One of the easiest things that I pull together for freezer cooking is chicken bagged in marinades. Not only is it quick to prepare for freezing, but it’s also a quick meal on the other side of thawing. Just hand the bag of thawed, marinating chicken to my husband to cook on the grill while I make a few sides dishes. And even some side dishes, like mashed potatoes and garlic bread, can be made ahead of time and frozen.
Last night I prepped six meals for the freezer this way. You’ll be amazed at how easy this is!
1. Prepare the marinades. Many marinades contain similar ingredients. This is where you save time. You’re pulling out all these items at one time and cleaning up once instead of six times.
Here are three of our favorite marinades, enough for about 6 chicken pieces:
6 Tablespoons rice vinegar
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
Spicy Southwest (Blend in food processor or blender):
1 tomato, quartered
1/2 onion, cut into chunks
1/4 jalapeno pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
Dijon:
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup oil
I mix the marinades inside gallon size ziploc freezer bags. If you place the bags inside bowls that will help prevent spillage. Don’t forget to label the bags first, though. You don’t want to try to write on a full bag.
2. Trim the chicken. Trimming meats is not a pleasant job for me, but I don’t mind doing it if I can get a lot done at one time. I also cut the boneless, skinless chicken breasts into cutlets by slicing them horizontally through the middle. The portion is still enough for one person, but seems to stretch the meat a little farther.
3. Add chicken to marinades. Squeeze out as much air as possible and massage the box to distribute the marinade evenly. Lay flat to freeze. About a day or two before serving, pull the bag from the freezer and place on a tray or dish to thaw in the refrigerator.
Preparing marinated chicken for 6 dinners took me about an hour total, demonstrating how freezer cooking maximizes on your kitchen time. If I were prepping for one of these meals on any given night, I could easily have spent thirty minutes.
What could have been three hours was reduced to one by making double batches and preparing items with like ingredients.
You can prepare any of your favorite cuts of meat or chicken this way.
What’s your favorite marinade? I bet it freezes well.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Great idea! I am definitely going to try this!
Oh and is that a Pampered Chef forged cutlery knife on your picture with the cut up chicken or am I just seeing things?
I love a Teriyaki marinade:
3/4 c. (6 oz.) apple juice
2 T. sugar
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. vinegar
1 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. pepper
2 T. canola oil
YUM!!
I’m going to try this!
Love this one…I’m all about marinades and chicken, especially! I have one marinade that is a die-hard…great with any sauce or adding the chicken to whatever meal. It’s really versatile! I’m posting it on my blog this weekend…I’ll add it to your Thursday meme!
Some of our favorites are Apricot Mustard and Honey Lemon. Yum!
Thank you – I am always looking for new ways to marinate meat! We usually use the “Southwest” packet made by McCormick, I think, or I do an Asian one with soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, and ginger.
I bet you could throw those in the crockpot for the day too (if grilling plans change).
I love this – it looks great and I think I’ll try it! Thank you for the inspiration. Happy Friday!
One question – I have TONS of frozen meat. I mean, an over the fridge freezer full of it, as well as a deep freeze full of it. Can I thaw some of those items, add the marinade, and then refreeze? I can’t seem to find info on this anywhere.
@Andrea, Just my thoughts on using frozen meat…I buy the giant frozen bags of Tyson chicken breasts at Costco, mix up a marinade, dump 4-6 frozen chicken breasts in the ziplock w/ the marinade, and then place back in the freezer. When I’m planning to use the meal and defrosting 1-2 days ahead of time, the marinade then has time to soak into the meat as it slowly defrosts. It’s worked great for me. enjoy!
@Andrea, Andrea, I haven’t tried it, but I like Heidi F’s reply. I wouldn’t thaw then refreeze meat, but her approach makes sense for your already frozen meat. After you work your way through all the frozen meat, then when you buy fresh again, you can follow the original instructions, or use Heidi’s approach for frozen meat.
Tuscan Lemon Chicken from Barefoot Contessa–
1/3 cup good olive oil
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
big sprig of rosemary
Freshly ground black pepper & salt
two large boneless chix breasts
We’ve also used this marinade on bone-in chix breasts but the flavor is more intense with boneless.
I hate trimming the chicken too but it’s got to be done. I usually portion my boneless breasts into 6 oz. portions and then I take the rest and cut it into stir fry pieces. Usually in bags with a pound and 1/2 works for our family. Great tips, thanks!
I started doing this and mixes because of you and Money saving mom. Stave sme a ton of time I started out by just doing one extra meal when I was prepping the first one I liked the convience so much I have started doing a lot more ahead of time.
My favorite marinade right now is a spicy mexican marinade with shrimp (though I am sure it would be great with chicken too). I am actually making it tonight and freezing a few portions while I am at it. It is posted on my blog Coping with Frugality (Camarones a la Diabla): http://copingwithfrugality.blogspot.com/2010/04/camarones-la-diabla-repost.html
Such a great idea – I’ll have to try this next time.
Can’t wait to see your recipes for the chicken & pizza subs!
Yum! I have saved these to my recipes folder and will be trying them. This is the kind of freezer meal my fish and broccoli loving family will eat with happy faces!
Can you help me understand fully. I tried this chicken idea and when removing from freezer to cook, the chicken was just mushy and I had to throw it out. Any insight here? Thank you
and freezer cooking means different things to different people…some cook and freeze, some prepare and freeze raw, correct.
I had gotten a good deal on the Kens Balsamic dressing, ($1 off coupon on the 8oz variety, came to .22) I dumped it in the bag with my chicken and some sprigs of rosemary and it was DELISH!!!! : )
That dijon marinade looks great – and I love that it has so few ingredients! So simple.
This is my favorite:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP dried onion (I like to use green onion)
1 TBSP parsley
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
I’ve tried your dijon marinade a few times…delish!
However, a few weeks ago was the first time that I prepared it for freezing. When I thawed the chicken, the texture was strange… kind of mushy like nanasewn described in her comment. We cooked it anyway, but it just wasn’t the same. Any hints?
Thanks!
@Monica, did you make it exactly like the recipe? I’m not sure what would do that. And, I guess I didn’t understand nanasewn’s question before. I can’t think that I’ve ever had that happen — except when I use lemon juice…. which is why I don’t use lemon juice for freezer chicken, usu. In those cases the lemon juice marinated chicken is tough. What was the cooked texture of this chicken?
I did a mini-freezer cooking day and made the marinades. All of them were a huge hit…but my husband and I LOVED the dijon the most. Thanks for sharing.
Jess – This is genious! I’ll try yours and then test my favorite marinades the next month. Thanks for the great ideas…as always!
@Jenn Papale, genius, eh? That’s pretty cool.
Thanks. I just did a bunch of this today.
I’ve been trying to remember where i got these marinade recipes from. I have tried them, and I really like the dijon one.
{ 27 trackbacks }