**The Art of Perfectly Cooking Chicken Breasts**

When it comes to cooking chicken breasts, many people make the mistake of relying on pre-seasoned products and overcooking them to death. But why settle for bland, dry chicken when you can have juicy, flavorful, and perfectly cooked ones? In this article, we'll explore the secrets to achieving restaurant-quality chicken breasts at home.

**The Importance of Seasoning**

When it comes to seasoning your chicken breasts, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. The key is to find a balance that works for you and your taste preferences. We recommend using a blend of salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, and a pinch of cayenne or chili powder to add some heat. Don't be afraid to get creative with your seasoning – the most important thing is to make sure it's evenly distributed on both sides of the chicken breast.

**The Role of Presentation**

Presentation plays a critical role in making your chicken breasts look appealing. Seasoning the presentation side last ensures that you get even coverage and a beautiful, even color when you sear it in the skillet. This simple trick can elevate your dish from mediocre to magnificent.

**Cooking with Cast Iron Skillets**

When it comes to cooking chicken breasts, cast iron skillets are the way to go. They retain heat exceptionally well, which ensures that your chicken breast cooks evenly and develops a beautiful golden brown crust. To get started, preheat your skillet over medium-high heat and add some avocado oil. Once the oil is hot, lay the meat away from you and press down to ensure maximum surface area contact with the skillet.

**The Magic of Butter**

Butter makes everything better, and it's especially true when it comes to cooking chicken breasts. Adding three tablespoons of butter to the party may seem excessive, but trust us – it's worth it. Basting your chicken breast with melted butter ensures that it stays juicy and flavorful. And let's not forget about the aroma – nothing beats the smell of melting butter and seared chicken.

**The Science Behind Cooking Chicken Breasts**

So, how do you know when your chicken breast is cooked to perfection? The answer lies in using a digital food thermometer. By inserting the thermometer into the thickest part of the breast, you can ensure that it reaches a safe internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. This may seem like a small detail, but it makes all the difference between a perfectly cooked chicken breast and one that's overcooked and dry.

**Letting It Rest**

Once your chicken breast is cooked to perfection, it's time to let it rest. This simple step allows the juices to redistribute, making the chicken more tender and juicy. By slicing the chicken at an angle or on a bias, you can minimize the amount of dryness that occurs when reheating.

**The Importance of Fresh Ingredients**

Finally, don't skimp on fresh ingredients. Using high-quality ingredients like avocado oil, lemon juice, and fresh herbs can elevate your dish from bland to grand. And let's not forget about the importance of using low-sodium seasoning – it may seem like a small detail, but it makes all the difference in the flavor profile of your chicken breast.

**Meal Prep Made Easy**

One of the most significant benefits of cooking chicken breasts is that they're incredibly versatile. Whether you're meal prepping for the week or making a quick and easy dinner, chicken breasts are an excellent choice. In this article, we've shared our favorite recipes and tips for achieving perfectly cooked chicken breasts at home. By following these simple steps, you can say goodbye to dry, overcooked chicken and hello to juicy, flavorful meals that will impress even the pickiest eaters.

**Best Practices for Meal Prep**

For those trying to lose a few pounds or maintain weight loss, meal prep is an excellent way to stay on track. By cooking in bulk and portioning out your meals, you can ensure that you're eating healthy, balanced meals without sacrificing flavor. In this article, we've shared some of our favorite meal prep recipes and tips for staying motivated and inspired.

**Meal Prep Money Shot**

Finally, no discussion of meal prep would be complete without sharing one of our most popular money shots – a delicious chicken breast dish that's sure to please even the most discerning palates. With its perfect balance of juicy chicken and crispy vegetables, this dish is sure to become a staple in your meal prep rotation.

