Or the supermarkets selling rubbery chicken?!

[elm26]

I've had chicken breasts and a whole chicken in the last 2 weeks that have had this weird rubbery texture when cooked. It's really off putting and ends up being binned. I'm not over cooking it. This has been happening at least once a month with a batch of chicken (a big pack of 8 breast) or a whole chicken etc for a while now. I've tried Sainsbury's, Tescos, Waitrose and Asda and I've had a batch from each of them. Does anyone know what is happening here?!

I might just switch to chicken thigh, I've cooked a large chicken tonight for a mini roast and was going to use the leftover meat in a soup and a pasta dish this week but all of us have had to bin it and that's £9 down the drain 😩

We have had a couple of packs of chicken from Lidl’s like that. It almost felt like it was raw - certainly wasn’t raw and it was cooked well all the way through but it was so ‘bouncy’ and the texture was really odd. Not every mouthful, perhaps 1 in 6? Very strange. Not found it from any other supermarket though.

Use the butchers. So much nicer

I've found this too, though I seem to be more sensitive to the texture of chicken than the rest of my family. It only seems to be in the last month or so that I've noticed it with supermarket bought chicken, like you say it's not every mouthful but it's very off-putting.

Yep had this with Lidl and tescos chicken.

Also had a really stringy not so nice chicken from sainsburys.

Bought one from marks and Spencer's and the difference was immense.

It was £9 however one breast and leg did 4 roast dinners and the other breast and leg did chicken fajitas the next day and the dogs got the rest so well worth it.

We are trying to cut back on the cost of our food shopping as every week it's going up and we are getting less but that one chicken did two meals for us and we all eat adult sized portions.

I don't eat chicken but I bought some for DS last week - Tesco finest corn fed organic chicken breasts so not cheap and I was expecting it to be decent quality. But it was as tough as old boots and most of it ended up in the bin. I was quite annoyed!

ive noticed this too, last couple of months the chicken has seemed different texture wise and several lots ended up in the bin because it looked or smelled strange.

I hope someone who works in the food industry can tell us what's causing it, you never used to get this from freshly cooked shop-bought chicken. Is it being pumped full of something or is it due to the way it is stored?

Look up woody chicken breast, it might be what you've had.

I bought an Aldi extra tasty roast in the bag chicken over the weekend and it was really nice!

I would presume from the way it’s churned out.

Yes I've also had this with chicken from Tescos - DH tried to blame my cooking !!! .... ive actually stopped buying chicken now due to the waste, but its good to know it wasnt me

Yes!!! I thought I was going mad. All my chicken breasts (tesco/sainsburys/waitrose) have been vile recently.

We've found the same. We don't buy the cheapest chicken breasts but can't afford the top range ones. So just having chicken a lot less now.

I can't afford organic chicken so I don't buy it. I think it's related to intensive chicken farming.

I've noticed this! I've had a couple of whole chickens from ASDA, and when I've come to carve, it's like I can't fine the right grain to go against! It is "bouncy" really weird and off putting.

Yes this! The raw texture.

It's a really tough & muscly and weird "crunchy" texture like it's hard to bite through!

Normally not all in a pack are tough, but you can really feel the difference between a bad & good one when you're cutting as it resists the knife.

Nothing worse than a tough leathery bit of chicken in a curry or similar, it instantly puts me off the whole lot.

The chicken has not had a good life. It's been filled with chemicals to make it grow as fast as possible. If a newborn baby were to grow at the same rate it would be the same sure as a tiger by 8 weeks. When a chicken is so unnaturally big it can't breathe properly and so the oxygen doesn't get to the 'meat' which affects how good it is to eat. Chickens are factory farmed in the uk and in absolutely appalling conditions, the only way to bring about change is to not eat it anymore.

some supermarket chicken is injected with water to make the weight heavier (so they make more profit) but makes it tough when you cook it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/8luaob/til_chicken_sold_in_supermarkets_are_plumped_with/?rdt=50490

I've thought this for about 6 years. Only chicken breasts - legs, whole chicken, wings etc are fine.

Same. M & S chicken was a revelation, and legs and thighs with bones in are no more than Sainsbury's.

Yep pumped full of water. Supermarkets shouldn’t be allowed to do it.

I only buy higher priced ones from M&S or from a butcher I go to that has great organic ones - but in fairness I'm taking £12 a time - I do get a roast dinner ,plus enough for a large stir fry from it , so I'm fine with that.

YES! I thought I was going mad!
It's disgusting, turns my stomach.

Brexit massively disrupted the supply chain. Supermarkets have been sourcing from a wider range of suppliers to keep the shelves full. That means less consistent product is inevitable. Read the label carefully before buying.

I think Waitrose organic chicken breasts are the worst for this. So rubbery and tasteless.

Ironically the cheaper brands pumped full of water taste better.