Dry-Brined Chicken Breasts Recipe (2024)

Lay the breast down on the cutting board, place your hand flat on top. With your cutting hand, cut the breast down the length of the breast, very carefully. You're cutting it parallel to the board, so that now you have 2 cutlets. The top one is usually a little shorter, and thicker. It's a little easier to do this, if the breast is slightly frozen, and the knife is sharp. Be very careful, and pay attention to keeping the knife parallel between the board and your hand.

I learned that not all kosher salts are created equal and therefore when it calls for Diamond to use that brand, and if not, cut the salt in half. Other kosher brands are saltier than Diamond.

Um, no. That's the way to make cutlets. One can, but that's not what he's calling for here. He states to cut crosswise, which simply means cutting in half across the roughly the middle, skewing slightly toward the thicker side, so that one ends up with two halves, one being slightly thicker and shorter than the other.

I misread the recipe and I apologize for suggesting the chicken breast be cut lengthwise. Cutting it across the breast is what the recipe calls for. I never said I was perfect.

This dry brine is a terrific technique. Sliced these up to add to a salad platter and they were moist, tender and tasty. Would not have thought to use bay leaves in a rub, but they work very well here.

Size and shape of the crystals. A handy "rule": 1 tsp table salt = 1.5 tsp Morton's Kosher = 2 tsp Diamond Crystal.

Made this according to directions (cut crosswise, not horizontally; pulled thinner pieces sooner than thicker pieces). Didn't brown up quite as beautifully as depicted in the photo (perhaps my medium low was a bit too low), but tender and delicious. A bit sweet -- I might reduce the sugar by a little bit next time, but I love a bit of salt and this was perfect, requiring no more salt at the table.

Giving the weight of the salt would eliminate any confusion of what brand to use.

My housekeeper had come in the morning so I decided to gas grill the breasts to minimize mess. I grilled all the pieces 4 minutes each side over direct medium and the thicker halves 2 more minutes over indirect medium. They turned out tender and juicy. The leftovers were still very moist. I will definitely male this again.

The salt problem: table salt "saltier" than Morton's Kosher saltier than Diamond Crystal. If recipe calls for Diamond and all you have is table salt, cut the amount in half. Morton's cut to 3/4. Go to Serious Eats and search for "Do I need to use Kosher Salt." Yeah Kenji. But Diamond and Morton's not interchangeable.

The instructions clearly say cut crosswise, not lengthwise as Vin suggests.

Not all kosher salts are created equal and therefore when it calls for Diamond to use that brand, and if not, cut the salt in half. Other kosher brands are saltier than Diamond.Perhaps a suggestion would be to reduce the salt (for me, I would say by half) if this is a concern. Cut the breast horizontally down the length of the breast, very carefully, so that now you have 2 cutlets. The top one is usually a little shorter, and thicker. It's easier to do this, if the breast is slightly frozen.

Next time I will skip halving the breasts and lightly pound the thick end so I have one even thickness.

These were LOVELY! I cut my chicken into 1/2 in. cutlets. I cooked them 2 min/side on the outdoor grill and they came out perfect! I think I'll try 2 tsp of brown sugar next time instead of a full tablespoon, simply because I could taste the sweetness and thought it was odd. That said, the sweetness wasn't overpowering in any way, simply present. The flavor otherwise was perfect! For a cut of meat I don't like much, this will be the way I cook it going forward!

Good, but as far as the spices and salt go: too much! Will cut in half next time.

1. Excellent recipe; I use it regularly.2. Just blitz all the dry ingredients together: it's simpler.3. The NYT should *always* provide salt weights, as someone else has commented. Everything else is needlessly complicated. (Food editors: Are you listening?)4. I've let the chicken brine for two hours; no one has died yet.5. Sometimes the chicken has to cook a little longer.6. The resting period matters.

I grilled the chicken. Really tasty, not dry.

My daughter made this in the air fryer turned out tasty, delicious, and tender leftovers used in a creamy Caesar salad. I will make it again.

I've been salt-brining chicken breasts for years. Dry the chicken, salt it lightly all over. Let it sit for up to an hour. Dry it again if necessary before sautéing. I'm going to try this with pepper, garlic powder and herbes de provence rather than bay. I'll skip the sugar and add some butter to the pan at the end. Once the chicken is resting, I might add some more butter and shallots to the pan.

This delicious! Quick and easy for a weeknight dinner. Be sure to use a non-stick pan or a sheet pan with foil whenever sautéing or roasting with brown sugar. That stuff burns!

This is delicious and so easy! A great way to use bay leaves!

This is my go-to for chicken that I am going to add to salads. I’ve found I have more success when I slice the breasts into cutlets. I also mix up the spices when I want to try something different. My favorite combo is 1 Tbsn Ethiopian berbere; 1 Tbsn brown sugar; 2.5 tsp Diamond Christal salt.

Incredibly recipe producing excellent results with little effort. My breasts were fabulously juicy and tender and were still so the morning after once cold even! I’m not convinced the author intended for the entire dry brine to be used on just two breasts. Use your intuition and add the dry brine to taste.

This recipe is a huge hack! My kid makes it (12yo) and it cuts the marinade time down by a day. The chicken comes out great every time and I don't have to do a thing but eat it. Thank you for the tasty cheat!

After cutting it in half crosswise, if the “thick” part if the chicken breast is much thicker than the “thin” part, consider cutting the thick part in half

Made this as written, chicken was tender but otherwise nothing special. Spouse thought it was too spicy with 5 ground peppercorns.

Incredibly flavorful. I've cooked hundreds of NYT recipes, and this is one of the best. I thought I was purchasing a small jar of bay leaves, but what arrived was a large bag. I went looking for recipes using lots of bay leaves. This is the first I've tried and it's fantastic. This will be a basic go-to for me.

This is the best, most reliable, juiciest, easiest chicken breast recipe I’ve encountered. Highly recommend. We change nothing!