Canned chicken is a convenient way to whip up chicken salad or soup without having to bother with prepping a whole chicken. However, it's not nearly as versatile as what it (literally) says on the tin. Certain recipes, like a warm casserole, will be far better when you avoid the canned stuff and opt for fresh.
The reason all lies in the texture of canned chicken, which can be very mushy and mealy. You see, while the canning process makes the chicken much more shelf-stable, the protein structure of the chicken gets altered in the process. The result is the chicken becoming so tender that you can easily pull each piece apart with a fork.
This is obviously a big no-no for recipes like Italian chicken casseroles where a satisfying bite can make or break the dish. As such, as tempting as the thought of just popping a can from the pantry to get a meal is, your palate will thank you for going the extra mile and making that casserole with fresh chicken. Why canning tenderizes the meat To understand why canned chicken has such a strange texture, it helps to know how it's made.
In the factory, the chicken is cooked and then packed into cans. In order to kill all of the germs and microorganisms that can ruin the food while it's in storage, the can is heat-treated until it's sterile. This is where the problem comes in: the high heat involved will turn it mushy and ruin the "eating quality" of the meat, too, according to Lawrie's Meat Science journal .
Fresh chicken, on the other hand, ma.
