Cubed Chicken for Salads
Tender cubed chicken makes the perfect salad topping and can add delicious texture to creamy chicken salads. With almost no prep work, you can dry poach whole chicken breasts in the oven for easy slicing.
When I asked my mom for the secret to her famous chicken salad pasta salad, I was utterly shocked to learn she's been cooking chicken for salads with a method I had never tried.
No wonder her chicken is always so perfect, firm but tender, and chicken-y tasting. She doesn't use any oil, she doesn't water it down in a poached bath, she doesn't boil it.
She simply pops it into the oven and uses a dry poaching technique that worked like a charm when I rushed to try it myself.
This will be the only way I prep chicken when I'm entertaining. It is so easy to scale for just a little chicken for my family or a huge pan of chicken for a crowd. The method works the same either way!
Why This is the Best Recipe
- Almost No Prep: Just season the chicken and pop it in the oven. No tricky steps required.
- No Oil: Unlike air fryer chicken breasts or traditional oven baked chicken breasts, no oil is needed for this method which keeps the chicken flavor light.
- Juicy and Tender: I was amazed at just how deliciously tender the chicken cooks with this method.
- Meal Prep Friendly: This is an excellent way to prep chicken chunks for salads, sandwich wraps, and protein boosting for any meal prep recipe.
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Ingredient Notes
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Salt & Pepper
That's truly it! But, if you are prepping this with a special recipe in mind, you can add any seasoning you wish. I used a delicious herb blend for a little more flavor when making my chicken salad pasta salad.
When I baked chicken for Coronation chicken sandwiches, I added onion, a bay leaf, an a cinnamon stick which infused the meat as it poached in the oven and then discarded those items when I sliced the cooked chicken.
How to Dry Poach Chicken
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place the chicken breasts in a baking dish just big enough to hold them. For two breasts, I used an 8x8-inch dish.
Season both sides of the meat with salt and pepper (or the seasoning blend of your choice.)
Then tightly wrap the baking dish with aluminum foil. You want the seal tight to trap in the steam as the chicken cooks.
You do not need to add any liquid to the pan. The chicken will release its own juices as it bakes and the tightly wrapped dish will keep them circulating around the meat to keep things juicy.
Bake the chicken for 1 hour or until the thickest part of the meat registers 165°F.
Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before transferring to a cutting board to slice.
Slice the Chicken
Once the chicken has rested and the juices have had a chance to redistribute through the meat, transfer the breasts to a cutting board.
Slice them in long strips and then cut into cubes.
Cubed chicken gives chicken salads a delicious texture as compared to shredded chicken meat. It also has a prettier presentation on top of a green salad.
Make Ahead Tips
You can prep the cubed chicken up to 4 days in advance and keep it stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
You could also freeze the cooked chicken in meal-sized portions for up to 3 months. Just let it thaw in the fridge overnight before using so it doesn't get overcooked when you reheat it.
Serving Suggestions
This is the perfect cooked chicken for using on top of a leafy green salad. You can turn my Caesar salad into a chicken Caesar salad in a pinch or add a boost of protein to a strawberry feta salad or raw veggie salad.
My mom always makes chicken this way for her chicken salad pasta salad and it works great in my chicken pasta salad with grapes, too.
I used cubed chicken to make my Coronation chicken sandwiches for a tea party and they added an awesome texture to the final bite. Highly recommend!
More Easy Chicken Prep Recipes
Cubed chicken would work in just about any of these shredded chicken recipes. You could also prepare large batches of chicken with these methods:
📖 Recipe
Cubed Chicken for Salads
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions Start Cooking
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the chicken in an 8x8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the salt and pepper evenly over the chicken.
- Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil, making sure to seal all the edges to trap the steam inside.
- Bake the chicken for 1 hour or until it registers 165°F at the thickest part of the meat.
- Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes so the juices can redistribute before slicing into a small diced cubes.
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