We can’t all be master how long can cooked chicken sit out, which is why your main course just came out of the oven with the texture of an actual rubber chicken. But that doesn’t mean you have to chicken out on cooking poultry — there are simple ways to fix your chicken’s rubbery texture.
We tucked into the truth behind why your chicken gets rubbery. Find out how to keep your tenders tender. Why the cluck is my chicken rubbery? There’s more than one reason your chicken came out rubbery. Overcooking might play a role in your chicken’s tire-like texture. Leaving chicken in a pan, oven, or grill for just a little too long can suck the moisture right out and leave you with a dry, rubbery bird.
Without moisture, the protein fibers in the chicken become elastic. The types of chicken you buy at the store can also make a difference. Oh, how selfish — birds going and getting diseases that make them harder to eat. According to a 2016 review, woody breasts occur when the chicken has a tougher consistency due to bulging muscles. These are harder to chew than non-woody chicken in the same way The Rock is tricky to eat without at least mayo. White striping is a condition that creates white fatty stripes that run parallel to the chicken muscle fibers on the breast, thigh, and tender muscles. Both can affect the overall quality of your chicken.
Just like overcooked chicken, its undercooked counterpart can turn out rubbery. Undercooked chicken usually has a shiny appearance and a jiggly consistency. Eating undercooked chicken is more than just a texture issue — it can make you very sick. According to the CDC, bacteria that can lead to food poisoning may contaminate chicken if you undercook it. Is rubbery chicken safe to eat?
To compensate for the dry, rubbery texture, make a sauce that you can serve on your chicken to add moisture and flavor. We know that certain conditions can cause probs with the consistency of chicken, but why? Why do these conditions mess with the meat? And why did the chicken cross the road?