Pounding Chicken: How to Tenderize Chicken Breast

To pound chicken is to take a heavy object to a piece of chicken—for example, a boneless, skinless chicken breast—with the goal of making it thinner. This thinness helps seasonings penetrate the meat, helps the meat cook more evenly, and lowers the risk of the meat drying out before it cooks all the way through.

Chicken marsala, chicken schnitzel, and chicken parmesan are examples of recipes that call for pounding chicken breast before cooking. It is unnecessary to pound chicken thighs since it’s possible for some parts of chicken thighs to cook longer than others without drying out.

Pounding chicken, or tenderizing chicken, results in many practical benefits, including:

• More balanced seasoning: An even thickness enables the ingredients of your marinade or other seasonings to penetrate the meat to the same degree across the whole piece of chicken. For example, sprinkling salt over an uneven surface area will result in the thinnest part of the chicken tasting more seasoned than the thickest part since the same amount of seasoning must penetrate more meat in the latter case.
• More even cooking: Pounding chicken results in an even thickness, which helps ensure every section cooks all the way through without overcooking. All parts of your chicken breast should cook to the same temperature at the same rate, no matter the cooking method—for example, pan-searing, poaching, or baking. There’s an even greater risk of overcooking oven-baked chicken if you start with an uneven chicken breast since the meat spends a longer time in the heat.
• Shorter cooking times: Chicken breasts are naturally thinner at one end and thicker at the other. Unless you pound the chicken, the thicker end will take longer to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Pounding chicken produces a thinner breast, shortening the overall cooking time.
• Shorter freezing times: Thinner chicken breasts take about an hour to freeze, whereas uneven chicken breasts require additional time. To facilitate weeknight meals, prepare a batch in advance. Pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts and add them in a single layer to parchment paper atop a baking sheet. Place the entire sheet in the freezer. Once the chicken has frozen, move the breasts to a plastic freezer bag and return them to the freezer.
• Tenderer meat: Pounding chicken breaks down the fibers between the flesh, making the chicken extra tender. Chicken cutlets, fried chicken, and many other chicken breast recipes benefit from the meat being as tender as possible.

Place the chicken breast in a plastic bag or between sheets of plastic wrap, wax paper, or parchment paper before you start pounding chicken. Perform your pounding on a microwave–safe cutting board (avoid wood cutting boards) you can run through a sanitizing cycle in the dishwasher afterward. Here are four implements you can use to pound chicken:

1. 1. Heavy pan: Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan or cast-iron skillet to pound a chicken breast. Avoid using your full force, which could result in breaking the chicken breast. Give the chicken breast a few medium whacks, moving in a forward motion rather than a strictly up-and-down motion until you achieve an even thickness.
2. 2. Meat mallet: With a flat side and a spiked side, a meat mallet is a special tool for pounding meat. The flat side is for pounding chicken, while the spiked side is a meat tenderizer. Start with a few whacks, then check the thickness. Continue until the chicken is thin but intact.
3. 3. Meat pounder: Possessing a short handle on top, a meat pounder is a circular tool that can be easier to use over a meat mallet if you prefer a more balanced weight. Use swift, even motions across the whole piece of chicken until it is a uniform thickness.
4. 4. Rolling pin: Pound chicken breast with a rolling pin, taking care not to focus on one particular area for too long (which could result in breakage). To avoid leaving divots in the chicken, rotate the chicken often to pound it in every direction. In a pinch, a wine bottle can substitute for a rolling pin.

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