broiling chicken breast in the bottom pan broiler

[bucktown_boffo]

any ideas on how long it should take per side? chicken breast always seems so finicky on cooking time with little margin for error, and I have no idea on what kind of temperature is maintained in the broiler pan. just to be clear, i'm talking about the broiler pan at the very bottom of my el cheapo gas range.

[Suzanne F]

Ask SobaAddict70. He knows everything there is to know about broiling chicken breasts.

[bucktown_boffo]

I tried it tonight, and it didn't work out at all. I thought being so close to the flame would give them some nice color, but that never materialized. I ended up with these unattractive white/greyish globs of protein. Looks like there's no substitute for searing in a pan followed by a few minutes in the oven.

[Malawry]

I think broiling may be too intense for low-fat delicate meat like chix breasts. At my culinary school, we were taught to never broil meats of any sort. Juices in meats tend to move away from the heat source, and the theory was if you broiled it you'd drive the juices down into the pan...and then when you flipped the meat you'd drive the rest of the juices out too. Broilers (salamanders), we were taught, were for browning toppings, melting cheese and making toast, not much more.

If you want a prettier color, and you can't achieve it in the pan, you could try pulling the breasts from the oven and zapping them under the broiler briefly. But I wouldn't do this unless I topped them with something I wanted to brown, which would help prevent them from drying out in the intense heat.

[enrevanche]

We broil chicken breasts all the time; works fine for us. We put the broiling pan in the "middle" slot (we have a choice of high, middle, low, each setting an inch and quarter or so apart.) Wash, pat dry, season with salt and pepper, broil. For a normal thickness, bone-in, skin-on chicken breast, allow seven or eight minutes a side (start rib side up, then flip it over.)

The skin will take on a little light charring in spots, but will be crispy overall; meat is fully cooked and juicy inside.

You will obviously need to experiment with your broiler a little to get the timing right, but once you have the kinks worked out, this is a reliable way to quickly cook a chicken breast without drying it out too much.

[phaelon56]

bone-in, skin-on chicken breast

I think this might be the answer - boneless, skinless breasts do NOT lend themselves to broiling - not enough exterior fat or mass. The skin makes the difference - I'd done broild chix breasts this way (with skinb) and it works. I more often tha not use a little Foreman grill to cook the boneless, skinless ones but I still have to rub them with EVOO and monitor carefully lest they overcook. The Foreman grill does get them nice and brown.

[Ruth]

We broil chicken breasts all the time; works fine for us.

I have never broiled a chicken breast. I do grill them, always bone-in, but only after brining and allowing the skin to dry. In fact I would never cook a chicken breast by any method (except sous-vide) without first brining it.

[bucktown_boffo]

I'm not sure that using a brined bone-in skin-on chicken breast will make enough of a difference, at least in my oven, because it just takes so long to get any color on the meat. I think I simply need to find a way to get the chicken closer to the flame.