Review: New Multi steamed chicken breast fillet

As a chiropractor, I am mindful of the protein intake of my clients. Protein is the building block for muscles, and having adequate protein intake is important when it comes to exercising. For older clients, lower protein intake can lead to sarcopenia or even osteoporosis.

One of my reservations when it comes to eating out, especially when it comes to affordable hawker food, is that the food options are generally low in protein. Sure, you can always increase protein by opting for extra chicken, etc but that will almost double the price.

Today, we will review if the New Multi Steamed Chicken Breast Fillet can be a DIY add-on to supplement your hawker fare.

Personal trainers and gym-goers endorsed chicken breast

If you live in Singapore and follow the personal training scene, you would have seen trainers or gym-goers stocking up on the New Multi Steamed Chicken Breast Fillet. It is a frozen cooked chicken breast that you can microwave whenever you want to eat it.

It comes cooked and pre-seasoned so you don’t have to worry about preparation. The convenience makes it a great protein addition to the average everyday hawker fare. As it is already cooked, all you need to do is to microwave it for two to three minutes and it’s ready for eating!

Is chicken breast clean eating?

If you are on a clean eating diet, New Multi’s steamed chicken  may not be suitable for you. Clean eating usually involves avoiding artificial ingredients. Our dear MSG (aka monosodium L-glutamate) is listed as one of the ingredients. The other ingredients are:

• Chicken Meat
• Water
• Modified Tapioca Starch
• Dextrose Salt
• Soup Powder
• Sodium Citrate
• Black Pepper
• White Pepper

I don’t think there is enough evidence to suggest that consuming MSG, especially in very small amount, is harmful for us. But of course I get that it is a personal choice.

I do appreciate that there is also no value to consuming MSG so it does make sense to err on the side of caution (i.e., avoid MSG). However, if you are not getting enough protein, the trade-off in consuming minimal amount of MSG to meet your protein needs is justifiable.

Texture of the New Multi steamed chicken breast fillet

I had the frozen steamed chicken breast with instant noodles the first time I had it. Adding two pieces to the noodles is a quick and sure way to bump up my protein intake. I was expecting it to take a while to cook but it cooked surprisingly fast.

In my previous review of New Multi’s Fried Boneless Chicken Thighs, one of my reservations was the texture. It was very soft and soggy, and it wasn’t really to my liking. I had the same experience for my first attempt at New Multi’s steamed chicken breast, but it had more to do with my overcooking than the product.

I honestly prefer my protein to hold its own shape. It’s very strange for a piece of meat to be so soft as it reminds me of ultra processed or poorly prepared overnight foods. The upside to this is that the chicken breast was very tender and juicy. I guess for people who are less texture-sensitive, this may be a reasonable trade off.

I made an effort to shorten the cooking duration for my second attempt. It definitely held its shape better, but it’s still on the soggier side. The packaging label did specify to microwave or pan fry. I guess you could say it’s a me-problem or user error.

Frozen chicken airfryer attempt

Given the grilled aesthetics, I wanted to see how the chicken fillets hold up with airfrying. The packaging did suggest to pan fry but I think that’s too much hassle and clean up when cooking for one pax.

While I had high hopes, it didn’t go as well as I would like. The frozen chicken pieces took way too long to heat up, and I ended up eating them slightly cold. They were in the Mijia Smart Air Fryer 6.5L Tender Roast Edition for ten minutes at 200 degrees celsius.

The texture was definitely more firm so I would say this is a big plus. However, the cooking time is way too long for it to make sense. This is probably the downside of the thicker patty (compared to their fried chicken thigh which only took five minutes at 180 degrees celsius.

Microwaving New Multi chicken breast fillet

Methinks it is ridiculously unfair to review a food product without actually following the instructions. My fourth attempt was to microwave the frozen chicken breasts with some frozen vegetables.

Honestly, it was a superb idea because the whole lunch only took me five minutes with zero preparation time. It is also reasonably healthy for a mid-day meal.

The chicken turned out pretty good but was surprisingly salty. I attributed that to poor mixing for the chicken on the manufacturer’s side. I mean, the first three attempts didn’t taste too salty to me!

Given it took only five minutes to heat up and almost zero minute to prepare, this was definitely a 10/10 for me if not because for the saltiness. For those who are pressed for time but still want to control their protein and carbohydrate, this could work very well for an easy meal.

Flavourful frozen steamed chicken breast

I must say that regardless of cooking methods, the chicken fillets never tasted bland like steamed chicken. If you didn’t tell me, I would not have guessed they were steamed chicken. Big thumbs up to New Multi!

Overall, the taste was very pepper forward. For most parts, it is not excessively salty. The MSG taste was also not very apparent for cooking attempts one to three. For the fourth one, I definitely could taste the “soup powder”. Think Shin Ramyun.

All in all, they were pleasantly edible. Nothing to shout about but also not something I would dread eating. If not for the saltiness, I could potentially eat it daily for a few weeks.

The flavouring was also largely versatile. How can anyone go wrong with salt and pepper, right? It was a safe choice, and an excellent one at that. The chicken could potentially go with any carbohydrates, from pasta to Chinese noodles or rice. With this in mind, you could probably easily add it to any hawker fare to supplement your protein intake.

Interestingly, there seems to a very thin “skin” on the chicken fillet. I think the fillets may have been coated with a thin layer of tapioca starch. The edges of the “skin” does separate from the chicken when cooked in an airfryer. It is less obvious with boiling, as long as you don’t overcook it.

Plumping or water injected chicken

The super juiciness and tendency to be soggy texture of New Multi’s chicken products did remind me of plumping. Plumping is a technique to increase water content of poultry by injecting liquid into raw chicken. This liquid can be a salt brine, chicken stock, or even seaweed extract.

It is plausible, though I cannot be sure, that that is what New Multi does. The ingredient list does have water as a second ingredient, which sounds significant despite it being a dry product.

I don’t think plumping is a big deal. There are concerns that you pay more with plumping since you are effectively paying for water rather than chicken. In New Multi’s case however, even if liquid injection was used, it did contribute to the texture and is what you are paying for.

Outside of the gym bro and hard dieters community, nobody wants to eat bland and tough chicken.

Not the cheapest protein option

You get 15 pieces of steamed chicken per pack. At $14.80, that works out to be approximately $1 per serving. Each serving, however, only contain 15.3g of protein. If you are looking to increase protein intake, you most likely would need at least two pieces or $2 per meal.

Comparatively, Sadia Frozen Chicken Fillet (raw) would cost $17 for 2 kg. Almost half the price! They are also frozen piece by piece so you don’t need to cook the whole pack at once. For a 67g piece (same as New Multi), you would be paying slightly over 50 cents. Very good value for money!

The downside of course is that the chicken fillet is raw and you would need to cook it properly. A microwave is probably not going to cut it unless you cut them into smaller pieces. It is also unseasoned so for those who are taste-conscious, it may also not be a good fit.

Final frozen chicken verdict

Personally, I would prefer the Sadia option. Not only is it cheaper, it also has no added sodium. However, their chicken pieces are on the chunkier side and does tend to cook a little tough. To get around that, I would cut them into small pieces, across the grain, mid cooking so it’s not overly tough or overcooked.

Of course this only works because I get to meal prep or cook my meals.

If time is tight for you and you need an easy protein supplement to the average hawker fare, the New Multi steamed chicken breast is still an excellent and convenient choice.