If you’ve had a tough, chewy chicken breast, it may not be how you cooked it. That toughness could be from a condition called “woody breast.”
This condition has unknown causes. It makes the meat tough to cut or chew; it resists uptake of marinade; and has a high cook loss of moisture.
Speculation is that this condition is related to fast growing chicken broilers. While unpleasant to eat tough chicken, there are no food safety risks with this condition.
Source: Poultry Science, Poultry Science 2016
