12 Simple Ways To Make Canned Chicken Taste Even Better

Many people use canned foods as a staple to their weekly meal routines. There are many types of canned proteins, and one of the most underrated ones is canned chicken. While some get turned off by the idea of having their chicken straight from a can, others have found the convenience and recipe opportunities to be great.

In order for canned chicken to be preserved correctly and safely, it goes through a process where it's fully cooked, all oxygen is removed, and is preserved with sodium. This makes the cans viable to eat for at least a few years. Unfortunately, some people don't like canned chicken because of the excess sodium or the texture — it's not comparable to freshly cooked chicken. With many canned chicken brands out there, some are better than others.

One major reason why people opt for canned chicken, besides the fact that you don't have to cook it, is the price. A fresh pack of chicken tenderloins cost about $7.99 on average (note: prices are based on one specific region). A 10 ounce can of chicken costs about $2.29. Most serving sizes for chicken are about 4 ounces, so that's about $0.22 per serving for the canned chicken and $1.44 per serving of the fresh chicken.

There are indeed many ways to make canned chicken taste delicious. From easy methods like adding simple ingredients to improve the taste, to meal ideas that take your canned chicken to the next level — we've got you covered!

If you've ever taken a can of tuna, emptied it into a bowl, thrown in a bunch of spices, and called it a day — you're going to love this tip. The reason that it's so common with a can of tuna is because it's easy, tasty, and healthy — and plenty of people are used to eating tuna room temperature or cold. For some reason, it's not as common to try the same approach with a can of chicken.

One thing you might want to do with canned chicken is quickly rinse it off with cool water in a strainer. This will remove some excess sodium and the overall processed taste. After that, go ahead and place your chicken into a bowl, and with a fork, mix it all up so the pieces break up into smaller, shredded bits. Next, throw in whatever spices you please.

You can start simple with black pepper, which will add a little flavor without going overboard. If you want something more noticeable, there are many options. Oregano, paprika, parsley, thyme, or red pepper flakes all taste great with canned chicken — this will leave you with a light, fresh taste for your chicken. To take it a step further, finish off with a squeeze of lemon juice for a perfectly light meal or snack.

Another reason why people stray away from canned chicken is because they prefer to have their poultry eaten warm. A way to warm up your chicken and add flavor is to go ahead and throw it on the stove. If you brown the chicken with butter, it'll also help to make the texture a bit crispy — just like the chicken you would cook on the stove from scratch.

To make the perfectly browned buttery chicken into a more filling meal, we recommend cooking it up with some vegetables as well. Cut up any kind you'd like, and throw it in the pan with the chicken. You want to make sure you're generous with the butter, that way the veggies and chicken each get the flavor infused all the way through. Crack some pepper on top while you're cooking, and you're done. This should take you under five minutes to have a healthy chicken dish ready to eat.

This is a great method for the people who need to whip up a quick lunch before work or on a short break. Take your canned chicken, lightly rinse and then shred the chicken up in a bowl. From there, you're going to want to choose a sauce, mix that with the chicken, and there you go. You can eat the chicken with crackers, on a sandwich with other condiments, or alone.

There are many options for sauces that can completely transform your chicken in different ways. This not only allows you to create any flavor profile that you want, but it also helps keep the meal exciting and new — so, if you repeat it multiple times throughout the week, you won't get tired of it.

Buffalo sauce can add a spicy, flavorful, overwhelming kick to the chicken. A classic Buffalo or teriyaki sauce will make it taste like a slider if you throw it on a burger bun. Pesto can create a light, fresh taste — you can even throw it in with some pasta to make a pasta salad. The opportunities are endless here, and it's incredibly easy to transform your canned chicken into any flavor that you're craving.

Using a slow cooker is a great way to make a nice, almost gourmet feeling meal without having to spend hours over the stove. All you need is some time to prepare the dish, and then you get to leave the meal to cook all day long while you go about your day. With so many slow cooker recipes out there, there are endless ways to make use of this appliance. Even better news is, you can use canned chicken for most recipes that call for chicken.

