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Chicken Breast substitute

Best substitute

Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

Use the same amount by weight, or 2 thighs per breast, plus about 5 minutes as the chicken breast you are replacing

Best for curries

Taste and texture differ

Boneless skinless chicken thighs are the best substitute at 1:1 by weight, and they are more forgiving, though they need a few extra minutes and taste richer and darker. Chicken tenders swap in directly for cutlets, and turkey breast cutlets work in almost any breast recipe. For anything shredded, such as soup or enchiladas, meat pulled off a rotisserie chicken is the fastest good answer.

Other chicken breast substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Chicken Breast with ratios

  1. 2Chicken Tenders or Tenderloins

    Close match

    Use 3 tenders for every breast half

    The narrow strip of white muscle attached under the breast.

    What changes
    Best for
    breaded cutlets, stir-fries, skewers, quick pan dishes, salads

    The same meat in a smaller shape, so the flavour is identical. Because they are thin they cook in roughly half the time, which means a recipe's timing will overshoot badly if you follow it as written. Great for anything breaded or skewered, and no pounding required. Pull the white tendon out of each one first or they curl in the pan.

  2. 3Turkey Breast Cutlets

    Close match

    Use the same amount by weight

    Thin slices cut from a boneless turkey breast.

    What changes
    Best for
    breaded cutlets, pan-searing, sandwiches, piccata and schnitzel, stir-fries

    A very close match in colour, leanness and behaviour, and often cheaper per pound. Turkey is slightly firmer and a touch more savoury than chicken, so a mild cream sauce reads as a little more assertive. It is every bit as easy to overcook, so treat it with the same care and pull it at 160F.

  3. 4Bone-In Split Chicken Breast

    Close match

    Use 1 split breast for every boneless breast, plus 15-20 minutes

    The breast with the rib bone and skin still attached.

    What changes
    Best for
    roasting, baking, poaching for shredded chicken, sheet-pan dinners

    Juicier and more flavourful than boneless, because the bone slows the cooking and the skin protects the meat, so this is a genuine upgrade for anything roasted. The trade-off is that it takes 15 to 20 minutes longer and cannot be sliced into cutlets or stir-fried. Weigh out about 1.5 pounds bone-in to end up with a pound of meat.

  4. 5Rotisserie or Leftover Cooked Chicken

    Taste and texture differ

    Use 1.5 cups shredded meat for every 8 oz raw breast

    Already cooked chicken pulled off the bone.

    What changes
    Best for
    soups, enchiladas, chicken salad, casseroles, tacos, pasta

    The right answer whenever the recipe ends with the chicken shredded or diced, which is a large share of them. Add it at the end and only heat it through, since it is already cooked and will turn stringy with further simmering. It is already seasoned and salted, so cut back on salt elsewhere, and the dish gains a roasted, slightly herby flavour it would not otherwise have.

  5. 6Firm Tofu, Pressed and Sliced, or Large Portobello Caps

    Taste and texture differ

    Use 1 lb tofu or 4 large caps for every 1 lb chicken breast

    The meat-free stand-ins with enough structure to hold a slab shape.

    What changes
    Best for
    breaded cutlets, stir-fries, sandwiches, grain bowls, grilling

    Press tofu for at least 20 minutes and slab it thick, or the coating slides off and the interior stays watery. Portobellos give a meatier chew but release a lot of liquid, so grill or roast them rather than pan-frying in sauce. Neither browns or tastes savoury on its own, so use a well-salted marinade with soy sauce and a decent amount of oil, and expect a softer bite than chicken.

What is Chicken Breast?

Chicken Breast is Chicken breast is the large, lean white-meat muscle from the front of the bird, sold boneless and skinless, as thin-sliced cutlets, or bone-in and split, and it has so little fat that its texture depends almost entirely on not overcooking it.

Cooking tips

  • The reason breast recipes fail is almost never the cut, it is temperature and thickness. Pull chicken breast at 155F to 160F and let it rest for five minutes, during which carryover heat finishes the job. At 175F the muscle fibres have squeezed out their water and no sauce will bring it back.
  • Even out the thickness before cooking. A breast is thick at one end and thin at the other, so by the time the thick part is safe the thin part is overdone. Either pound it to an even half inch under plastic wrap, or slice it horizontally into two thin cutlets. This single step does more for a chicken dinner than any marinade.
  • Brine it if you have 30 minutes. A tablespoon of salt in two cups of water, breast submerged, then patted dry, gives noticeably juicier meat and seasons it through. Lean white meat has no fat to hide behind, so salting in advance matters much more than it does for thighs.
  • For shredded chicken, poach rather than roast. Slip the breasts into barely simmering salted water or stock, cover, turn the heat off and leave them for about 15 minutes. Gentle heat keeps them tender, and you end up with a cup of light broth as a bonus.
  • If you substitute thighs into a breast recipe, add a few minutes and pour off some rendered fat before saucing. Thighs release considerably more fat than breast, and a delicate pan sauce built for lean meat can turn greasy and split.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use chicken thighs instead of chicken breast?

Yes, at 1:1 by weight or about two boneless thighs per breast half, and they are more forgiving of overcooking. Add roughly five minutes to the cooking time, expect a richer and darker flavour, and drain off some of the extra fat if the recipe finishes with a light pan sauce. The one place thighs fall short is anything that needs neat, even slices.

How much chicken is one breast?

A boneless skinless breast half from a modern supermarket bird usually weighs 6 to 8 ounces, so two make about a pound. Cooked and shredded, one breast gives roughly a cup to a cup and a half of meat. If you are working from bone-in split breasts, buy about 1.5 pounds to end up with a pound of edible meat.

Can I just leave the chicken out?

In most breast recipes the chicken is the main component, so leaving it out means making a different dish. For a meat-free version, pressed firm tofu, thick cauliflower steaks, chickpeas or portobello caps all take the same treatment, but they contribute no savoury depth of their own, so add soy sauce, miso or extra salt and be more generous with the oil.

What is the difference between chicken breast, cutlets and tenders?

A breast is the whole muscle. Cutlets are just chicken breast sliced or pounded thin, so they are the same meat with a shorter cooking time. Tenders, or tenderloins, are a separate small strip of muscle that sits underneath the breast, similar in flavour and even quicker to cook. All three are interchangeable if you adjust the timing for thickness.

Can I substitute frozen chicken breast without thawing it?

For braises, soups and slow cooker recipes you can add it frozen and extend the cooking time by about half, though the texture ends up softer. For anything seared, breaded or grilled, thaw it first, because a frozen surface will not brown and the outside overcooks while the middle catches up. Thaw in the fridge overnight or in a sealed bag in cold water.

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