Tonight I cooked them and they looked wonderful. This has happened to me a few times both cooking chicken breast at home and also out at restaurants. This issue really needs to get addressed. There's so many interesting questions with this thread (lol). I have this issue too. If your chicken breasts have been more tough than usual, you're not alone. We Recommend Health This applies even if your chicken is organic. Pay attention to what is really going on! I too have just taken to google to try and make sense of this weird phenomenon of eating perfectly cooked chicken in which the texture makes its seem raw. It's Nasty. I have stoped eating chicken breasts completely because of it. Thanks for chiming in BakerRB. Omg I am having this same issue! Thought I was going to give us food poisoning, This is really concerning I'm in Colorado usa and I've bought chicken breasts from both walmart and safeway and cooked them to 165 internal temp (most times I go above it to make sure) either in the oven or on the grill and every pack I've bought for the past few weeks have had at least one breast that has that raw like texture. "My favorite method for fixing woody chicken breast is to marinate it in a yogurt-based sauce," Jessica Randhawa, head chef and recipe creator at The Forked Spoon, told TODAY. I am totally organic and purchase chicken from farms and also Whole Foods. It's commonly confused with white striping, which is when fat replaces muscle tissue. If I hard boil them, they are difficult to peel, the whites have a weird texture and the yolks are like rubber balls. In a rush for poultry producers to get more money per pound they started growing bigger chickens up to 6lb plus. Why do people wash their chicken before they cook it? I am prepared to return all next time again if it happens. On the other hand if you get an individually wrapped piece that's small and/or not pink it's going to be disgustingly slimey and tough. Are any other types of chicken having this issue like chicken thighs cause if not I'll switch to chicken thighs but if chicken breasts continue down this path it might push me off of chicken forever. Consider trying to tenderize them by using a marinade or brine with yogurt or buttermilk which has enzymes that make the meat less tough. The owner does get the message and prefers to answer any and all complaints himself, which he did, and that part was appreciated. Well after that I invested in a meat thermometer off Amazon that had great reviews, and just now cooked some chicken and immediately checked the temp and it was reading 190 degrees fahrenheit in MULTIPLE spots. I've been having difficulty lately eating chicken and I this may have been the end for me. Trader Joes heirloomchickens are tough tasteless and dont feel cooked they used to be great now no good terrible & rubbery. I just had this experience with Trader Joe's organic chicken breasts. The inside of the chicken pieces were good, it was just the surface that was mushy/chalky. It like the growth hormones in 1990s milk. Raw and cooked chicken breast meat with the severe woody breast condition as seen in a study from the U.S. National Poultry Research Center. I've had the bad texture ones from Costco - the fresh organic, pack of 3. "It's something all poultry producers have been working to resolve.". Woody chicken breast meat is more coarse with fibers that feel "woody" hence the name. It tasted like it was undercooked, but it was long enough.. and the color seemed okay. We couldn't eat it; those fibers are too weird and crunch in the most unappetizing way. I bought them fresh today from a local farmer style market. What type of chicken are you using? They tout themselves as something along the lines as Bell & Evans and they are not even close. "Local trauma" to the tastebuds aka burning your tongue on hot stuff can change your sense of taste. Some chickens (e.g., kosher birds, but also some others) are injected with a salt solution, particularly white meat, which is essentially brining. While they make for less-than-stellar filets, woody chicken breasts aren't completely worthless. You Ate or Drank Something Too Hot. A stewing chicken can be a little tougher, need more slow cooking to tenderize the meat. I'm sure that its not overcooked. Has anyone else had this problem? The only constant is that my chicken is often on the cold side and I tend to cook (particularly on weeknights) with high heat. I know I asked too much but I dread the waiting incubation time for salmonella. I thought it had to do with not thoroughly thawing, but as everyone else said, it seemed done in every respect except the consistency. I asked my husband to taste it and he tasted the flowery taste too. I will read all 1. I could not afford to do that any longer so I went back to shopping at the box stores and I always buy the smallest breasts I can find and it is hit and miss but I get the nasty chicken a lot less now with my new practice. It is definitely not the way the chicken is prepared and cooked because I prepare multiple pieces at the same time and only some of them have the odd texture. A hen's increased rate of respiration interferes with calcium carbonate production and shell formation. so disappointing; has really turned me off US chicken altogether and so sad as i used to really love white meat and would cook it at least once or twice a week! I can't blame her, it's disgusting. Tyson, just in general, should be crossed off the ole grocery list as it isits the probably the worst as far