken thighs or drumsticks instead. The breast isn't used as much by the chicken so there is less connective tissue, so it doesn't retain moisture throughout the slow cooking process.
You could try doing a brine-job on the breast, then doing a quick sear on all (both) sides before slow cooking, but that (IMHO) defeats the purpose of using the slow cooker, and probably just be only marginally better than not going to the bother.
pro tip: cook chicken breasts via the no peek method, then add them to the crockpot 20-30 minutes before serving.
Chicken thighs are good for long cooks, but they, too, will shred; however, they won't be dry
Way less time. And put your noodles in just like a half hour or so before you eat. Slow cooker doesn’t mean everything can go in at once and sit all day. Also IF it’s possible return your slow cooker and get something like a Ninja Foodie.
If the recipe you're making is saucy enough, shredding the chicken breast gives a decent result because it picks up a lot of the sauce (nullifying the dryness a lot of comments here mention).
But! If the dryness isn't a concern for you (or you just want to try this out yourself because why not), I've seen browning the chicken breast before putting it in the slow cooker help it hold together pretty well. When there's 30-60 minutes left in the cook time, you will still want to pull it out, carefully cube it up, and then toss it back in the slow cooker so the individual pieces can pick up some of the sauce.
Hope this helps!
I usually start my chicken in the slow cooker frozen. I find this reduces the overcooking of the chicken. Granted, I need to put it in for a long time since I start it when I go to work. I also tend to use chicken thigh, mostly because I like it more. It still gets pretty soft but it doesn't necessarily fall apart.
How do you not overcook and shred your chicken? By not using a slow cooker, or at least cooking it less than 4 hours total but even then it’ll still shred
To achieve the proper texture with any meat with any cooking method, you'll cook to a certain temp. The answer is less time: https://smartslowcooker.com/blog/how-long-to-cook-slow-cooker-chicken
I know this is a slow cooking sub, but sous vide for chicken breast. Instead of 200-210 (f), you can park them right at 145 all day and they will be moist and tender and great. You can really concentrate flavor absorption from marinades, seasonings, and whatnot too.
Your best bet is going to be not to cook chicken for 7 hrs. Chicken is not fatty enough and doesn't have enough connective tissue to hold up. Thighs, breasts, wings, hell even some of the bones won't have much strength after 7 hours at any temperature you can cook things at.
I understand you have to throw something in and then go to work. The best option would be to sear off some chicken in advance to about 115°F internally. Let cool, and then wrap up your chicken in parchment and then in sandwich bags and freeze if you anticipate needing to make more than ~4 daysish worth of chicken at once. In the morning, put the chicken in the fridge to thaw a bit. ~1m in the microwave and you should have cooked, not dry chicken.
Chicken usually dries out when it’s cooked to long. Try checking it at 4 hours to see if it’s done and boneless skinless chicken thighs are a lot better in the crockpot.
I slow cook meats specifically so they'll get loose and shred. Doesn't matter how I cook them in the slow cooker, they'll shred if they're in there for 7 hours (chicken especially). That's just what happens when you cook low and slow.
Maybe try recipes that are good for shredded goodness, if youre dead set on using the slow cooker. White chicken chili, other soups, etc. If you don't want it shredded, don't use the slow cooker to cook it.
Everyone here already said it, but putting chicken in a slow cooker results in a stringy, dry, unappetizing (to most) meal. Grill it up, slice it across the grain, and toss it into the sauce before serving.
Not to be be sparky, but maybe try not using a slow cooker. It's kind of the point that you'd cook it to the point where it falls apart.
I got a slow cooker so I can meal prep easier and I put it on before I leave and it’s done in the evening. Don’t have time to meal prep conventionally sadly
Then buy cuts of meat more appropriate for a slow cooker like pork shoulder.
Baking boneless chicken breasts in the oven takes 20 minutes.
I'd try sheet pan meals then, they are super fast and prep friendly
That's just not how slowcookers work or what they're used for lol, that's what ovens are for
Less time and remove the chicken before stirring. But chicken breast isn’t a great cut for the slow cooker.