Erica Sedor, a home cook and reader who loves using her slow cooker, shared that she uses canned chicken for one of her favorite slow cooker recipes. The convenience of using canned chicken over freshly cooked chicken is a no brainer for her. The recipe is slow cooker noodles, and it only needs a few ingredients: Canned chicken, an onion, condensed cream of chicken, chicken broth, mixed vegetables, egg noodles, and spices. All of the ingredients can cook at the same time in the slow cooker, because the chicken doesn't need to be cooked separately first.

"Honestly, once the chicken is shredded and mixed with ingredients like the cream of chicken and chicken broth, you can't tell the difference. Both the taste and the texture end up being the same from freshly cooked chicken to canned chicken. It's a hack that some chefs might judge, but I love that it saves time and money," Sedor shared.

One of my personal favorite ways to incorporate canned chicken into meals is through breakfast. As someone who is very physically active, I strive to get as much protein as I can in each and every meal. By starting off strong with a healthy breakfast, I know that the rest of the day I can keep it going.

One of the best options for a well-rounded, balanced breakfast is having an omelet. I absolutely love to cook up two or three eggs, throw in some mushrooms, spinach, cheese, and chicken, and cook it on the stove. In the mornings, however, I don't have time to cook a piece of chicken separately first. I'm also not a fan of meal-prepping, because cooked chicken only lasts about three to four days in the refrigerator.

This is where canned chicken saves the day. I simply open up the can, rinse the chicken, and shred it on a cutting board. Then, I dump it into my egg and vegetable mixture, and that's it. From prep time to cooking time, making my breakfast omelet only takes about eight minutes. It also gets me about 16 extra grams of protein, if I use an entire 5 ounce can. It tastes delicious, keeps me full, and I know that it's a healthy way to start the day.

Chicken salads are a delicious lunch that can be made in a variety of different ways. Classic chicken salad, made with mayonnaise, celery, and other ingredients is a busy mom's staple, and something most people have had at one point in their lives. There are other recipes, however, that really hold their own in the world of chicken salads.

If you haven't had Buffalo chicken salad, you're missing out. You only need four ingredients to make this simple meal: canned chicken, celery, Buffalo sauce, and blue cheese. Mix the ingredients together, and that's literally it. It should take you five minutes max to get this high protein, low-carbohydrate meal together.

Throwing the salad on a sandwich is always an option, but there are also many other ways to eat this deliciously spicy chicken salad. Try scooping it up with your favorite cracker or chip. We recommend using a flaxseed tortilla chip, that way you can add fat, carbohydrates, and fiber to the meal. You can also put it into a tortilla, and eat it like a taco. No matter how you eat the Buffalo chicken salad, you'll be glad to have saved time by using canned chicken over freshly cooked chicken.

One of the most hearty, filling meals that you can make is chili. With the fiber content from the beans, protein from chicken or beef, and veggies mixed with lots of flavor to round it out, it just never fails. There are also so many varieties of chili, you can never get bored making this type of dish.

Canned chicken works perfectly with chili recipes. Since canned chicken is easily shredded, it takes about one to two minutes to open the can, shred it up, and throw it into your pot of chili. The texture also works great in a recipe like this, because it falls apart easily and is soft and easy to chew. This helps it blend in with the chili and you won't notice the fact that it's canned.

One of the easiest and most delicious chili recipes takes only a small amount of ingredients and about 20-25 minutes of total cook time. All you need is canned chicken, olive oil, black beans, a can of Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chili), and taco seasoning. All ingredients can be cooked simultaneously on the stove. Top with whatever toppings you'd like, and we promise that your guests or family won't know that the chili was made with canned chicken.

Fried rice is another great recipe that's useful for someone who doesn't have a lot of time to cook their meals. Whether you're making it for lunch or dinner, it can be a great, filling meal that will keep you satiated. Many people tend to skip out on adding a protein source, like chicken, when making fried rice — which can make them not feel as full by the end of the meal. Protein helps to keep blood sugars level when eating a large amount of carbohydrates at once, and it's great for maintaining muscle mass.