as product quality, and that's even excluding the "woody breast disease" issue. The texture really is disgusting. I actually googled this and your same query came up on this site. Ive been purchasing frozen 10# boxes of 5 or 6 oz. She aid she'd get another piece of fried chicken instead and would make sure it was cooked "completely" which terrified me as I am already ill and did not want to aquire any samonella. Rubbery Chicken: Causes, Solutions, and Mistakes to Avoid - Greatist Read about it here: Interesting. It has to have something to do with corporate profits, but, eventually, more and more people will become aware of this weird situation and start to back off a bit. Oh and the first experience I had 18 months ago, I cooked a chicken kiev for over 2 hours in a 200 degree oven (checked the temperature, and other food cooked fine), but somehow it didn't burn, in fact it still seemed raw. Interesting about the water injection we have the same issue in Japan. Cooked Chicken Rubbery Why does my chicken breast have a weird texture?-----The most important part of our job is creating informational content. I looked online for this very subject cause i thought i was losing my good or ok cooking skills!! What is so frustrating is making a nice chicken dish (marsala, francese) for company and not knowing who will get the uneatable piece! Time to shut off the comments. Why Is My Chicken Breast Always So Dry? - Stellina Marfa But the shampoo and perfumes and whatnot have carcinogens in them as well. Isnt globalized food production in the 21st Century just the creepiest! Sorry I can't help you because I haven't bought chicken in a supermarket for more years than I can remember. The recipe is a trusty foolproof one for us, but no one could stomach the crunchy/raw texture. I use it along with an OXO instant read thermometer to make sure the chicken is done. Strange chicken texture? | Traeger Owners Forum | Traeger Grill Look up "Woody Brest". It's like it's stringy and rubbery at once. We don't eat out often, but both of these restaurants serve chicken breasts that has the strangest texture to the point I spat it out and wouldn't eat it. I only purchase breast fillets now as they tend to be thinner than the full breast and haven't had the issue since. I used homemade shake & bake and drizzled all with olive oil. We decided NOT to eat the chicken so I threw away 2 breasts, a little over a pound that I paid $12.00 for. Thank you for sharing this. It's determined by the "factory chicken" to be a genetic issue caused by the process of overbreeding, called "Woody Breast Syndrome", I don't see a way to edit my last comment. Your mention f perfume speaks to what I experienced eating Perdue chicken strips today. I've noticed an issue as well and it's always been difficult to describe it. I had a chicken sandwich from Wendy's today and the middle was squishy. Older hens generally produce thinner shells as their oviducts wears out. It is stringy, wet, and the texture of raw meat. I guess it doesnt bother him but we get ours from Aldi and they are HUGE so I am thinking we will pay a little more for them from somewhere else because I cant do it anymore!!! Yes!! I found some free range chickens in some good little health food store and bought the smallest breasts I could find. It really feels like theyve thrown In some othe type of meat, like passed off as chicken but really not; sometimes I wish I knew a lab where they test food, anyone here know of one, Bought skinless breast and the texture when cut into was smooth and taste more like processed than real chicken, i could not eat the taste was weird. Overcooked chicken will be very dense and even hard, with a stringy, unappealing texture. In 20 years of breeding free range heritage breeds, she's seldom encountered the issue. I haven't bought chicken in over a year and I do miss it.but not, as one person on this thread said, "not the Frankenchicken stuff." Hope they fix it. It's interesting to me that it's so hard to find any information on it. Why do they say not to wash chicken? - wedo.dynu.net Ive replied to this question before, but as I get emails with every new response, Im starting to see there are two problems people are finding. I did not get the name and brand of the chicken but we will. It doesn't solve ruining your meal and possibly not eating chicken again but I hope if enough people complain they can take it seriously at the production end. I just experienced this yesterday, I sous vide a bone in chicken breast at my normal temp and time I've been using and it was like biting into a raw chicken breast. I've been so grossed out by it that I'm ready to stop eating chicken altogether. How would a dysfunctional government, with the most chronically ill people in the world and most expensive healthcare system in the world, with no REAL scientific FDA regulatory oversight, know anything about global conglomerates they financially prop up with our massive debt? - kettultim Hi Trisha - I feel your pain and we should call the USDA, but not sure they can enforce anything. Chicken that has gone bad will usually have a sour or sulfur-like smell. Others had a very odd, off putting texture. Has anyone identified good sources? However, a woody chicken breast is characterized by a tougher or, as Owens likes to say, "more complex" consistency. I now only buy chicken tenders and have had no problem. Its like humans cant understand the motivation of business to increase their bottom line without government interference.