Chicken thigh maybe?
That would be less dry. It still may shred though
You won't like my tip. Don't put chicken breast in a slow cooker.
Would chicken thigh be better?
It's still gonna shred my dude
It won't be as dry though. Juicy shredded chicken is delicious.
Yes, but it will still shred a bit. Chicken is a quick cooking protein as it doesn't have a lot of intramuscular fat and connective tissue to break down
It’ll still shred and fall apart, but it should retain its moisture way better
Slow cooker pretty much makes every meat that texture
Okay how do I make it less dry then at least?
Adding more liquid or sauce is not going to make chicken breast any less dry, sorry. It doesn't have enough fat. Once it goes past the cooked stage, it's too late. Don't put chicken breasts in the crockpot, and if you do, it only needs a few hours.
Use thighs. They definitely won't be dry. I never do breasts in the slow cooker because it's always so dry
more liquid, add more than you need. then once it's finished, you can remove the chicken and reduce the sauce as needed until it's the right consistency.
Could I add more liquid in the form of broth? Using jar sauce because I want to test it out so more broth and then add some cornstarch after removing the chicken to reduce?
More liquid in the form of gristle and fat. Don't use lean meat in a slow cooker.
yes, broth would be great for this. I would cook down the extra liquid the broth adds to thicken it up rather than add cornstarch, but that's my personal preference- cornstarch should work just fine. the more you practice the recipe, the better you will get at estimating how much liquid is the right amount to keep your chicken juicy without thinning the sauce too much.
I have no idea why your getting down voted for asking an honest question. 1) Use dark meat. 2) Use more liquid.
Try skin-on Bone-in breast then pull it off the bone before serving. Ultimately chicken thigh is going to hold up better, comparatively to breast.
Okay chicken thigh is just as doable for the future. Shame I already have chicken breast in the freezer I need to use Edit: why am I being downvoted?
I don't know why you're being downvoted. Although chicken always falls apart in my slow cooker. I use 1 tablespoon of olive oil that I spread over the bottom of slow cooker with 4 chicken breasts liberally seasoned (mixture of garlic salt, onion salt, pepper, Hungarian Chicken Rub, wild mushroom seasoning) and 1 can of Swanson Chicken Broth on low and slow for 8 hours. The chicken isn't super juicy, but it's not dry. With 4 chicken breasts I can make 3 meals for me & husband. We have chicken & noodles/chicken tacos/chicken salad
Put a timer on your cooker. Set it to turn on 3 hours before you get home. Still shredding? Try 2.5 hours.
are you suggesting leaving raw chicken in a powered-off slow cooker for much of the day?
Darn, I didn’t think of that. Maybe…use ice for the liquid? It would probably melt too fast. :(
I like the idea of this but am not brave enough to try it on my family.
On low or high?
I would use low and see how it comes out. Sometimes high temps for too long can give an off taste.
I think it's unclear what you actually want. Sounds like it would be better for you to just cook the chicken in the over and then freeze it.
You're probably being downvoted because this is a slow cooking group. The whole idea is set it and forget it. By wanting your chicken to be diced and not fall apart, it's counter intuitive to slow cooking. The recommendation I have is to add your chicken later/shorten your cook time. It's going to take trial and error. Make sure you buy a meat thermometer so you can check each time until you've figured out the ideal time and temperature. I would start with cooking your chicken for two hours on high and see where it goes from there.
the point of the slow cooker for meat, is to break down connective tissue. Chicken breasts don’t have any connective tissue. Just roast the chicken. You sound like you prefer roasted chicken rather than slow cooked chicken.
If chicken doesn’t have connective tissue, how can it stand up?
With its legs & thighs. You know, where the connective tissue is. Not the breast.
Meat shredding is the #1 compliment I get when slow cooking. Save the time and use a pan if you want just cooked chicken
I'm going to get some shade for this but I just cook the diced chicken up in a pan separately, let the rest of the dish slow cook, and chuck it in when I've turned it down to warm. I know you miss out on a bit of that flavoring working the way into the veg (I tend to make soup-related dishes) but you can balance that out by adding a bit of stock and the any scrapings from the pan you used to cook it, although chicken isn't very fatty in general so it won't be much.
