Quick & Easy Chicken Brine

Submitted by SugaJ

"This comes from an episode of "Cooking for Real" with Sunny Anderson. The brining portion is all that is listed here; however, if you are interested in the chicken recipe in it's entirety, it's called "Grilled Chicken with White Wine Mushroom Sauce". I needed a brine for a smaller amount of poultry."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 5
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 1 lemon, quartered and juiced
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 cup salt
• 4 (6 ounce) boneless chicken breasts

directions

1. In a large bowl mix together water, lemon juice, sugar and salt until dissolved.
2. Add lemon quarters and chicken.
3. Marinate for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from marinade and pat dry.
5. Chicken is now ready to be used in your favorite recipe.

Reviews

[jlongcct]

great recipe ! I followed the directions exactly as written to brine 6 very large chicken thighs, bone in, skin on. They came out great, very moist and flavorful.

 

[mra367]

Most brine recipes call for 1 cup kosher salt per gallon of liquid, so to me, this is obviously too salty. Table salt has smaller grains, but less is required than kosher, I forget the ratio. i was looking for a brine that doesn't need to sit overnight, like most of my recipes call for. I don't think this is it.

 

[dltenor]

We used Kosher salt, measured perfectly, did not exceed 30 minutes and even rinsed the chicken since I suspected it would be too much. The salt is way too much. I think that you could go with 1/2 cup salt and be fine. Or possibly cut the time down to 15-20 minutes. Don't think of adding any salt to the chicken after you cook it. This is a very amateur way of doing it and serious cooks would steer clear of this. Stick to a longer brine with less salt and more herbs and spices.

 

[Julie F]

I cut the salt back to about 3/4 c and used the brine on some boneless baked chicken breasts. It was still too salty for my taste, but it was incredibly juicy. I might try cutting the salt back even more. I even left the salt out of the chicken recipe I used. It wasn't too salty to eat, but I'm not sure how low we can go on the salt and get the same effect. Will continue to experiment. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Acerast]

We used this brine on chicken legs. After brining we grilled it over as mesquite fire. It turned out great - so very juicy. The kids loved it!! It was just a bit salty so we'll use this again but cut back on the salt. Thanks for sharing SugaJ.