**Conclusion**

Cooking chicken breasts at home can seem daunting, but with these simple tips and tricks, you'll be well on your way to achieving restaurant-quality dishes that will impress even the most seasoned foodies. By investing time and effort into perfecting your cooking skills, you can enjoy delicious, healthy meals that will satisfy both your taste buds and your dietary needs.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enand this episode is sponsored by stamps.com if you're a small business owner you're busy enough as it is you don't have time to deal with the hassle of going to the post office with stamps.com you can skip the trip and never waste another dollar or minute stamps.com lets you print official postage right from your computer so you can spend less time at the post office and more time running your business for more than 20 years stamps.com has been indispensable for over 1 million businesses not to mention you get access to all of the post office and ups shipping services you need right from your computer plus you get discounts you can't find anywhere else like up to 40 off usps rates and 76 off ups and the best part is all you need is a computer or a standard printer no special supplies or equipment required you're up and running in minutes printing official postage for any letter any package anywhere you want to send it stamps.com has made my life so much easier as i'm mapping out my goals for the new year and most importantly they have saved me so much time so sign up today at stamps.com mr make it happen for a special offer that includes a four week free trial free postage and a digital scale no long-term commitment or contracts required at stamps.com mr make it happen what's up guys welcome back i know i know new year new you and that's why i'm here with not one but two healthy meal prep options for you but before we get into that please take a quick second to subscribe to the channel make sure to hit that bell enable notifications as well all right guys meet me in the kitchen let's make it happen i'm going to show you guys how to make this delicious keto skillet frittata and perfect chicken breast with a little cabbage on the side first things first though we're going to make the skillet frittata these are all the delicious vegetables that we're gonna use we got some fresh spinach some peppers onions jalapeno which are optional but i like the little spice that it provides then we have six eggs and some egg whites this recipe is absolutely packed with flavor tons of protein and vegetables great for meal prep you can heat this up every morning for your breakfast all right we're gonna break out a large measuring cup and add our egg whites to that we're gonna add six whole eggs if you're watching your cholesterol want to cut back on the eggs you can use three or four instead of six or you can just use all egg whites once you've added all your egg products into the measuring cup you want to break out the whisk and mix to combine and now we're going to go ahead and prep our skillet preheat the oven to 350 degrees we're going to use a 12 inch cast iron skillet for this that we're going to spray down with some cooking spray to make sure nothing sticks after that we're going to add two tablespoons of butter and a little avocado oil the avocado oil has a very high smoke point it's going to help prevent that butter from burning when we toast our vegetables and once that butter is nice and melted we're going to go in with one pound of all natural jimmy bean sausage for the pork patrol out there you don't have to use this brand of sausage you use ground turkey for this as well or ground chicken anything like that will work just fine once our meat is fully cooked we're gonna go ahead and add in those veggies the bell pepper the onion the jalapeno we're gonna season this up with my all-purpose seasoning which is a blend of salt pepper garlic and onion powder give that a good mix and let those veggies sweat down and get nice and tender oh man this recipe is packed with flavor guys lots of protein lots of vegetables perfect for meal prep you know we got to add in a little garlic i'm going in with about a teaspoon or so of garlic paste you can use fresh garlic or minced garlic for this as well give that a good mix everything should be nice and fragrant your house is going to be smelling absolutely amazing once everything's cooked down we're going to add the spinach towards the end and let the residual heat build down that spinach once we achieve that we're going to add our egg mixture this should be just enough eggs to fill this 12 inch cast iron skillet so if you don't have this you might want to use something similar in size again guys the oven is preheated to 350 degrees all the specific measurements and ingredients are provided for you in the description box below we'll go ahead and hit this with a little extra seasoning a little salt because my seasoning is a low sodium product you want to let this cook on low for about a minute or two until the eggs begin to set on the edges like you see right here then it's okay to go ahead and top this with cheese before we pop it in the oven you can use whatever blended cheese you like here i have a little colby jack we're going to pop that in the oven at 350 for about 20 to 25 minutes or until it's nice and golden brown like so then we're going to top it with some fresh chopped parsley you want to let this cool for about 10 to 15 minutes before you slice into it and while we let that cool it's time to move on to our next meal prep i'm going to show you guys how to make delicious fried cabbage and the perfect chicken breast and first things first we'll get started with that cabbage we're going to go ahead and chop up some red and green bell pepper some onion obviously we need a head of cabbage that we're going to clean and chop into bite-sized pieces and once we've prepped all our veggies it's time to go ahead and prep our smoked sausage you can use whatever brand smoked sausage you like you use turkey beef pork chicken whatever floats your boat this here is smoked beef i'm just going to cut it up into bite-size pieces like you see right here i like to cut it into strips and then just chop it up into bite-sized pieces nice and simple this is going to add a lot of flavor to our cabbage you can use andouille sausage which i typically use so sometimes i switch it up and use smoked beef or smoked turkey whatever you find kielbasa works great as well really you can use whatever sausage