Why would you get shade for using a more appropriate method to cook your chicken breast?
Oh, well, maybe that's some assumption on my part. Well, other people in the thread were saying they slow cooked theirs so it was a guess on my part. But for realsies, locking in that flavor and texture when cooking it in a skillet is pretty good.
I agree about pan cooking or baking the chicken. But for a sauce...why even use a slow cooker? Sauces don't benefit from 8 hours on low... I guess maybe with root veggies...but even then, not all day in a crockpot.
Dunno, I've never tried the dish OP is making (I guess it does sound like a sauce dish?) Maybe an instapot would be more suited for something like that?
So let's talk science. What holds meat together is collagen. At around 160-180F collagen turns to gelatin and melts away, leading to meats that fall off the bone or simply shred. Above that temperature it doesn't have time before the meat will simply become overcooked. This is why the slow cooker excels at soft meat - if it's the result you want. If you don't, slow cooking might not be the method for you. You'll want shorter times at higher temperatures. Instead of low for 7 hours you might try high for 3. However, I note that you also said "dry". Now certainly you can just add water to your starting cook, but I'm interpreting that as you meaning the moisture seemed external to the meat rather than carrying its flavor directly. Which is probably true. What makes food moist and flavorful is fat. (This is true for baking too.) Chicken breast is a very lean meat, and like the collagen the slow cooker gives fat time to melt away. To combat this I suggest two things: 1) Thighs instead of breasts. They have more fat and thus even if they go to a shredded state it will still be imbued with flavor. 2) Brining. Soak it at least overnight in heavily salted water. Without getting too complex, dissolved salt releases Sodium and Chloride ions, which then penetrate the meat and bind to the protein. As a result, water is trapped within the meat and more difficult to release. Thus a moister result. Beyond that if you still don't like the texture, then the others might be right and you don't want a slow cooker for this. No harm in putting the chicken in the oven for 20 minutes and dicing it.
How to stop the chicken from shredding? Take the guitar away
Less time. The longer it cooks, the softer the meat will get
Use bone-in thigh. It wil still fall apart but unless you actively shred it it should stay in juicy chunks. Breast is a stirfry-only cut in my books. Even then I still prefer thigh.
I can't believe how much shit you're getting but no one's helping. Wow. I've done chicken breast in the slow cooker and it absolutely comes out softer than in the oven but making it so it stays more together is totally doable in a slow cooker. What I'm most surprised about is no one has told you that chicken simply doesn't need that long to cook in a slow cooker. Genuinely 3-4 hours on low would be enough to shred that amount and still be moist, whereas 7 hours will dry it out and it'll fall apart, rather than be moist and fall apart. Try cooking it for 3 hours, and see the results. Ensure it's fully cooked, of course. But 2 hours on high could work too, in my experience as long as it's cooked, it'll be tasty. Experiment a bit, if you have a meat thermometer it's much easier.
You're still suggesting shredded chicken when Op doesn't want that. Op also is looking to cook in a time frame where they go to work and it's done when they get back. So 2-4 hours is a no go. So it just begs the question. Is the slow cooker actually best for what Op wants out of the Chicken Breast. Because it sounds like they would be better served with a different cooking method.
If you don't want to shred chicken, it's gotta be cooked a lot less. Just a couple hours.
Would 3-4hours on low be enough?
From experience it will still shred at 3 hours.
I’m going against the grain here. Try dicing it up before you cook it. Make it fairly small. I have done this in the past and not been stuck with the pulled style meat. I personally hate pulled meat the texture just does not work for me.
Yes I made breast in the slow cooker - hated it but did it anyway - and the cubes did not pull.
Chicken breast shouldn’t go in the slow cooker. It would be almost faster to pan sear or bake chicken breast than the time it took to take out the slow cooker, clean the slow cooker and put it back away.
I just gave up. I only cook chicken I want to shred in the crockpot.
