By design, working to make your muscles bigger and stronger is hard work. To successfully navigate the cycle of stress/recovery/growth, your muscles need all the help they can get. One way to accelerate that cycle is to eat the right amount of the right food at the right time. Enter the chicken breast. Loaded with protein and other less-celebrated nutritional gems, this white-meat wonder is convenient, versatile, and low in fat. It’s no surprise that it’s the most common muscle-building food found on dinner plates of gym rats everywhere. Yet, day after day of the same old grilled chicken breast can make even the most die-hard bird-lover want to fly the coop.
To honor this classic bodybuilding food, we give you the skinny on why chicken breast deserves to be front-and-center in a healthful diet and offer tasty secrets to bust you out of a chicken rut.
With a higher protein-to-fat ratio (19:1) than any other part of the chicken, the breast is a great source of lean protein. And its protein quality ranks right up there with other heavyweights like eggs and beef, meaning it’s easily synthesized to repair muscle tissue and other cells damaged during hard training. But there’s more than just protein under those feathers: A 6-ounce chicken breast provides about 187 calories, 40 grams of protein, zero carbs and only 2 grams of fat along with a host of other bodybuilding-friendly nutrients.
- Niacin is essential for the conversion of protein, fat and carbohydrate into usable energy, and one chicken breast contains more than the recommended daily allowance of niacin. In other words, it can help you push more weight around in the gym and stay on the treadmill longer.
- Vitamin B6 allows you to use carbs (glycogen) stored in your muscles during exercise.
- Iron is needed to deliver oxygen to those same muscles when you’re training in overdrive.
- Selenium repairs damaged cells and inhibits the growth of cancerous ones, helping to lower your risk of cancer. It also aids in proper thyroid function, which in turn helps keep your metabolism revving – another good reason to use chicken breast as a primary protein source when dieting.
- Zinc is an immune-boosting mineral that can ward off cold bugs and support the production of anabolic hormones.
Just make sure that you enjoy your breast sans skin. Keep the cover on, and you add double the total and saturated fat content. It’s okay to grill chicken with the skin on for flavor, but take it off before eating.
Follow our seven rules for buying, cooking and storing chicken breasts and you’ll no longer have to needlessly suffer through tasteless, dried-out poultry.
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<p class='slide-count'>1 of 7</p><img width="1109" height="614" src="/uploadfile/2024/1224/20241224145314160.jpg"><p class="photo-credit">vgajic / Getty</p>Rule #1: Buy Organic
“I’m convinced that free-roaming, organic chicken is a better choice for bodybuilders [and other consumers] than those cooped up in factory farms. Plus, it’s superior in taste,” says chef Terrance Brennan, owner of Picholine restaurant in New York and author of Artisanal Cooking.
Most other chefs agree that free-range birds are worth the extra expense. Brennan points out that industrialized chicken is often pumped full of water, and since you’re paying by weight, you’re actually paying for this H2O.
Although there’s no nutritional difference between organic and regular chicken, you’ll avoid ingesting antibiotics and hormones when you buy certified organic poultry.
Pro Tip: Free-range chicken is already at a flavor advantage, so why overpower it with a lot of external flavors? “I tend to rub only kosher salt and pepper onto high-end breasts,” says chef Hinnerk von Bargen, associate professor at the Culinary Institute of America.”Sometimes less really is more.”
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Rule #2: Don’t Overcook
Overcooking chicken can ruin the taste, but undercooking can leave you kneeling over the porcelain throne. To get around this problem, use a cooking thermometer to determine when your breasts are cooked just right.
“Chicken breast should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F,” von Bargen explains. This will annihilate bugs while keeping your chicken moist.
How To:
Grill-Top Chicken Breasts
- Coat a grill pan with cooking spray and preheat over medium heat. Cook breasts 5-6 minutes per side or until cooked thoroughly. You can also use an outdoor grill.
Oven-Baked Chicken Breasts
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place chicken in a glass baking dish (or equivalent) in a single layer and pour leftover marinade over it. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside.
Pro Tip: Let your chicken rest for a few minutes after cooking. “This allows the juices to redistribute moisture throughout the meat, which adds flavor,” advises Brennan.
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Rule #3: Give it a Bath
Marinating is the best way to overcome chicken’s rather bland natural flavor. “Marinades keep chicken from drying out and make it more exciting,” says Brennan. He recommends marinating chicken breasts for at least eight hours in the refrigerator to infuse more flavor, and set aside a little extra for basting during cooking.
Basic marinades include an acid such as vinegar, wine or citrus juice along with oil and spice and herb flavorings. But why stop there? Try new marinades and rubs to perk up your poultry.
Pro Tip: Freeze chicken breasts in a zip-top bag with your marinade. The breast will soak it in as it defrosts.
