Grilled & Ready To Use Chicken Breast Strips (Freezer Recipe)

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Save time on meal prepping by making precooked, brined, and grilled chicken breasts for the freezer. Just thaw and add to meals. 

If you are looking for ideas to make meal preparation more organized, faster, and easier than you should try this recipe. This is a great way to use up that leftover chicken and have it prepped for future meals.

How to make grilled chicken marinade / brine?

Place 1 cup of boiling water into a large bowl. Whisk in the salt and sugar until dissolved. Then, add 3 cups of cold water, peppercorns, garlic, and onion powder. It’s that easy, and the chicken breast brine is ready to be used!

How to brine / marinade chicken?

After you make the chicken brine place chicken into it and use a food injector to inject some of that grilled chicken marinade into your chicken; that way not only is the chicken soaked in brine but also gets some of that marinade inside the meat. I’ve even noticed that some frozen chicken meats are injected with a sodium solution from the grocery stores. So do consider investing in a food injector as I think that helps the meat to come out more moist.

How long to brine / marinade chicken?

Marinade for at least 2 hours at room temperature before grilling. Or marinade overnight in the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for an hour before grilling.

How to grill chicken breast?

Pre-heat grill to high heat. Then, place room temperature chicken breasts onto a heated grill and reduce the heat to medium. Grill each side for 4 minutes or until done.

The next time you come across a good deal on chicken breasts, stock up and prep some precooked chicken strips for future meals.

How to freeze chicken?

To freeze chicken, simply cool cooked chicken breasts and slice into strips. Place chicken strips onto a large tray and spread out. Flash freeze until solid then transfer into a gallon-sized zip-lock bag and keep frozen.

Grilled & Ready Precooked Chicken Breast Recipe (Freezer Recipe)

Servings: 20 Servings ( 5 lb )
Author: Alyona's Cooking
Save time on meal prepping by making precooked, brined and grilled breasts for the freezer. Just thaw and add to meals.

Ingredients

  • 5 lbs chicken breasts pounded to about 1" thickness
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 12 peppercorns
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder

Instructions

  • Place 1 cup of boiling water into a large bowl. Whisk in the salt and sugar until dissolved. Add 3 cups of cold water, peppercorns, garlic and onion powder.
  • Place the chicken breasts into the brine and inject meat with brine.
  • Marinade for at least 2 hours at room temperature before grilling. Or marinade over night in the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for an hour before grilling.
  • TO GRILL: Pre-heat grill to High heat. Place room temperature chicken breasts onto heated grill and reduce the heat to medium. Grill each side for 4 minutes or until done.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 140kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 24gFat: 2gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 1549mgPotassium: 423mgSugar: 2gVitamin A: 35IUVitamin C: 1.3mgCalcium: 10mgIron: 0.5mg

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11 comments

    • Ramses

    When doing the overnight marinade version, when you say take out the chicken and let it sit at room temp for an hour, do you mean in the marinade or drain off the marinade and let them sit on a baking sheet or something. Thank you for your time.

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi, you’d let it come to room temp in the marinade.

        • Ramses

        OK thank you!

    • Tori

    Thanks for this recipe, I love to brine my chicken, but am new to it. For clarity, do you cut your breasts in half then pound them out to 1 inch thickness, or just pound the full breast down that thin. I’m still learning!

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi Tori, either way, would work, just depends on your preference for thickness.

    • Ilona Hansen

    Just wondering if you can cut/slice chicken breasts in pieces before marinating?

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi, I slice the chicken breasts into slices after they have cooked.

    • Kevin Schoeman

    Hi, I am wanting to do eat and heat peri peri chicken and was wondering if i steam the chicken until almost cooked and marinated in the peri peri sauce and then vacuum pack and seal, will it be ok as i have customers who want quick grilled chicken for BBQ. Chicken seems to take forever to cook and the peri marinade tends to burn. Precooking the chicken and marinating it seems to be the answer as we done before. I am just not sure about the packing and freezing side of it. I know you can buy store bought precooked ribs and chicken which take a few minutes under the grill or on a BBQ.
    Any help in this regard will be appreciated.
    Thanking You.

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi Kevin, if it’s a whole chicken that you are using perhaps you make the sauce and seal that separately with the convenience of your customers to remove the sauce and then marinate it with the chicken. Perhaps you can include steaming, grilling, or oven directions for customers to choose how they would like to prepare it. To give the chicken a head start for clients, perhaps you can inject or marinate it with a water solution to tenderize the chicken before it gets cooked with the sauce for later.

    • Christine

    Hi! Thanks for the recipe! When you are ready to use these frozen chicken strips, how do you reheat them?

      • Alyona Demyanchuk

      Hi Christine, you can either thaw them or defrost them in the microwave on defrost mode.

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