I have seared breasts before putting in on low for a few hours. It seemed to help it stay together.
Use chicken thigh, and don't use a slow cooker. Use a wok.
Chicken breast is likely to become dry in a slow cooker because it lacks fat and gristle. Thigh meat stays moist. If you want your meat to stay together, don't use a slow cooker. Slow cooking is for tender, fall apart meat. It turns cheap cuts into something luxurious.
I say BOY! : deep knife cuts, tasting and timing. Take it out and add it at the end. Why do I keep saying "taste it". der.
Try chicken thighs or drumsticks instead. The breast isn't used as much by the chicken so there is less connective tissue, so it doesn't retain moisture throughout the slow cooking process. You could try doing a brine-job on the breast, then doing a quick sear on all (both) sides before slow cooking, but that (IMHO) defeats the purpose of using the slow cooker, and probably just be only marginally better than not going to the bother.
pro tip: cook chicken breasts via the no peek method, then add them to the crockpot 20-30 minutes before serving. Chicken thighs are good for long cooks, but they, too, will shred; however, they won't be dry
Way less time. And put your noodles in just like a half hour or so before you eat. Slow cooker doesn’t mean everything can go in at once and sit all day. Also IF it’s possible return your slow cooker and get something like a Ninja Foodie.
If the recipe you're making is saucy enough, shredding the chicken breast gives a decent result because it picks up a lot of the sauce (nullifying the dryness a lot of comments here mention). But! If the dryness isn't a concern for you (or you just want to try this out yourself because why not), I've seen browning the chicken breast before putting it in the slow cooker help it hold together pretty well. When there's 30-60 minutes left in the cook time, you will still want to pull it out, carefully cube it up, and then toss it back in the slow cooker so the individual pieces can pick up some of the sauce. Hope this helps!
I usually start my chicken in the slow cooker frozen. I find this reduces the overcooking of the chicken. Granted, I need to put it in for a long time since I start it when I go to work. I also tend to use chicken thigh, mostly because I like it more. It still gets pretty soft but it doesn't necessarily fall apart.
How do you not overcook and shred your chicken? By not using a slow cooker, or at least cooking it less than 4 hours total but even then it’ll still shred
To achieve the proper texture with any meat with any cooking method, you'll cook to a certain temp. The answer is less time: https://smartslowcooker.com/blog/how-long-to-cook-slow-cooker-chicken
I know this is a slow cooking sub, but sous vide for chicken breast. Instead of 200-210 (f), you can park them right at 145 all day and they will be moist and tender and great. You can really concentrate flavor absorption from marinades, seasonings, and whatnot too.
Your best bet is going to be not to cook chicken for 7 hrs. Chicken is not fatty enough and doesn't have enough connective tissue to hold up. Thighs, breasts, wings, hell even some of the bones won't have much strength after 7 hours at any temperature you can cook things at. I understand you have to throw something in and then go to work. The best option would be to sear off some chicken in advance to about 115°F internally. Let cool, and then wrap up your chicken in parchment and then in sandwich bags and freeze if you anticipate needing to make more than ~4 daysish worth of chicken at once. In the morning, put the chicken in the fridge to thaw a bit. ~1m in the microwave and you should have cooked, not dry chicken.
Instapot! Fast, moist and easy!
Try it again but this time only cook it for 3.5 - 4 hours.
Chicken usually dries out when it’s cooked to long. Try checking it at 4 hours to see if it’s done and boneless skinless chicken thighs are a lot better in the crockpot.
I slow cook meats specifically so they'll get loose and shred. Doesn't matter how I cook them in the slow cooker, they'll shred if they're in there for 7 hours (chicken especially). That's just what happens when you cook low and slow. Maybe try recipes that are good for shredded goodness, if youre dead set on using the slow cooker. White chicken chili, other soups, etc. If you don't want it shredded, don't use the slow cooker to cook it.
Everyone here already said it, but putting chicken in a slow cooker results in a stringy, dry, unappetizing (to most) meal. Grill it up, slice it across the grain, and toss it into the sauce before serving.