This Is the Best Marinade for Chicken Breasts.
I have already written several times about mayonnaise, chicken and mayonnaise on chicken. I like to grease it whole on a roasting pan to encourage browning of the skin, and use it as a breading substrate for nuggets, but I’ve never tried it as a marinade for boneless, skinless breasts, mostly because I don’t have the habit of there are those. Pale cuts of meat are usually too utilitarian for my decadent tastes. (I know in my brain that “food is fuel,” but I’ve only recently started thinking about it that way thanks to heavy lifting, which requires more fuel than I’m used to.)
In my opinion, chicken breasts have always been strongly associated with diet culture due to their low-calorie, low-fat reputation (although thighs aren’t actually that much calorie dense, and they taste a lot better). But some people rightfully love chicken breast, and these people also deserve life hacks, so I decide to finally try mayonade.
There are many “recipes” for mayonnaise-marinated grilled chicken, but the beauty of this particular marinade is that it’s a flavor-neutral, fat-laden substrate that can carry whatever flavor you throw into it. It coats and soaks the egg white in a mixture of butter and eggs, preventing it from drying out while pan-frying or grilling. Unlike purely liquid marinades, it sticks to the chicken as you work and then stays on the surface while you cook, forming a non-stick coating that keeps meat from sticking to pans and grills without any lubrication.
For my mayonnaise, I mixed 1 teaspoon of Lowry’s garlic salt and 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper with 1/4 cup of Duke’s mayonnaise. I put two chicken breasts in a freezer bag, beat them until they were half an inch thick, and then spread the mayonnaise mixture over both breasts.
Some recipes have told me that a few hours is enough for the marinade to do its job, but I beg to differ. I cooked one breast after a few hours of pickling, and the other the next morning after spending the night in the refrigerator. Both were pan fried to about 155℉. The first breast was fine – it was quite juicy and flavorful, although a bit dry in a couple of places around the edges – but the overnight marinated breast was excellent. It was incredibly moist and juicy, with a golden, savory crust. It’s been what I’ve always wanted to have chicken breast with the least amount of effort on my part, and it’s exactly what I want when I’m trying to fuel myself.
How to cook chicken breast in mayonnaise
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts, about 1 1/2 pounds total
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- Optional: Any other powders or potions you want to add to give it more character. Hot sauce, monosodium glutamate, cumin, turmeric, any combination of your choice – you get the idea.
Place both breasts in a zippered freezer bag and seal. Take something heavy – I used a metal ladle – and break the breasts , starting at the center of the thickest part and working outward, until both pieces of meat are equally thick, somewhere between 1/2-3/4 inches.
Mix the remaining ingredients, brush both chicken pieces with the mixture and leave them overnight in the refrigerator.
Grill or pan fry as usual, or about five minutes per side over medium heat or hot coals, until the breast reads 155℉ on an instant read thermometer.