Did Your Chicken Breast Turn Into A Stringy Mess? This Defect Might Be To Blame

Have you noticed that some of the chicken you buy at the grocery store lately seems a little ... different? It's not all in your head. Many consumers in the United States are noticing that their poultry is stringy and cooks up with an almost impossible-to-chew texture. It turns out the phenomenon is known as "spaghetti meat." If you get a piece of chicken with this not-dangerous-but-unpleasant muscle defect (technically known as a myopathy), you might notice that it has a stringy appearance when you cut into it. We dug in to learn why this icky defect is becoming so common in chicken, how to spot it in the grocery store, and what you can do if you find yourself stuck with a piece of it.

The spaghetti meat defect likely has to do with what's happening behind the scenes at poultry processing plants. Chickens are growing larger today than they did years ago — and they're growing more quickly. Farmers use selective breeding to develop chickens that grow faster — and larger — than chickens in the past, likely in an effort to meet increased consumer demand for chicken. Rapid growth and a high weight at slaughter are both associated with the development of spaghetti meat in chicken. Muscle fibers in fast-growing, large chickens are larger than normal. As the chicken grows, collagen can replace muscle fibers, which can contribute to textural issues.

It can be tough to spot spaghetti meat chicken breasts in the grocery store if you don't know what you're looking for. Choosing organic chicken (be sure to look for the USDA organic designation on the package) over conventionally farmed options, as well as chicken from small local farms, could lower the likelihood of getting a spaghetti-like texture. Choosing smaller chicken breasts can also make a difference, as they tend to have a better texture than larger options. Some consumers on social media have suggested that looking closely at the chicken breast in the package can also help — you may be able to see striations in the meat, indicating a spaghetti-like texture.

Spaghetti meat chicken tends to have a mushy texture, so pressing on chicken pieces through the plastic wrap to see if one piece in the package is significantly more firm than others may help you avoid spaghetti meat chicken. If any of the pieces in the pack feel mushy, leave it on the shelf. It's also smart to pay attention to where you're buying your chicken (for example, you may want to avoid buying chicken at Aldi, as some have noticed consistent texture issues). If possible, purchasing your chicken from a local farm may help you avoid some of the textural issues with commercially processed poultry.

If you open up a package of chicken breasts to find that one of them — or more — is stringy, all hope isn't lost. There are a few cooking methods that can work well to disguise the chicken breast's not-so-great texture. One simple step that can help to tenderize poorly-textured chicken: Try velveting your chicken, then put it in a stir fry. Velveting is the technique that makes Chinese restaurant stir fry so good. Recipes vary, but the technique generally involves using cornstarch and baking soda to tenderize meat before it's cooked. Both baking soda and cornstarch increase the pH of the chicken, which can help create a more desirable texture. Be sure to chop the chicken up into small pieces before adding it to your stir-fry, as this can calo make the texture less noticeable.

If you have some time on your hands, your slow cooker can be a great way to break down the tough muscle fibers (and collagen) present in stringy chicken. As the chicken slowly cooks, the collagen breaks down, getting rid of some of the toughness and stringiness of "spaghetti meat" chicken. You'll want to cook low and slow — the longer the chicken is in the slow cooker, the more tender the result will be. While stringy chicken certainly isn't ideal, it's nice to know that there are ways to save your dinner.