Ideas for recipes for chicken that can be frozen

[peaceful_sands]

I've got some chicken thigh fillets that need to be used up super urgently (as in today) and so I'm seeking some ideas for things that are quick and easy to do with said chicken pieces and can be frozen for long term use.


Can anyone help me out?

Comments

[acelightning]

Chicken stew, fricasee, a la King - just about any dish where the chicken is prepared in a sauce or gravy. Freeze in individual portions. If you make something where the meat is removed from the bones, save the bones, make broth, and freeze that separately.

[peaceful_sands]

Oh, have found a recipe for Chicken Fricasse for which I have all ingredients, so shall try a batch of that. Thanks so much for your help x

[zero_pixel_count]

How quick is quick? Because my go-tos for freezing would be casserole-type dishes which, sure, they can be quick prep, but not really quick cook. (Although chicken is faster than most other meats, so there's that).

Maybe a pie filling? Cook the chicken, mix it up with some white sauce or something (you could chuck some frozen peas in when you come to defrost & use it, if you like)?

Even just shredded chicken meat will freeze OK if you intend to use it soon-ish - the issue is freezer-burn, not a safety thing - so if you're really pressed for time, salt & pepper and bung them in the oven on a greased tray, shred the meat when they're done*, freeze that in bags and worry about it later.

*I am not giving timings mostly because in my experience it's a bit 'as long as a piece of string'; I would set the oven at 180C and poke/turn every ten minutes or so until they're looking done/juices running clear. (I've done cold chicken pieces for ~40 people in a terrifying gas range by approximately this method, just turning the trays and pulling out the individual pieces as they become done, it's definitely a thing you can be a bit slapdash about).

[peaceful_sands]

Thank you, I'm going to make 1 batch of chicken Fricasse and then some pie filling. Your help is much appreciated!

[zero_pixel_count]

You're welcome!

[acelightning]

You can assemble chicken pot pies (in disposable foil pans, so as not to take your good baking pans out of circulation) and freeze them that way - a lard or shortening crust works better than a butter crust for freezing. Then bake them straight from the freezer, allowing longer baking time. Individual-size pies work better than full-size. And that means you can have a chicken pie when there's nobody home but you, or when the rest of the household demands pizza.

[kyrielle]

Sounds like you're set, but a few more ideas just in case they're ever helpful:

If they're boneless/skinless (some are; I just used some this week, in fact) is homemade chicken strips/nuggets/chunks. (Around here it's chunks; the fiddly effort required to get precise nugget shapes is beyond what I want to invest.)

If you like tacos, chicken taco meat is delicious, and freezes and reheats well.

Many forms of baked chicken in sauce are also nicely freezable - I'm partial to lemon or honey based recipes. (Though IMO, these are better with breast meat, they're still delicious with thigh meat.)