2020 Chicken Challenge: Favorites - Grilled Chicken for the Freezer

If you have grilled chicken on hand - you have quite a few options for a quick, easy dinner.    Some of our favorites are using it as a topping for a big salad, making a pasta with it, topping grilled chicken with some marinara and cheese for a quick chicken parm, sautéing peppers and onions and making fajitas....or even just as a sandwich.

For many years, I would portion chicken cutlets into freezer bags, add some marinade and then freeze, so it was easy to thaw out and grill as it was already seasoned.   While that's a time saver, you still have to thaw and grill the chicken at some point, in addition to making whatever else you're going to make with it.

I then started to experiment with grilling the chicken first and then freezing it, so it was ready to just thaw and use.   I'm very happy with the results - while it's not quite as excellent as when it comes fresh off the grill, the frozen then thawed grilled chicken is still a worthy option, particularly when factoring in  the convenience.  

I'm partial to using Grill Mates marinade packs for grilled chicken - they have a lot of good varieties, and it's an easy quick option.    I like Garlic Herb marinade for a general, all purpose grilled chicken to have on hand - it's the most versatile seasoning.     I also did some with the Smokey Ranchero marinade, which is a new one for me - I usually use the Mesquite marinade and use that chicken for burrito bowls and fajitas, but thought I'd try the other.

The method is simple - trim down into cutlets (I used chicken breasts because they were on sale, but I also really like using boneless chicken thigh cutlets), bag them up with the marinade and let hang out overnight.     Throw them on a hot grill the next day until cooked through, then let cool completely.

I prefer to slice the grilled chicken to make it easier to portion evenly, but you can obviously just freeze the whole pieces.    As always, I prefer to vac seal the portions with the date and type written on the bag, then off to the freezer to use for quick, easy dinners.