If the reason you're skipping out on protein in your fried rice is because you don't want to go through the trouble of cooking up a chicken breast, we fully understand. That's where the canned chicken comes in. All you need to do is make sure that you rinse and shred it up before adding it into your fried rice mixture.

For a delicious chicken fried rice, you'll need veggies of your choice, eggs, soy sauce, onion, garlic, canned chicken, and of course, rice! We love a recipe like this because it adds so many delicious flavors together, which helps the chicken blend in perfectly to the dish. It's also a great meal to save for leftovers, giving you lots of nutrients to get you through the week while tasting delicious.

Salads are generally an easy and quick meal to make. The one thing that always takes a bit more time, however, is cooking the protein source to go into it. It can be such a pain, and really take away from the ease and casualness of making a salad. Some people throw in tuna — simply because it's easy and no cooking is involved. Adding canned chicken has the same effect, and actually tastes better, too.

One key tip for throwing the canned chicken into your salad is to rinse it with cool, running water first. Then, strain the can to get as much water out of it as possible. Break up the chicken so it's in smaller pieces, and then it's ready for your salad.

This can work perfectly for almost any kind of salad that you'd want to make. Chicken tastes great with vinegar-based dressings, creamy dressing, or anything in between. A perfectly healthy salad made with your choice of greens, veggies, dressing, and chicken will taste great and keep you nice and full. Specifically when you add the chicken, you are bulking up your salad to be a more substantial meal, fueling your body with nourishment.

Who doesn't love to order pizza on a night that you don't have the energy to cook? Many people love a classic cheese pizza and opt to add pepperoni to try to get some extra protein. The truth is, pepperoni is relatively low in protein and high in fat. So, it becomes a bit counter-intuitive. There is already a lot of fat from the cheese in pizza, so adding pepperoni makes it even more fatty. In about 14 slices of pepperoni, there is 13 grams of fat and 5 grams of protein.

As a nutrition coach, I always strive to make my meals as well rounded as possible. A slice of local pizzeria pizza is delicious — but we all know that it's not the healthiest food out there. To try to even out the high levels of carbohydrates from the crust and the amounts of fat from the cheese, I love to add a pure protein source. This helps me stay satiated longer, and helps reach my protein goals for the day as a physically active person.

This is where canned chicken saves the day again. Once your pizza arrives, all you need to do is rinse and shred your canned chicken. Place pieces all over the top of your pizza pie, sprinkle with red pepper flakes if that's your preference, and perfecto. You can enjoy your pizza with some more nutrients added to it, with barely any effort involved.

Sometimes, throwing a canned soup on the stove is all you can muster up to cook a meal. Whether you're sick, tired, or just feeling a little lazy — it can be a really great, simple meal that takes minimal time and effort. The only downside is that some soups may not be incredibly filling, because they lack certain nutrients that you need to be fully satisfied.

For any type of vegetable soup, there are indeed beneficial nutrients packed in. The downside, however, is that you're most likely lacking a key nutritional component: protein. You can get non-meat protein in a variety of ways; from beans, grains, some vegetables, and more. However, most of those sources won't give you as much protein as you'd get from a meat source.

By adding canned chicken into a vegetable soup, you are adding more bulk to the dish which will offer more calories in the form of protein. Especially if you shred the chicken first, it always blends very seamlessly into the soup. The flavors of the broth infuse nicely into the chicken, and you will have a hearty, nutritious soup made quickly and easily.

If you want another option for eating the canned chicken practically on its own — you're going to want to try making a canned chicken patty. They are very reminiscent of the chicken patties that were served in school lunches (wasn't that the best day?), yet these will taste even better.

These chicken patties can be made very simply, and you can improvise to make it taste exactly how you'd like. First, you'll want to rinse and pat dry your canned chicken. After that, add some moisture and flavor back into the meat. You can do this with mayonnaise, greek yogurt, or even mashed avocado. Add in whatever seasonings you'd like, and then coat the chicken in breadcrumbs.

From here, all you need to do is fry them on the stove (don't forget to be generous with the oil). From beginning to end, the process of creating these chicken patties should only take about 10 minutes. It's a simple way to add a little bit of pizazz, texture, and flavor to canned chicken.