Why is My Cooked Chicken Chewy? How to Avoid it and Fix it

Chewy chicken is one of the most common complaints from home cooks. You carefully follow a recipe, eagerly take the first bite of chicken, and find it unpleasantly rubbery and tough. What went wrong?

As a passionate home cook and food blogger, I’ve had my fair share of chewy chicken mishaps Through trial and error, research, and lots of experiments in my kitchen, I’ve gotten to the bottom of what causes chicken to turn out chewy, and how to avoid it.

In this comprehensive guide I’ll walk you through the science behind chewy chicken discuss the most common causes, provide plenty of tips to ensure tender and juicy chicken every time, and even offer some creative ways to salvage chewy chicken if an accident does happen. Let’s get cooking!

What Causes Chicken to be Chewy?

To understand what causes chewy chicken, you first need to understand the science of how cooking affects the proteins and fibers that make up the meat. There are a few key factors at play:

• Overcooking – Chicken contains protein fibers that tighten and squeeze out moisture when cooked at too high of a temperature for too long. This leads to dryness and chewiness.

• Undercooking – Chicken also contains collagen that needs time to break down into gelatin and tenderize the meat. If undercooked, this process can’t happen.

• Cooking Method – The wrong cooking method for the cut of chicken can lead to chewiness. Chicken breasts need quick, high heat methods while thighs do better with slow braising.

• Drying Out – Allowing chicken to sit uncovered in the fridge or during cooking leads to moisture loss, causing chewiness.

• Woody Breast – This muscle condition in some chickens causes rigid, tough breast meat texture.

Now that we know why it happens, let’s look at how to prevent it with proper techniques.

Tips to Avoid Chewy Chicken

Follow these best practices in your kitchen to ensure tender, juicy chicken every time:

• Use a meat thermometer – Cook chicken to 165°F for breasts, 180°F for thighs. Don’t overshoot temperatures.

• Rest chicken – Allowing chicken to rest after cooking lets juices redistribute for tender meat.

• Match cooking methods to cuts – Breasts need quick searing or grilling while thighs can handle moist braising or slow cooking.

• Brine chicken – Soaking in a saltwater brine helps chicken retain moisture.

• Marinate chicken – Acidic marinades like yogurt tenderize chicken.

• Prevent drying out – Cover chicken when marinating and chilling. Tent during resting. Store leftovers properly.

• Pound chicken breasts – Evening out thickness helps avoid overcooking on the edges.

• Buy air-chilled chicken – Less chewy texture than chicken chilled in water tanks.

With the right techniques, you’ll be rewarded with perfectly cooked, juicy and tender chicken every single time. Now let’s talk about what to do if an accident happens and your chicken does turn out chewy. Don’t worry, there are solutions!

What to Do With Chewy Chicken

If despite your best efforts, you end up with chewy chicken, all is not lost! Here are some creative ways to salvage or mask the unideal texture:

• Shred it – Finely shredding makes chewiness less noticeable. Use in tacos, sandwiches, casseroles.

• Smother in sauce – Sauce adds moisture and masks chewiness. Creamy sauces work especially well.

• Skip reheating – Just makes it worse. Enjoy chewy chicken cold in salads.

• Cook into a soup or stew – Moist, long cooking tenderizes.

Rubbery cooked chicken is often a result of overcooking or a condition called “woody breast”. Overcooking dries out the chicken, causing the protein fibers to tighten and become rubbery.