Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

ALL NATURAL CHICKEN, FULLY COOKED, LIGHTLY SEASONED, BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS

Trade Joe’s has a number of cooked chicken items in the refrigerated fresh section. Things you can eat immediately. While some of those are chicken breasts that have been already sliced into pieces, in contrast these are whole cooked boneless chicken breasts, plain and simple, ready to use how ever you like.

“All Natural, Minimally Processed…” Convenient when you want a fast, easy protein and don’t feel like cooking. My verdict? Really good! These boneless breast are super tasty. As they have not been already cut up, they are as juicy as possible and super convenient to have in the fridge. They will last at least a week maybe more. Longer term, just freeze them and leave overnight in the fridge to defrost

Of course you are paying a bit more here for the convenience of having someone prep and cook it for you however the taste and quality is quite high. I even suspect these are cooked Sous Vide!

Inside the package are 4 vacuum sealed pouches containing one perfect looking 4 ounce boneless breasts of chicken like you can see here which even have grill marks on them.

The nutrition label says one breast is 150 calories with a whopping 27 Grams Protein and only 4.5 gr of fat. Healthy no?

Some people look down on boneless chicken breast. They may think of them as dry and flavorless but I promise you the way this is cooked proves otherwise. Perfectly juicy.

The chicken has grill marks. I have a hunch how they make these and its not just grilling. This is just a wild guess but I believe they cook this two ways: First they grill the outside a tiny bit to get those attractive grill marks but then they vacuum seal the breasts and cook them Sous Vide. Naturally don’t take this as Gospel as I am just guessing but you see these kinds of pouches which look exactly like how sous vide food comes. I also say this especially at how perfect the cooks is on these breasts : these are perfectly cooked. Juicy, tender, flavorful. Again sous vide ? If you are in the food game, let us know if you think these are done that way.

I gave one to my neighbor to taste and she just thought they were great and immediately said the next time she would buy them the next time she goes to TJ’s.

“Fully Cooked” – To me this is cooked just perfectly A Point. In French cooking “à point” means “exactly right” or just to the point of being cooked, meaning being “ideally cooked, no more, no less”. To the exact perfect moment of cooking.

These breasts are just cooked just like that. Not overcooked. They are plump and juicy and there is a bit of natural cooking juices in the pouch which you should save! This little bit of juice/stock can go over the chicken.I sliced up a breast and ate it right out of the package (again, “fully cooked”). The cook on this is what you might call “medium rare”. If you’re someone who says they like chicken breast cooked until its “well done” you may not find it done. Trust me it is. Its Perfect and is done like this so you can reheat it as they state. I put the sliced breast meat on top of a salad and it was delicious. Especially with some Magnificsauce on top. The package states you can “Reheat” this by simmering the pouch in water (or microwaving it). They suggest “simmering for 10-12 minutes”. It comes cooked “a point” so honestly I wonder if simmering this for 12 minutes might ruin it by overcooking it. I would simmer for 5 minutes tops ! Maybe if this is actually sous vide, 12 minutes might be OK. But once again it is already fully cooked. Though “just cooked” in the center which is personally the way I make boneless breasts. Your call on this point.

So I found these breasts very good and very tasty. The downside is of course the price is $9.99 for 1 pound of chicken however of course you don’t have to lift a finger to cook or prep it. You are paying for the convenience of having it ready to use, plus lets face it in a nice deli that sells cooked boneless breasts I’m sure would pay that much a pound if not more for cooked boneless breasts of this quality: perfect.

So when you want a perfect breast of chicken all ready this is very convenient.

You can dress the chicken of course with sauce of your choosing. Some ideas? Magnifisauce, Sweet Chili Sauce, Garlic Dip, Tzatsiki….

I would buy this again.

IDEA FLASH! Mix with these with mushrooms, fresh or frozen mushroom medley