you want or you could leave the sausage out all together and use bacon next my friends would go ahead and warm up our dutch oven over medium heat add some avocado oil and then we're going to add in that smoked sausage right now what we're doing is trying to develop some color on the sausage when you get it from the store it's actually already fully cooked but when you caramelize it like we're doing right here it develops even more flavor and that's what we're looking for so just trust the process guys after three or four minutes you'll see it start to brown up nicely you see some beautiful fawn developing at the bottom of the pan we'll go ahead and add our veggies so they can soak up all that flavor as well you want to soften them up for about three or four minutes let them get nice and tender you can see that some of the juices have accumulated down at the bottom that's going to add tons of flavor to our cabbage now we're going with one teaspoon of garlic paste you can use fresh garlic or minced garlic for this as well oh man this looks good good luck finding a more flavorful side dish to pair with your meal prep once you got everything right where you want it we'll go ahead and add in that cabbage and then put the lid on so it can start to soften up then want to season it with one packet of sason if you're trying to avoid msg i totally get it you can buy the version from the store that doesn't have it then we're going to add some smoked paprika as well and then i'm going in with my all-purpose seasoning that's a blend of salt pepper garlic and onion powder i promise you guys i'm gonna announce when it restocks we've had some delays from our supplier due to covet and we're doing the best we can we'll have it in stock very soon and i'll announce it as soon as it's back in stock thank you guys for all the support on the seasoning once you got your cabbage seasoned up beautifully we're gonna go ahead and mix it around make sure everything is evenly distributed we're gonna add two tablespoons of butter to the party because why the hell not and now my friends i'm gonna show you guys how to make the perfect chicken breasts we're gonna go ahead and season these up you can use a blend of salt pepper garlic onion powder a little cayenne or chili powder if you want to add a little spice i'm gonna season both sides the seasoning that i'm using here is low sodium so that's why i'm being a little bit more heavy-handed with it you may need to adjust yours based on the sodium levels of the seasoning of your choice i do recommend seasoning the presentation side last that way you can make sure that it gets even coverage which will equal even color when you go to sear it in the skillet when most people get on their health kick they go to the grocery store and grab everything that they know is healthy like chicken breast and then it just sits in the back of the freezer and gets frostbitten i'm going to show you guys how to do this the right way make sure the chicken is nice and juicy and you'll enjoy it each and every time you make it and the real key to perfect chicken breast is ensuring that you don't overcook it and the only way to do that is to have a digital food thermometer if you don't have one you can get it on my website there's a discount there for you as well or just pick one up at target or amazon now that that lecture is out of the way let's talk about heat we want our cast iron skillet nice and hot we're gonna add some avocado oil lay the meat away from you and press down to make sure you get maximum surface area contact with that skillet that's going to ensure we get a beautiful golden brown color on our chicken breast and that's what we want we want presentation we want a nice crust that's going to develop and have nice flavor and right on cue take a look at that chicken breast say it with me guys looking good and that crust is critical guys not only does it give you presentation but it also gives you flavor and texture and speaking of flavor we just added three tablespoons of butter to the party we're going to baste these chicken breasts to ensure that they're extra juicy and flavorful and then we're going to pop them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes or until they hit 165 degrees internal temperature and those my friends are absolutely beautiful let's poke them with the food thermometer see where we're at and as you can see we're right at 164. chicken breast is done at 165 we're gonna allow this to rest for about five or six minutes before we slice into it and that's gonna be absolutely perfect i like to let my chicken rest on a plate that way it can accumulate any juices and we can use that to pour right on top of the chicken after we slice it up after our chicken has had a few minutes to rest we're gonna go ahead and slice this up and see what we got we're gonna cut this at an angle or on a bias like you see right here mostly for presentation purposes also the thicker you slice it the less dry that it'll get when you reheat it that's a little best practice for you as well you can see this is plenty juicy still kind of hot as you can see the steam coming off of there i'm going to hit it with a little fresh squeezed lemon juice because i love lemon with my chicken and let's take a peek at this oh man just extra juicy perfectly cooked that my friends is how you execute a chicken breast our cabbage has had time to cook down and get nice and tender we're gonna use a slotted spoon to remove that you can just see the flavor dripping off the cabbage we're gonna plate this up in our tupperware containers because this is a meal prep episode and i'm gonna eat this for the next couple of days you guys have got to give this recipe a try let me know what you think in the comments if you want to see more meal prep options i have some more content on the way for you guys for everybody that's trying to lose a couple pounds i'm right there with you the cabbage is looking absolutely beautiful we're going to add the chicken to the party we got our skillet frittata for our breakfast meal prep and we're good to go for a few days during the weekend do this twice a week and you'll be good to go brace yourself for a meal prep money shot say it with me guys looking good and it's tasting good getting you guys right where you want to be for the new year let me know what you think in the comments make sure you give your boy a thumbs up and hit that subscribe button and the bell to enable notifications and as always thank you for your support you\n"