can anyone make this chicken taste good?

im desperate at this point. boneless, skinless white meat is healthy... until you cover it with flavor. how could i make my chicken taste good without making it pointless?

ive been experimenting.. im no cook... garlic, peper, olive oil, italion seasoning of any sort .... it tastes fine its just getting old. ive tried adding tomato sauce but i feel like i may be adding to much. any suggestions?

Hi!! I make chicken all the time and what I like to do is cut the breast in strips first then cook it with a little water, olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning. I think lemon pepper makes al the difference.

Instead of chicken purchase cornish hens which look like little chickens and taste about the same. You bake them in the oven and they are yummy. I only eat one half of one but you can eat the whole thing it you would like too. I try to get the smallest ones I can find. Dont get burned out on chicken. You need to have a varity. I try and eat poulty at least once a week, fish once a week, pork and so on. I even skip meat altogether on some days. Dont forget that you can dine out too. Dont give up restaunts just choose your calories wisely. I hope this will help. I need some help with afternoon lunch bordom. giggles

I like chicken too...but I agree it can be bland. If you can handle it, try cajun seasoning...provided you're not watching your salt intake. It's a great way to enjoy your chicken while also giving it some flavor.

I have also used a little low-fat honey mustard dressing to spice it up too.

Good luck
Nina

You can inject your chicken too with things that are flavorful and low calorie. I've injected chicken meat with a little bit of wine and water and spices. As long as you don't overdo it. The injection makes it really juicy and tender.

Another thing you can do is slice the meat in half and "stuff" with low fat options too like garlic, onion, and mushroom and then bake it. Another idea is to boil your chicken, shred it then add a little light bbq sauce for a hot sandwich, or shred and mix with a little bit of fat free mayo and mustard and green pepper/onion etc to make a low fat chicken salad. I eat a lot of chicken too since I gave up red meat and yes it can be a challenge to keep it satisfying.

Good luck! :)

I'm a cook - Try this:
2 TBS white wine worchestershire sauce (lea & perrins)
1 TBS Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp marjoram

Put all this in a ziplock bag with the chicken and let it marinate for 2-3 hours. Then take the chicken out of the bag and either grill it or bake it in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the juices run clear. This works well with pork and Tuna fillets as well.

One more marinade for chicken -

1/4 cup olive oil
3 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 TBS tarragon
Put all 3 ingredients into a bowl and whisk until it forms an emulsion (becomes thick).
Again with the ziplock bag and 2 or more hours on this one. Make it the night before and let it marinate for 24 hours or so to really get the flavor of the tarragon.

I am a very simple cook, but my all-time fav is marinating with Fat Free Italian dressing(I prefer Wishbone). It is so yummy, especially when you grill the chicken. A couple nights ago I made Chicken Kabobs. Same concept, marinated the chicken breast over night, in a seperate container I marinated onions, yellow and red bell pepper. Then alternated the veggies and chicken chunks on a skewer and grill until done. This is wonderful served over brown rice. Good luck on your chicken woes!!

-Natasha

I love chicken myself and one of the reasons I bought the george formen was for that reason. If you have one this can be a quick way to prepare your chicken and fast. what I do is I season my chicken first with garlic (pour water in the blender (like two tablespoon) with two clove of garlic or either powder, onion, pepper, adobo (made from GOYA w/variety flavors) and squeeze a whole lime) and pour on the chicken and boil to like for 5-10 minutes. then throw them on the george foremen and slice them or pur with mixed vegetables. Or you can slice them and throw them on a pan and slice tomatoes, onion, green bell pepper and potatoes. Or you can make a good old chicken sandwich with a slice of avocado, lettuce tomatoe, onion, mustard and light mayo, make sure you toast the bread and spread a little of that light butter (i prefer the it tastes like butter).

My take on it is very different.

I eat boneless skinless white meat (Perdue) chicken, cooked in a pan with some basic spices (garlic, italian seasoning, or some other powder seasoning) and nonstick Pam spray, white rice from a ricecooker, and fresh veggies (tomatoes or cucumber) almost every day. Yes, it gets a little boring, but I really do like it. And I like the simplicity. Sure, it would be better with olive oil, and butter, and some other things. But no way.

I have my goal in mind, and thats what I'm working toward. I can cook without olive oil, so I do, it isn't going to help me get where I want to be. When I think about food, it is all about what it can do for me, not flavor. Sure, a buttery chicken may make me happy while I'm eating it, but thats it. On the other hand, hitting my weight goal will make me happy for much longer. I just remain goal oriented, and I don't try to give even an inch, I fight for every calorie that I can. Sure, sometimes I lose, but if I fight over every calorie, I know that in the end, I'm going to do well.

I just try to change my lifestyle from having food as an activity to having food as something that I need to stay alive. My life is about other things, food is just something I need to do. It doesn't have to taste super or be different, because eating is just something I do between the activities I'm interested in. If I'm into my hobby, eating is just a break in that activity, not its own big activity.

