Sunday, August 20, 2017

How to Make CHICKEN BITS!



















  I started making chicken bits and they are wonderful! I am using them the same way we would normally use bacon bits. The flavor is strong and tasty and I know what is in them since I am the one making them. Also, I have tired of the fatty bacon bits and am loving the better chicken bits. They are not hard to make either.




  First of all, I cook chicken breast... you can use other parts of the chicken, but I have used the chicken breast. I watch for it to be on sale and I love to cook it in the crockpot and let it be marinated to deepen the flavor and make it wonderfully moist.  Here's how I do that:

Strange Marinades for Chicken!

 Most of the chicken breast was shredded, as shown here, but I saved out some larger pieces to use for making chicken bits....  see next picture. I could have used the shredded chicken also, and may in the future.







  I put cooked chicken in a frying pan with olive oil and seasoning. You can use your favorites... or experiment.  :)

I used a variety of spices... including Italian seasoning, dried garlic and onion and more. I didn't measure... just sprinkled it on the cooked meat in the pan.... and added more when I wanted to.

Next step is to start cutting the meat  with the turner. Since the meat is cooked and so tender, it is easy to cut.








Cutting with the edge of the turner worked well and I kept cutting the pieces smaller and smaller.


I added some BBQ sauce and some Italian dressing to it as it was cooking... and some more olive oil. 


This was cooked on a medium heat and turned often to brown and toast the meat.














 You can decide how brown you want your chicken bits. I cooked mine for about 25 minutes or so and turned them often so they wouldn't burn.

I would have been fine with cooking them to a darker crispness and yet, we loved them this way too. I think there will be some variation on how well done you want them.

When we tasted  pieces now and then, they just tasted better and better.  What a wonderful explosion of flavor.  :)

 TIP....  Do NOT make this when you are hungry!!!  Eat something first as these smell and taste so good that it may be hard to stop "trying" them.   🙂




 I put my Chicken Bits into 2 feta cheese containers and put them in the freezer. I didn't make a lot of it...  so we will be careful on how much we use at at time... just like we would be careful about how many bacon bits we would use.

I also told the family that these containers are not to be used for casseroles or soups... these are for chicken bit uses only! They would taste great in anything, but I want to make these last.  I have some ideas of what I want to do with them... and plan to share one of them soon.




Here we had chicken bits in our broccoli salad... and they were delicious!  We usually use bacon bits, but loved the chicken bits and they added such great flavor.

We have also used chicken bits in a regular salad and on BLT sandwiches. I love having these highly flavored bits of chicken ready to add something special to dishes.





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           How to make delicious bits of chicken to use in place of bacon bits.




                          Chicken Bits


 1-2  Chicken breasts, already cooked
 1/2 cup Olive Oil
 1 1/2 - 2 tsp dried Italian seasoning (can add other seasonings also, if desired)
 1/2 tsp. dried garlic
 1 tsp. dried onions ..................................... Put in frying pan, cook on medium heat. Cut meat
                                                                           into small pieces as it cooks

1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1 cup Italian dressing.................................. Stir in and continue to turn over as the meat browns


         
................................................................ Cook on medium heat for about 25 minutes until it reaches
                                                                    the brown and toasty color you like. This needs to be
                                                                    watched as you don't want it to burn.

                                                                 More olive oil can be added, if desired.                                                                   


                                                                  Store in a covered container in the freezer and use as
                                                                      needed. Great for salads, pizza, BLTs, and more.


Gentle Joy Homemaker                               www.http://gentlejoyhomemaker.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               
 Thank you for visiting... If you make these, I would love to hear about it... and how you use them.... or if you have made something similar.  I love to read your comments.  I hope you have a wonderful week.










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16 comments:

  1. I love chicken! Thanks for sharing and linking up with us at #overthemoon and have a lovely day.

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    Replies
    1. Chicken is a favorite here also and I love to find ways to use it like this one... it makes it so useful. :)

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  2. This sounds delicious and I love the idea of putting them on top of a salad. You could also put them in a wrap or something like that. :)

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    Replies
    1. They would work well in a wrap... I will enjoy using them in place of bacon bits... so anytime using bacon bits would work, I will instead use chicken bits for the most part. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  3. Oh this is a good idea! I sometimes use leftover chicken from roast chicken for sandwiches and salads, but I never thought of cooking up some pieces to have handy just for that, thank you for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I love to come up with ways to shave a bit of time off of meal preparation... and make things easier. For me, these chicken bits will certainly do that. :) So glad you stopped by.

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  4. Sounds yummy!! :)

    I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/

    Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

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  5. This looks delicious! I will have to try it. I am visiting from Thursday Favorite Things, I'm #20 & 21. Have a lovely day.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I hope you like them as much as we do... they are wonderful and I finished up the last batch on Saturday so I need to make more this week. :)

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  6. Wow these chicken bits look delicious. They are so much healthier than bacon! I must try your recipe! Have a wonderful weekend!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you... I am finding so many uses for them. If you try them, I hope you like them as much as we do. :)

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  7. What a great idea to use chicken bits instead of bacon bits! And cooking the chicken until it is crispy - I can imagine how hard it is to not eat and nibble while you stir, lol!

    Speaking of getting chicken on sale - do you have a Zaycon delivery in your area? I know you have a large family, and this is an excellent way to get fresh chicken at very good prices. I stock my freezer several times a year with their chicken, and it has made my meal preparation planning so much easier to know I have plenty of chicken on hand. Email me and I will give you more details if you are interested. The chicken comes straight from the farm and has never been frozen, and it does not shrink, unlike chicken breasts that you get at the store.

    Hugs :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you... making the chicken bits this way sure gives them lots of extra flavor... and I am so tired of using the bacon bits, so am glad for another option. :)

      I have checked in to Zaycon and found that I can get similar pricing when I shop sales... and Sprouts has a sale on chicken breast quite regularly, which is nice. Also, I just don't have the time to go and sit at a delivery site, but thank you... I appreciate your information and comment. :)

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  8. What a great idea! I think I'll use the scraps from my chicken carcass (after I've boiled the bones for stock) to do this!

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    Replies
    1. What a great idea! The scraps would be wonderful that way... and these add so much flavor and I keep finding more uses for them. :)

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