So what can you do with freezer burnt chicken? Let’s rehydrate them in broth then make Mexican shredded chicken for a variety of uses.
Editor’s Note: Originally published July 19, 2010. Last Updated June 1, 2018, with updated text and re-edited photos. And a couple of dog pictures.
I’m so guilty. I’m sure nobody out there has ever had a full bag of freezer burnt skinless boneless chicken breast. But in the unlikely event this would happen to your stupid brother (my brothers are smarter than this), let’s see if we can do something with this.
****SEE ANOTHER OPTION CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP ****
I found a bag of those wholesale club chicken breast in the back of the garage refrigerator freezer we replaced last week. So this poor meat is dehydrated, tough and tasteless. In other words, it is already hockey pucks.
So I need to add moisture, texture, and taste. A job ideal for Mexican. I love to have shredded chicken for burritos and enchiladas so on with the rescue.
The plan:
1) Simmer in chicken broth with some spices and onion for an hour. I brought it to a boil in a large dutch oven then move to a preheated 300-degree oven with a tight lid. I did not trim any fat since it may help moisturize things.
2) Shred by hand so I could feel the texture and get rid any tough areas. There were none.
3) After re-hydration and shredding, spice it up well to cover any taste issues. I don’t think there was any.
My Rating
A high 3 or low 4 will do here. Amazingly good especially considering I would have tossed them.
Recipe Notes for Freezer Burnt Chicken Breasts Rescue – Shredded Mexican
A” freezer burnt” chicken breast is really just dehydrated. It has to do with the water in the meat freezing and escaping the cells. So most methods of cooking will also pull water out of the cells.
You could try to “cut off” the burnt area, but the “good” area is also damaged. Not a good plan. The meat to too far gone for brining to work so just cooking in liquid (braising without the searing part) is the only reasonable plan. I took it as a personal challenge.
Honestly, the texture is off slightly, but most people won’t notice. And Mexican dishes with all that cheese, great sauces, etc. are great at hiding that mild shortfall.
Preheat oven to 300 convection. 
Chop onions.
Add onion, two cans chicken broth, 1 T crushed garlic, 1 t cumin, and 1 t salt to a Dutch oven over high heat. Mix well, add chicken and bring to boil. Cover with lid and move to oven for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and move breast to a plate to cool for 15 minutes then shred by hand. Move broth to a separate container.
Add chicken and all part two ingredients back into Dutch oven and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and use in burritos, enchiladas, etc.
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Freezer Burnt Chicken Breasts Rescue - Shredded Mexican
Ingredients
Step 1
- 5 thawed freezer burnt skinless boneless chicken breast
- 28 oz chicken broth
- 2 onions - chopped medium
- 1 tablespoon garlic - crushed
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
Step 2
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup broth - from step one
- onion - most of the onion from step one
Instructions
- ) Preheat oven to 300 convection
- ) Chop onions. Add onion, 2 cans chicken broth,1 T crushed garlic, 1 t cumin, and 1 t salt to Dutch oven over high heat. Mix well, add chicken and bring to boil.
- Cover with lid and move to oven for 1 hour.
- Remove from oven and move breast to a plate to cool for 15 minutes then shred by hand. Move broth to a separate container.
- Add chicken and all of part two ingredients back into Dutch oven and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes.6) Remove from heat and use in burritos, enchiladas, etc.
Check Out Other Great Recipes
Nutrition is generally for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.
All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
Originally published July 19, 2010.
Jill
Do you think this would work in a crock pot, too? Thanks!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jill,
Welcome to the blog.
I believe it would work well. Fortunately, I haven’t needed to do this for years. I would guess the times would be about double. That is a guess but my guesses are usually fairly good.
Make sure the chicken reaches 165 before shredding. If you do it, please come back a comment so others will know.
Dan
Ed
Thanks! I managed to freezer burn a 5 pound bag of already frozen chicken breasts. The results were way beyond what I was expecting hence the 5 stars.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Ed,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. It was just something I had to do.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Kate Gilgan
Yahoo! Thank you for this fabulous resource! I was gifted some wickedly freezer burned chicken breasts and your formula was a winner! I am so very pleased to have found someone willing to save food rather than just buying buying buying more!!
DrDan
Hi Kate,
Welcome to the blog.
I grew up poor in Iowa. This never happened and you didn’t discard food that was safe to eat. I can easily afford to replace it but it is just wrong to me.
I got rid of my large freezer to prevent this sort of thing from happening but still get an occasional touch of freezer burn. I just make sure I do this or a similar cooking method and use it. I won’t claim it is the best chicken ever but it is quite good.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
STony
Our chicken breasts were not that freezer burnt, but had some after being there over 9 months and recipe worked great. I used three cloves of garlic in the first part and about four ounces of tomato sauce and 7 ounces of Pato brand chili sauce with a little less chili powder in 2nd part. We used some, without a lot of the sauce, for tacos tonight and I will make enchiladas out of the rest, using a lot of the sauce. Looks like a lot of other good recipes/ideas on your website. Thanks.
Aimee
So glad I found this recipe to put some slightly freezer burned chicken breasts to good use! They made such tasty tacos that I don’t think I’ll ever use beef again! Thanks for the awesome recipe :)
Lida
This is really good! Especially, like was said, for something that was just going to be tossed anyway. And this is the only recipe I could find worth while for FB chicken. I plan on making homemade tortillas and using the chicken for tacos. Thanks!
Dr Dan
I glad it worked out for you.
Andy Kintopf
I made this recipe and put it in your enchilada recipe and also used your sauce recipe. It was so good! Thank you so much!
Alannah
I found this from googling freezer burned chicken recipe and happened to have all the ingredients on hand so I thought “what the hell, otherwise its garbage”. It was so amazing that I’m now making it for the second time with un-freezer burned chicken breasts specially bought for this! Thanks for the great recipe, cheers
Dr Dan
I looked for other solutions but found nothing so I just winged it. I just had my second meal off it a few minutes ago and was great as leftovers also.
Sage
Love that you were able to salvage and I am sure it tasted as if it had not been in such bad shape.
Sounds like a grat recipe.
Rita