Changing the way I think about eating has definitely made a big difference. Eating isn't something I look forward to anymore, it is sometimes even a nuisance when I'm really involved in something else, like a hobby or doing work. I think this sort of mental game can be very helpful, food no longer controls me. It is not a big part of my life. I've minimized it to where eating is just something like showering or brushing my teeth: you do it every day, but you don't look forward to it or give it much thought as you plan your day, it is just sort of implied as you think about the real events of the day.

Trust Viktor, he's the man :-)

Hi! I'm a new member, just joined today as a New Year's Resolution. I LOVE to cook chicken, and i make it flavorful with items from my garden. For example, try making a fresh marinade like this:
juice of 1 lemon
fistful of fresh herbs (rosemary, basil, thyme, or your fave)
splash of olive oil
sprinkle of salt and pepper

I make it more interesting by changing the fresh herbs i use and trying new side dishes and veggies.

for example, basil with pine nuts and wholegrain pasta and broccoli, or curry plant herb with couscous, bellpepper, and peas. What stays the same is the lemon juice-and-herb marinade.

i hope these suggestions help!

My hubby cooks chicken in a little water with apple slices, onion and garlic floating in it, plus some thyme and salt and pepper. None of it is done in excess, but adds a light touch of flavor. It is wonderful and I agree, don't over do it on the chicken. Is turkey as good for you? If it is, maybe try that instead of chicken all the time. I have no clue not having done any research in that area.

i understand viktors aproach but my weight loss goal is only a few pounds and my hopes are to maintain a healthy weight so flavor occasionally is nice but i just dont want to over do the flavor to the point it makes the meal itself unhealthy.

i use pam for most things, egg whites or any low fat breakfast type thing, but for other meals especially those recipes calling for cooking oil i heard olive oil is the best choice because it contains healthy fats compaired to others.

thanks for all the advice though, and the recipe ideas!

Definitely try some lemon pepper seasoning!

I'm with fondleswthclowns, but I've only been dieting one week, and I'm ALREADY tired of chicken!

Thanks for all the neat ideas, especially the ones from flkirkland. I've got all those ingredients in my cupboard, so I'll be trying it this weekend!

I have a hard time sharing recipes because I know what I like so I tend to just throw in the spices I like and never really measure or even know for sure what I have put in there. But here is a recipe that turned out really well and I think these are pretty close to the measurements. Use this amount for probably two servings.
Cube two potatoes
Two chicken breasts
Can of diced tomatos (drain some of the juice off)

Put the potatoes and chicken in first, then pour tomatos over the top.
Mix in a small bowl:
1 Tbl. brown sugar
1 Tbl. paprika
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp. oregano

Sprinkle spice mixture over chicken-potato-tomato. Cover and bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.

Like everyone I do a lot of marinades and a lot of chicken.... or fish....

I can't go with the "taste doesn't matter" approach, I was a chef for awhile, and bad food for me is simply bad, but that doesn't mean that good tasting food can't be healthy food.

Some tips on cooking chicken....

It's healthier if you roast is, don't roast on a flat pan, get a pan that is 1 or 2 inches deep that you can rest a grill on top of... put the chicken on the grill let the fat drip into the pan.... better yet, put some water in the bottom of the pan, this will make sure that you still loose the fat, and your chicken will be nice and tender and juicy from the steam from the water (also makes sure your pan isn't covered in burnt fat when it comes out of the over).

Some of my favourites are leamon, rosemary, sweet chili marinade,

also balsalmic vinegar, olive oil and garlic work really well with chicken.

I ususally make roasted vegetables to go with the chicken.

Try baking your chicken with low cal ranch dressing or low cal russian. It gives it flavor with not much calories.

I just remember that I left one of the major flavor ingredients out for my chicken-potato-tomato recipe. You need to slice up Lite Turkey Kibasa sausage and add that to it also. That is really what adds the most flavor to the recipe. You don't even need too much of it, so it really doesn't add much fat. The lite Kibasa sausage is great in a lot of recipes because it has so much flavor and really not a lot of fat.

Flavor doesn't have to be unhealthy. I love the recipes on epicurious, but a lot of them use boney and/or dark chicken. i just sub breast meat chunks. Here are a couple awesome ones:

MOROCCAN CHICKEN WITH EGGPLANT, TOMATOES, AND ALMONDS
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_view s/views/109146
CHICKEN, ONION, AND RAISIN STEW
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_view s/views/106484

Just use chunks of breast meat, saute onions w/ Pam instead of oil. You get a good amount of veggies, they're easy one pot meals, and you can leave out the raisins or almonds if you consider them "unhealthy" (which i don't).

try some ketchup, it gets a B+ for the grades, and it's really good, well i think it is... it's like a breadless chicken nugget :-P :-)