What is the Healthiest Way to Cook Chicken?

As well as being a great and important source of animal protein, it is also a good source of B vitamins, iron, potassium, and selenium.

As of 2020, the National Chicken Council said that the United States raised and bred almost 10 billion pounds of chicken for meat.

Chicken meat is quite versatile, and you can prepare it in many ways. However, when it comes to its health benefits, all cooking methods for chicken aren’t created equal.

Dry cooking at high temperatures of up to 482oF (250oC), longer cooking times, and even how done the chicken is may all cause harmful chemicals to be made (3, 4, 5, 6).

These carcinogenic chemicals can include (3, 4, 5, 6, 7):

On the other hand, cooking methods that don’t brown the meat or produce smoke tend to be better for you. Most of these use water in some way or another.

Sous vide is a healthy cooking method that involves vacuum-sealing foods and seasonings in a food-grade plastic pouch and cooking them in a water bath. This cooks the chicken without direct heat, which should reduce the production of HAAs, PAHs, and AGEs (8).

Note that you may want to use bisphenol A (BPA)-free plastic bags, as it has been suggested that this chemical may transfer from plastic cooking bags into foods that have been cooked via this method (9).

You can cook seasoned chicken meat sous vide at 140oF (60oC) for 1 hour, or up to 3 hours if you want to enhance the flavor of the final product (8).

This slow cooked, low temperature method reduces nutrient losses and produces chicken that is tender with a high mineral content (8, 10).

You can opt to use special sous vide equipment, but a simple cooking thermometer and water bath are all you need.

How to steam chicken at home

• Cut the chicken into smaller pieces to speed up the cooking process and make sure the meat is cooked all the way through. For the same effect, you can also cut a bigger piece of chicken all the way through.
• To add flavor, marinate the chicken before you steam it. (Here’s a recipe for a lemon garlic marinade. You could also add herbs and spices to the steam water to give the food more flavor while it’s cooking.
• In a pot of boiling water, put the chicken in a steamer basket. Make sure that steam is coming through the holes in the steamer basket.
• Put a tight lid on top of the basket and cook the chicken for 15 to 20 minutes. Before taking the chicken out of the steam, make sure it’s done.
• The water can then be used to make a sauce or broth to go with the chicken.

Like steaming, pressure cooking uses high temperatures for short durations and produces moist, tender, and flavorful chicken dishes.

Given that longer cooking times increase the production of HCAs, pressure cooking’s short cooking duration is likely to produce fewer HAAs, PAHs, or AGEs as well (4).

An older study found that pressure cooking reduced the oxidation of cholesterol in meat, while a recent study identified various cooking methods that either increased or decreased cholesterol oxides in chicken (13, 14).

Oxidized cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease. This type of cholesterol is linked to a narrowing of the arteries that can occur due to atherosclerosis, a condition characterized by plaque buildup (14, 15, 16).

You can pressure cook in an electric multicooker or traditional pressure cooker with a weight valve.

How to make sous vide chicken at home

• Put the chicken in a BPA-free plastic bag or sous vide pouch that can be closed again and again.
• Put water in a pot and attach a thermometer to the side of it. You can also dip a thermometer in the water as needed to check the temperature while cooking.
• Warm up the water to 140oF (60oC), then add the chicken in a sealed bag to the pot. Let the temperature rise again to 140oF (60oC) before setting the timer. The temperature may drop when you add the meat.
• Set an hour timer for once the water temperature has reached 140oF (60oC).
• You can sear the meat when it’s done, or you can just cut it up and serve it.

Steaming is another healthy and quick cooking method for chicken. For this method, you use a steaming basket and pot of hot water.

Alternatively, you can get the same results by cooking in a steam-assisted hybrid oven.

Steaming is a high temperature method with a short cooking time that has been shown to produce fewer HCAs compared with other high temperature cooking methods (11).

The steam keeps the chicken from getting a crust on top, which keeps the meat from drying out and makes the finished product moist and tender.

The high temperatures also melt more of the fat on the chicken (11, 12).

LOW EFFORT Chicken Mealprep that anyone can do

FAQ

Which is the healthiest way of cooking chicken?

Steaming Steam helps the chicken retain tenderness, moisture, and flavor. Steamed chicken is also relatively low in calories since it requires no additional fat. How to steam chicken: Use chicken pieces or cut large pieces of chicken into smaller pieces so that it will cook evenly.

Is it healthier to cook chicken in the oven or on the stove?

Both baking and stovetop cooking can be healthy ways to prepare chicken, but baking generally tends to be healthier. Baking, especially when done with minimal oil, allows for a leaner cooking method.

Is baked or grilled chicken healthier?

Healthier Choice: If cooked without too many sauces or fats, grilled chicken is often thought to be a little healthier because it has less fat and the fat can be drained off while it’s cooking. However, baked chicken can also be very healthy, especially if prepared with wholesome ingredients.

What is the most nutritious way to eat chicken?

1. Poaching. “Poaching is one of the healthiest ways to cook chicken because it doesn’t require any added fat,” explains Hobson. May 6, 2025.