You can buy frozen grilled chicken strips at the grocery store, or you can take a few minutes to cook and freeze your own. Save money and enjoy the convenience!
When you keep a stash of frozen cooked chicken on hand, dinner is just a few minutes away. It’s easy to add the cooked protein to your chicken salad, sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, and other recipes calling for cooked chicken.
- Why Do This
- Ingredients
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Serving Suggestions
- Other Ways to Freeze Chicken
- More Great Chicken Recipes
- Tell us what you think!
- How to Make Frozen Grilled Chicken Strips
You’ve probably seen them before at the supermarket. Produced by Tyson, Perdue, and even Great Value/Walmart, frozen grilled chicken strips are just that: grilled chicken that has been sliced into strips, individually flash frozen, and stored in a ziptop bag.
Since the chicken strips are loose in the bag you can grab as many or as few as you like, making for a very convenient protein to add to your meals.
Note: These are different from Fried Chicken Strips as they are grilled and sliced, but just as tasty.
Why Do This
It’s easy. Cooking and freeing your own grilled chicken strips is super simple, especially when you use the open freeze or “flash freeze” method.
It’s cheaper. Most often cooking at home will save you money. Even more, if you have cooked food already waiting for you, you’re less likely to go out to eat, saving even more money.
Ingredients
You don’t need much to make your own frozen grilled chicken strips. You’ll need:
boneless, skinless chicken – To maximize your savings and beat the commercial product price, buy your chicken on sale. My ALDI regularly sells it for $1.79/lb, sometimes going on sale for as low as $1.29. Watch for sales and snag it at the best price you can.
whatever seasoning you’d like to use – This can be something as simple as a Custom Seasoning Mix or get a little fancier with a marinade, such as this 5-Minute Asian Chicken Marinade Recipe or this easy Mustard Marinade for Chicken.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Preparing the same kind of chicken is easier and cheaper to do yourself.
But, you knew that already, didn’t you?
The method is pretty straightforward. Here’s how:
- Prepare your chicken and cook it on the hot grill. Remove to cool. Chill it in the refrigerator.
- Once the chicken is chilled, slice it thinly.
- Place the chicken strips on a lined baking sheet that fits your freezer. You can use plastic wrap, parchment paper, or a silicone baking mat to line the pan. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
- Once frozen solid, package the strips in a plastic, ziptop bag and store in the freezer.
You can make these chicken strips “on purpose” or simply use up leftover chicken in this way.
To serve: simply thaw and serve or reheat if you want cold chicken.
Serving Suggestions
You can use frozen grilled chicken strips in any recipe that calls for cooked chicken, but they are particularly nice to have on hand for quick meals such as sandwiches, salads, and wraps. Consider putting this Chicken Strip Salad on your meal plan soon!
They can be thawed and added to pizza, quesadillas, and even tacos! Think how easy it will be to make a Jalapeno Burn Pizza or Santa Fe Chicken Tacos.
Chicken strips are a great addition to a Snacky Lunch and can even play a part in your Game Day Appetizers with the right sauces alongside.
Other Ways to Freeze Chicken
How should you freeze a cooked chicken breast?
Freeze a sliced breast in a single package. If you don’t need or want to freeze individual strips, you can simply slice and wrap the cooled chicken breast and store in a labeled ziptop freezer bag.
Can you freeze uncooked chicken in marinade?
Maybe you want to enjoy your chicken hot off the grill. That works. Prep the marinade in advance and freeze the uncooked chicken pieces in the marinade. The chicken will marinate as it thaws, and you’ll be more hands-off at cooking time.
More Great Chicken Recipes
Green Chicken Enchiladas with Cream Cheese
4-Ingredient Chicken Marinade
Easy Cashew Chicken
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Tell us what you think!
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5 from 4 votes
How to Make Frozen Grilled Chicken Strips
You can buy frozen grilled chicken strips at the grocery store, or you can take a few minutes to cook and freeze your own. Save money and enjoy the convenience!
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Chilling Time2 hrs
Total Time2 hrs 25 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Diet: Gluten Free
Servings: 4
Calories: 149kcal
Author: Jessica Fisher
Cost: $2
Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark
Equipment
- ▢
chef's knife
- ▢
cutting board
- ▢
heavy duty sheet pan
- ▢
parchment paper
Ingredients
- ▢1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
- ▢2 tablespoon Basic Spice Blend or other favorite seasoning
US Customary – Metric
Instructions
Heat the outdoor grill. Season the chicken pieces to taste with the spice blend.
Cook the chicken on the hot grill until an internal temperature of 155 degrees is reached. Tent with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. The internal temperature should rise to 165 while resting.
Chill the chicken in the refrigerator until cold, about 1 hour. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Slice the chicken into thin strips and place them in a single layer on the prepared tray. Place the tray in the freezer and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
Once frozen solid, package the strips in a plastic ziptop freezer bag and store in the freezer. To use, remove however many strips you want from the bag and use in your recipes.
Notes
Nutritional values are approximate and based on ¼ pound cooked chicken.Use the chicken strips in any recipe that calls for cooked chicken, including sandwiches, salads, and wraps.You can use the same process with other proteins, such as beef or pork.
Nutrition
Calories: 149kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 513mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 160IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 124mg | Iron: 3mg
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This post was originally published on October 30, 2013 as part of the DIY Convenience Foods series. It has been updated for content and clarity.