Should you cover baked chicken when baking?
Baked chicken breasts may benefit from a light cover to keep them moist. If want crispy skin, however, don’t cover your chicken. How you cook your chicken determines whether or not it requires a lid, or a tent of foil or parchment.
How do you cook chicken so it cooks faster?
3. Cover the pan while the chicken is cooking. The last, and easiest, way to make sure your chicken cooks faster is to cover it while it’s cooking. Even if you’ve browned the outside of the chicken already, you should still cover the pan or grill while it’s cooking.
Does covering meat in the oven cook faster?
Leaving meat uncovered in the oven will usually require it to cook longer and leave the meat less moist but with a nice crispy outside. It’s always nice to know how you might cook meat faster by merely covering it with some foil or a lid, but there is a little more to it.
Why do you cook chicken breast in the oven?
This creates an oven-like environment that surrounds the chicken breast with heat so it’s not just cooking from where it’s in contact with the pan or grill.
If You Want Your Meat to Cook Faster, Should You Cover It in the Oven or Not?
In general, if you are going for pure speed when cooking a cut of meat, covering it will usually be your best bet. However, like most things, there are many exceptions and nuances to this that are very important to take into account.
How Much Faster Does Meat Cook When Covered Vs. Uncovered
There is no definitive answer to this because all meat cooks at slightly different rates, regardless of wither it is covered in the oven or not.
How to Know When to Cover or Uncover Meat in the Oven
Now that we have gone over whether or not covering meat in the oven is a good idea, it’s time to figure out how you can know whether to cover a particular cut of meat or not.
1. Take the chicken off the bone
Chicken on the bone, which some love because they think it’s juicier than boneless, just takes longer to cook. If you find yourself with bone-in chicken breasts but not a lot of time, cut the breasts off the bone before cooking and it’ll shave off precious minutes.
2. Make the chicken an even thickness
Chicken breasts are always thicker at one end, and this unevenness means that the thicker end will just take longer to cook. There are two easy options to remedy this: Pound the chicken breast to an even thickness (you can use a jar, pan, rolling pin, or even empty bottle of wine), or butterfly (cut it in half width-wise) it open.
3. Cover the pan while the chicken is cooking
The last, and easiest, way to make sure your chicken cooks faster is to cover it while it’s cooking. Even if you’ve browned the outside of the chicken already, you should still cover the pan or grill while it’s cooking.
Casseroles
Casseroles with creamy fillings, such as broccoli, cheese and rice, lasagna, or macaroni and cheese should be covered initially while the ingredients heat up. Covering them helps them cook faster and also keeps them moist by holding in steam. You can also use this approach with breaded meats and stews.
Baked Goods
In almost every case, you'll want to bake cookies, bread and other baked goods without a lid. The reason is that these foods need to rise, or expand, in the oven, and they need to brown. A lid would prevent both actions. For best baking, use shiny aluminum pans, rather than glass, and set the oven at 350 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roasted Foods
Most types of oven cooking, such as roasting and baking, involve dry heat. By placing a lid over the food, you create moist heat. Any time you roast a food, leave the lid off. Roasting meats and vegetables cooks them quickly, while creating a golden crust and tender interior. Place meat in a roasting pan and place vegetables on a baking sheet.
Considerations
How you cook the food can influence how you prepare and season it. For example, if you were roasting a chicken, you might brush it with oil and season it, but you wouldn't add liquid. If, on the other hand, you want to cover chicken and poach it in the oven, you'd add chicken broth or wine to keep the food moist.
