How To Reheat Chicken Breast (3 Simple Methods)

Chicken is the most commonly used meat in every dish globally. As a matter of fact, some staple foods even use chicken as a better substitute for other forms of meat. So it won’t be wrong to say that anything made from chicken is “finger-licking good”. Therefore, you need to find the perfect way to reheat chicken breast so that it doesn’t lose its taste or become rubbery dry.

Chicken breast contains white fibers of the meat, and thus it dries out very quickly. For instance, the chicken breast sometimes gets dried out even when cooking for the first time. So imagine the amount of care it requires when reheating frozen chicken breast.

Moreover, the chicken breast even loses some moisture of refrigerated for a longer period. Therefore, I will show you the proper way of how to reheat chicken breast without drying it out.

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Best Way to Reheat Chicken Breasts

Chicken is very sensitive to high temperatures and overcooks within a few minutes. Therefore, it is best to have the perfect setup to reheat cooked chicken breast without losing any moisture.

Moreover, you need to be very careful when heating the chicken as it becomes dry or overcooked very easily. So you need to keep turning your food around all the time to prevent overcooking on any side.

The best way to reheat chicken breast is to use an oven with a streamer because it uses heated moisture to warm up the chicken. No other method provides the surroundings to maintain the chicken’s internal moisture without having to lose the original taste of the dish.

However, not everyone has a steamer available at home, so you can use other less-efficient reheating methods and try to copy the same conditions as a steamer. In this article, I will show you how you can use simple household equipment to reheat the leftover chicken.

Reheat Chicken Breast in a Steamer Oven:

There are two different kinds of ovens that you can use to reheat your leftover chicken without making it dry. Though the preparations that you need for both devices are similar, yet the results are very different.

For instance, the normal oven requires you to provide external moisture to the chicken to keep it from drying out while the steamer oven maintains the internal moisture of the food.

• Cut the chicken into smaller pieces if you are dealing with a whole chicken. In the case of leftover chicken, the steam will enter all the parts of the chicken effectively.
• No need to grease the heating pan because the steamer prevents food from sticking at all. You can also reheat chicken breast in an air fryer using the same method.
• Preheat the steamer oven at 80-100 degrees Celsius or 200 degrees F to ensure the steam is properly hot.
• Make some holes on the chicken using a fork or a knife. This way, the steam will properly heat every part of the chicken.
• Place the chicken in the steamer and wait for 5-8 minutes to ensure the chicken remains safe from overcooking.
• It would be best to keep checking the chicken every 3 minutes and take it out at a suitable temperature.
• Never serve the chicken as soon as it is out of the steamer because it might taste watery. Instead, leave the chicken out for 2-3 minutes before serving.

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Reheat Chicken Breast in the Oven:

Reheating chicken in the oven is the most basic and effective method. However, you need to be very careful with the temperatures as well as the time for which to keep the chicken in the oven.

For instance, cooking the chicken in preheated oven results in undercooking, and if you are not careful enough, you can end with a dried-up chicken. Therefore, it is essential to maintain the perfect temperature and moisture conditions to reheat chicken breast in the oven.

• If you are reheating a chicken with skin, it would be best to use a non-stick pan or spray non-stick liquid to the pan.
• Take a medium-sized pan and generously add grease it with butter or olive oil.
• Preheat the oven till it reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure that you don’t overheat the pan as you may end up with a half-cooked chicken.
• Place the chicken in the pan, add 2-3 tsp of chicken stock or water to the pan and mix thoroughly.
• Cover the pan with the lid or aluminum foil and place it in the oven.
• Cook for 5-8 minutes and check for any signs of dryness after every 3 minutes. 
• Take out the chicken and serve while it is still sizzling. You can even use this method to reheat turkey breast in the oven.

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Reheat Chicken Breast in the Microwave:

Sometimes you just need the fastest way to eat your leftover food, especially when it comes to chicken breast. Therefore, you can even use your beloved microwave to do the job for you.

However, microwaves tend to heat things quickly and make them dry. Therefore, it is best to add additional moisture to ensure the chicken breast cooks evenly and remains moist.

• Firstly, cut the chicken into smaller pieces and place them on the microwave plate with equal spacing.
• As the microwave blasts heat to the visible portions of the food, hence smaller pieces ensure that the maximum surface area is left open for the heat waves to strike.
• Microwaves make a food dry! Therefore, you should cover the chicken with a damp cloth or put 2-3 tsp of chicken stock on the plate.
• Set the timer for 3 minutes but keep checking after every minute to prevent overcooking the chicken.

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Reheating Frozen Chicken Breasts

You can preserve chicken for more than 6 days in a freezer. However, it would be best to remain careful when de-freezing the frozen chicken. It is because reheating frozen chicken in hot water can contaminate the chicken or make it lose quality. Therefore, you can use any of these methods to thaw your frozen chicken.

• Fridge: Take out the chicken from the freezer and place it in the fridge for 1 day. It ensures the appropriate thawing of the chicken without losing its quality.
• Water: if you can’t wait a whole day, you can submerge the frozen chicken in cold tap water. Make sure to keep changing the water every 30 minutes and separate chicken pieces with hand to further speed up the process.
• Microwave: The fastest way to defrost chicken breast is to use the microwave defrost settings. Place the chicken in the microwave and defrost at 50-60% power for 5-10minutes depending on the hardness of the freeze. Take out the thawed chicken, reheat and serve immediately to prevent dryness.

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Also Read:

• Best Methods of Reheating Biscuits
• Three Different Ways to Reheat Pancakes
• How Long to Microwave Hot Pocket

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People May Ask:

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Conclusion:

To wrap things up, the chicken gets dried out very easily. Therefore, it is very essential to use the appropriate method to reheat leftover chicken or turkey. Moreover, use external moisture such as chicken stock to preserve the chicken’s moisture when reheating.