Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Freezing Diced Chicken

I use a lot of diced chicken in recipes and it is a pain to cook up one or two chicken breasts at a time, so I wanted to show you how I freeze it, already diced and seasoned. I buy frozen chicken breasts in bulk at Sam's Club, so I actually put them frozen on a foil-lined baking pan. I bake them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then pull them out and sprinkle with salt and pepper (or seasonings of your liking). Put back in oven for about another 20 minutes, or until cooked through. I label sandwich-sized ziploc bags with how much chicken I'm putting in them--I always freeze by the cup. Once chicken is cooked, pull out, dice, cool, then put in bags. I use chicken pretty frequently, so it doesn't sit in my freezer very long, but if you're wanting to freeze it longer (more than a month), pour in a little bit of chicken broth in the bags, to prevent freezer burn. This is such an easy way to plan ahead for your meals and save yourself a lot of time! It is also perfect to grab a bag, along with salad stuff or even rice to pack in your lunch--that way you know just how much chicken you're eating and it tastes great!