Have you noticed that chicken is harder to chew recently?
If you have, you’re not alone. Across the country, diners are complaining about “woody chicken.” This is a phenomenon in which a chicken breast tastes and feels, well, woody.
While the flavor may stay the same, the meat itself becomes tough, gummy, and excessively chewy, leading to an unpleasant dining experience.
Often, people don’t realize that they’ve purchased woody chicken until after they’ve cooked it. However, one chef says that there’s a way you can tell if the chicken is woody by looking at the raw breast. Here’s how.
Can You Identify ‘Woody Chicken’ By Looking At The Raw Chicken Breast?
In a video with over 104,000 views, Florida-based chef Madison Lambert (@girlinthegreenapron) says that there’s an “epidemic” of woody chicken.
“If you’ve been getting chicken that tastes like rubber bands, or it’s just so chewy that you have to spit it out, this is why,” she starts.
She then shows several packages of chicken. Visible in the breasts are tiny, white lines.
“Do you see these lines in here? That’s gonna give you a woody piece of chicken,” Lambert says.
According to Lambert, the issue has become so common in the past four years that she sees these lines in “about every other pack of chicken you get.”
“If the chicken people have any ability to fix this, it would really make my life better,” Lambert states. “But, in the meantime, you just got to use your eyeballs.”
White Striping And Woody Chicken
Both “woody chicken” and white striping, the visual phenomenon to which Lambert appears to refer, are known issues with chicken.
That said, the connection between them is not entirely confirmed. It is thought that white striping occurs when a chicken grows faster than its muscle fibers would typically allow. White striping is known to affect the flavor and texture of the chicken’s meat. One study found that chicken breast with white striping has over 200% more fat than chicken breast without it.
However, white striping, woody chicken, and things like spaghetti chicken are separate issues. Not every chicken breast with white striping will have a woody breast, nor will every woody chicken breast present white striping.
Does The Look Of The Chicken Breast Tell You Anything?
There is no 100% confirmed method for determining woody chicken breast through the look of the raw breast alone.
Looking for white striping is a good start for knowing which chicken breasts to avoid. Additionally, some claim that woody chicken breasts are noticeably paler than non-woody breasts, though the color of chicken breasts can vary considerably based on things like diet. Others claim that one can identify woody chicken by looking for hard spots in the breast. Finally, some say that organic chicken breast is less susceptible to this phenomenon.
To do this, however, you’ll likely need to spend a lot of time in the meat aisle. Woody chicken is estimated to affect anywhere between 5 and 30% of chicken breasts on shelves today.
@girlinthegreenapron
Commenters Are Sick Of Woody Chicken
In the comments section, users expressed frustration with how common woody chicken has become.
“I thought I was just bad at cooking chicken!” exclaimed a user.
“It’s actually been going on for the last decade. The poultry industry is actively trying to get rid of it. And no, you can’t see it that easily, visually inspecting doesn’t help,” offered another. “It doesn’t effect taste, it’s purely texture. It’s not pleasant, but it’s not dangerous or anything, just tough meat.”
“We should all stop buying chicken until they fix whatever the problem is,” declared a further TikToker.
We’ve reached out to Lambert via website contact form and Instagram DM.