M&F Approved Recipe
Hot ‘n’ Tangy Marinade
Ingredients:
- 1⁄4 cup cider vinegar
- 1⁄4 cup ketchup
- 1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. non-hydrogenated margarine, melted
- 2 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- Few drops of hot sauce
Directions: Combine ingredients in a small pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour over chicken and turn to coat. Leave overnight in refrigerator. Cook when ready.
Nutritional Facts: (1⁄4-cup serving): 29 calories, 0 g protein, 8 g carbs, 1 g fat
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Rule #4: Rub Your Bird
No time to wait for your breast to marinate? Try a rub! Like marinades, a rub—basically a blend of salt, spices and herbs—can be all a chicken needs to make it taste great.
“A bit of coarse salt mixed with cumin and turmeric or oregano and garlic are among my favorite spices to rub into chicken,” says von Bargen. Other common rub ingredients include dry mustard, chili powder, rosemary, ground coriander, cayenne, and paprika.
“For added taste, I like squirting on some lemon juice toward the end of cooking a seasoned breast,” von Bargen adds.
An acid ingredient like lemon or other citrus juice can stimulate your taste buds so less salt is needed.
Pro Tip: Before rubbing in your seasonings, add a few drops of oil to the chicken, according to von Bargen, which will help the rub stick.
M&F Approved Recipe
Spicy Dry Rub
Ingredients:
- 1⁄2 Tbsp. paprika
- 1⁄2 tsp. brown sugar
- 1⁄2 tsp. coarse salt
- 1⁄2 tsp. ground pepper
- 1⁄4 tsp. dried thyme
- 1⁄4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Directions: Stir together ingredients in a small bowl. Rub well onto a 6 oz chicken breast before cooking.
Serve With:
- 1⁄2 cup kidney beans
- 1 cup cooked long-grain white rice
- 1 cup cooked okra
Nutrition Facts: 551 calories, 56 g protein, 73 g carbs, 3 g fat
Lena_Zajchikova / Getty
Rule #5: Try a Brine
A surefire way to avoid dry breasts is to soak them in brine.
“I love brining because the salt and water penetrate the chicken, which makes it moist,” says von Bargen.
Basic brine consists of 1 tablespoon of salt added to each cup of water used. Enough water should be added to submerge the chicken. “Like marinating, a good brining takes overnight,” von Bargen adds.
For the time-strapped cook, frozen breasts can be left to defrost in brine. But keep in mind that brined chicken will cook faster because water is a heat conductor.
Pro Tip: There’s no reason to stop at salt. “Add herbs, spices and juices to brining water to really make things interesting,” von Bargen points out.
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Rule #6: Pack it & Store it
While nothing matches the taste of fresh-cooked chicken, grilling several breasts at once is more convenient for time-starved trainees. But then there’s the problem of what to do with them. Keeping cooked chicken in the fridge longer than three days is risky, so use your freezer for leftovers. A vacuum sealer can stamp out freezer burn and extend a chicken’s frozen life. Just make sure you don’t extend it too long—chicken frozen longer than four months should be thrown out.
When cooking and storing chicken in batches, cool and refrigerate (or freeze) it within two hours. Don’t store it while it’s still hot. Use airtight containers to prevent chicken from drying out, losing some of its nutritional value and taking on surrounding refrigerator flavors, von Bargen advises. When it comes to reheating leftovers in the microwave,” use a low heat setting and cover the dish; both retain moisture and flavor,” he explains. Adding a little broth or water also helps.
Pro Tip: Brining leftover cooked chicken will make it juicy again.
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Rule #7: Cheat Towards Your Goal
Between the 9-to-5 grind, pumping iron and watching the big game, you might resort to the drive-thru pit stop. Most fast-food chicken is higher in fat, calories and sodium than what you’d make at home, but with a little nutritional savvy you can get away with catching your bird on the fly.
Do:
- KFC Tender Roast Sandwich, no sauce (177 g): 260 calories, 31 g protein, 23 g carbs, 5 g fat (1.5 g sat, 0.5 g trans), 690 mg sodium
- McDonald’s Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich (229 g): 420 calories, 32 g protein, 52 g carbs, 9 g fat (2 g sat, 0 g trans), 1,240 mg sodium
- Subway 12-inch Oven Roast Chicken Breast (474 g): 660 calories, 48 g protein, 94 g carbs, 10 g fat (3 g sat, 0 g trans), 2,040 mg sodium
Note: To cut down on the carbs and total calories, ditch half of the bread and stack the extra chicken on the other side.
Don’t:
- KFC Large Popcorn Chicken (170 g): 560 calories, 36 g protein, 34 g carbs, 31 g fat (7 g sat, 7 g trans), 1,790 mg sodium
- McDonald’s Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich (272 g): 680 calories, 40 g protein, 64 g carbs, 29 g fat (9 g sat, 1.5 g trans), 1,830 mg sodium
- Subway 12-inch Chicken Parmesan (628 g): 1,020 calories, 52 g protein, 128 g carbs, 36 g fat (12 g sat, 0 g trans), 2,820 mg sodium