Preparing cooked chicken for other dishes

How do you conjure up cooked chicken when you want some for sandwiches, a chicken salad, a curry or chicken pot pie? Leftover chicken is a pretty obvious solution, but you may have to create it.

One solution is to make soup with a whole chicken, eat the soup separately or maybe with a little of the chicken meat, and then use the rest for a different project. Make sure to remove the chicken from the broth as soon as the meat is cooked through, after about an hour, so it is not overcooked. Let it cool enough to handle, then strip the meat off the bones and you can return the bones back to the soup pot and continue with the soup. This may be more work than you’re interested in, but there are other options from which you can choose that may fit better with the rest of your cooking plans or time limitations.

As an alternative to cooking a whole chicken you can use chicken parts; breasts and thighs are good choices for white and dark meat. You can poach them in liquid similar to making soup but on a smaller scale of activity. You can also sauté boned breasts or thighs in a pan. The method you choose will ultimately depend on how you plan to use the cooked chicken and what other compatible cooking projects you have going on simultaneously. Don’t forget to consider seasoning the chicken during the cooking process. For example, if you are making something without strong flavoring on its own, like chicken salad or sandwiches, you may want to add some seasoning to the chicken as you cook it. On the other hand, if the chicken is going into a curry sauce you don’t need to add extra flavor because it will come from the sauce.

Instructions:

To poach:

Bring at least 2 cups of water to boil in a pot. Add any flavor additions you like, such as slices of onion, carrot, celery, salt, peppercorns, a bay leaf, a garlic clove, thyme, a chicken bouillon cube. Reduce the heat to cook at a low simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chicken and cook until done. Boneless breasts will take about 15 minutes, breasts and thighs on the bone will take around 20 minutes. Cut into a piece to make sure it is thoroughly cooked, at which point the meat will be all white with no pink. Cool in the liquid, which you can save to use as a flavorful broth.

To sauté:

Cut boneless chicken into small pieces. Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally, until done. It will take about 10 minutes, and dark meat will take a little longer to cook than white meat.

To bake:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Place chicken pieces in a roasting pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour for bone-in pieces, depending on how large the pieces are. Bake boneless breasts will take 25 to 30 minutes to cook.

Leftovers: If you plan ahead, you can make Roast Chicken for dinner and cook 2 chickens, one to eat right away and the other one for using another way such as Chicken Pot Pie, Curry Chicken, salads or sandwiches. Another strategy would be to make Chicken Soup and reserve the chicken meat for another use.