Florida-based chef Madison Lambert is speaking out about what she calls an “epidemic” of “woody chicken,” sharing a simple trick for identifying the tough, chewy meat before you even cook it. If you’ve been noticing that your chicken breasts are harder to chew and feel less like tender meat and more like rubber, you’re definitely not alone. This phenomenon, known as woody chicken, results in a flavor that might be okay, but a texture that is absolutely awful, making the meat gummy, tough, and excessively chewy.
Lambert recently posted a video on TikTok where she explains exactly what’s going wrong. She gets straight to the point, telling viewers, “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 then shows off several packages of raw chicken, pointing out the telltale sign: tiny, noticeable white lines visible within the breast meat, according to Bro Bible.
