How to Brine Chicken

If you are like me then you want to eat more chicken since it is a lean substitute for red meat but you are turned off by the fact that it is often dry and often lacking in flavor. Thankfully, that is where the process known as brining comes in. By brining chicken (and turkey, for that matter) you can keep the chicken moist and add a punch of flavor to it at the same time.

Chicken Brining Technique

Chicken brining is simply letting the chicken soak in a bath of salt water and sometimes sugar for a period of time. This allows the chicken to absorb extra moisture and adds a bit of salt throughout the meat all at the same time. The amount of salt used is not that great, but if you are watching your sodium intake then brining might be something you should pass on.

Brining chicken requires a bit of time as the chicken has to soak. So don't plan on using this technique if you need to cook supper in 20 minutes. You will need at the very least an hour for soaking individual chicken pieces, and up to a day for an uncut bird.

Chicken Brining Step by Step

You will need:
Salt (Kosher or Sea Salt preferably but table salt works too)
Sugar if you want to balance the salt flavor a bit
A large container to hold the chicken and salt bath
Space in your refrigerator to hold the container

Make sure your soaking container is clean, then place the chicken directly in the container. It doesn't matter if you have overlapping pieces as you will not be cooking them right now. Do not bread or season the meat! It will all just get washed off.

Add cold water until the chicken is well covered. The water will soak into the chicken so make sure that the water level is a fair bit over the top of the chicken. Keep track of how many quarts of water you add.

Now for every quart of water that you added, add 1/4 cup of salt.

If you are using sugar, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup at this time, depending on your preference for sweetness. If you are going to roast at high heat or grill the chicken then you want to use less sugar otherwise the outer skin will burn.

Now place the container into the refrigerator. The chicken will be allowed to soak for approximately 1 hour per pound of meat. Anything less than 1 hour is not really recommended and you don't want to let the chicken soak for more than 8 hours due to the possibility of food illness.

While you are waiting, the chicken is soaking up the brining solution. This places extra moisture into the meat which will help preserve the overall moisture content during cooking. The salt and sugar will be soaked up along with the water, seasoning the meat throughout and not just on the surface.

As always, be careful with chicken. Never handle the uncooked chicken with your bare hands if you can avoid it and make sure that the brining solution is disposed of immediately and the container washed in hot soapy water straight away. Always cook the chicken to the proper internal temperature.

Once the chicken has been brined, you can remove it from the container and either pat it dry with a paper towel before cooking or let it air dry in the refrigerator for another hour or so. You don't want the outer layer of the chicken to be soaking wet as it will disrupt the cooking, particularly if you are grilling or frying straight in a pan.

Brine Chicken for Moist and Flavorful Meat

Chicken brining can help you prepare moist and flavorful chicken. It does require an extra time investment but the payoff is a much better meal. No one enjoys dry chicken and this can help you overcome that.