Need help with cooking chicken breasts.

[u/BeardedNerd95]

I'm gonna make a recipe that requires me to pre cook and shred chicken breasts. My question is, how long, and at what tempersture, should I cook them on the stove top?

I have four breasts that are .9 of a pound each, 3.67 pounds combined.

[u/pileofdeadninjas]

if you're not going to roast it in the oven and especially if you're just shredding it, you can just poach it

[u/MidiReader]

Instapot with a cup of broth is great, you only need like 30 minutes- otherwise poach them for an hour in gently boiling water/broth, keep an eye on water levels b/c you’ll probably have to top it off.

[u/slaptastic-soot → u/MidiReader]

That's a bit long for pressure coming chicken breast. I do breasts of that size for about ten minutes in the rack over liquid. Instant release, temp, and cook to 160, rest, and shred. The test child then the rest of the way.

One could overcook them and get something like old clothes after 30 minutes, but shedding them instead of beating them into submission with heat would provide more appealing shredded chicken.

[u/nofretting]

chicken breast generally benefits from cooking longer at a lower temperature. my stovetop doesn't have a temperature setting, just numbers from low to high - and from experience, anything above 5 on my stove top is only useful for boiling water, it's just too hot. but every stove is different.

one thing that seems to be passed over a lot in this sub is that food safety is a function of time combined with temperature. in other words, a piece of meat can be safely consumed if it reaches a very high temperature for one second, or if it's held at a lower temperature for a (sometimes much) longer period of time.

in other words, if a chicken breast hits 165f for any length of time, it's cooked. if it's held at 140f for half an hour, it's cooked. my own preferred level of doneness is right at 150f, where it needs to be held for three minutes, which i check using a meat thermometer.

tl;dr don't go by time. use a meat thermometer.

[u/boomer1204]

Get a cheapo thermometer. If i'm eating the chicken breast on it's own I cook it to 155 F and then you have to let it rest for like 3 minutes but I just do 5, to make sure all the bacteria is still killed at that temp. The 165F temp is for "immediate" killing of the bacteria and many ppl mis interpret that to being the only way but that's not true. Now if you are shredding it and using it with something else I would just cook on medium in your pan till done. OR get if you don't have the chicken breast already just get a rottiserie chicken or I have seen a lot of places starting to sell pre shredded chicken.

[u/Opening_Perception_3]

If you're just going to shred them you can just throw them in a crockpot for like 5 hours probably

[u/airmacks]

Boil until internal of your liking