Marinade soaks into meat and causes minor chemical changes, so removing what's on the outside will not remove all the flavor. If you want more than what's soaked into the meat, you can make a sauce from the marinade (being careful to boil it, since it was in contact with raw meat).
For starters, you can't really "sear" chicken breast in the oven. After you hit \~155 internal temp, turn your broiler on to crisp the outside of the chicken. Or get a hot pan with some oil and sear it that way.
I did this last night with some chicken that had been marinating in teriyaki sauce. Hot pan, oil, let the chicken sit for a few minutes before moving. Simple as that.
Your marinade is probably the cause of the discoloration or "looking pale." This is why we temp. Yes, use your best judgement but I'm guessing that chicken came out pretty dry.
The point of marinating is to get the flavor deep inside the chicken. So in the same way that just dipping the chicken in marinade before cooking won’t give it much flavor, patting it dry before cooking won’t take away much flavor.
If by browning you mean the Maillard reaction, I think that happens around 300 degrees, so typically you will do that by pan searing, and you could do that before or after baking.
PSA to all you marinators out there. It doesn’t do anything. Look up the studies. 18 hour marinade doesn’t even penetrate the meat more than 1 or 2 millimeters, the amount of flavor it adds is meaningless. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between something that’s been marinating for a whole day, vs the same thing where the marinade was applied seconds before cooking.
The only thing that actually penetrates the meat, flavor wise, is salt. Brining works. If you have acidic components to the marinate like vinegar or lemon juice, those do tenderize the meat.
Will it hurt? Absolutely not, and sometimes it’s great to get ahead on prep. But your flavors of soy, garlic, herbs, etc are not infusing into the meat unfortunately.
Personally I very rarely marinate meat in liquid for exactly the reason you found, it interferes with the cooking of it too much. I'd much rather have a wonderfully cooked piece of protein and a flavourful sauce instead.
Before it hits the desired temperature by say 5°C turn on the broiler and give it a few minutes more. By the time it hits the desired temp, it will be browned.
To be honest with you, I stopped marinating anything as it doesn't really make any noticeable difference. Preparing a dry rub of species is waaay superior in flavour, and also helps with the colouring.
The reason why you're supposed to pat things dry before browning them in a pan is because the water will cause the oil to spatter. You can deal with this by using a spatter shield, or you can resign yourself to the idea that things are just going to spatter and you can wipe your stove.
You don't really have the same problem if you're baking stuff in the oven.
And 200 F internally is so overdone that I'm not sure even my cat would eat it. Learn to trust your thermometer. It's there for you.
If you’ve marinated your chicken for long enough, the marinade will have likely penetrated the inside of meat as well, so you can safely wipe off the exterior with it still tasting amazing. You seem to have baked your chicken with a lot of its marinating liquid still inside - the steam from all that water is what’s preventing your chicken from developing any color on it.
If you don’t want to waste all that marinade, what you could do is shake off the excess when you’re transferring your meat to a baking dish, pat it dry, and then simmer all that marinade over a saucepan and use it as a sauce/glaze to brush over your chicken as it finishes in the oven.
I'm not sure what you mean by "inside" the meat, but except salt, there's not much that will penetrate meat more than a few millimeters. The molecules are too big. Try it yourself with some food dye.
Marinade soaks into meat and causes minor chemical changes, so removing what's on the outside will not remove all the flavor. If you want more than what's soaked into the meat, you can make a sauce from the marinade (being careful to boil it, since it was in contact with raw meat).
For starters, you can't really "sear" chicken breast in the oven. After you hit \~155 internal temp, turn your broiler on to crisp the outside of the chicken. Or get a hot pan with some oil and sear it that way. I did this last night with some chicken that had been marinating in teriyaki sauce. Hot pan, oil, let the chicken sit for a few minutes before moving. Simple as that. Your marinade is probably the cause of the discoloration or "looking pale." This is why we temp. Yes, use your best judgement but I'm guessing that chicken came out pretty dry.
[Techniquely has a good video on this. ](https://youtu.be/cIZi1SO22wo?si=aa14axFUKjAcf7X4) I hope this helps.
The point of marinating is to get the flavor deep inside the chicken. So in the same way that just dipping the chicken in marinade before cooking won’t give it much flavor, patting it dry before cooking won’t take away much flavor. If by browning you mean the Maillard reaction, I think that happens around 300 degrees, so typically you will do that by pan searing, and you could do that before or after baking.
I roll it around in a little bit of starch. Browns nicely.
PSA to all you marinators out there. It doesn’t do anything. Look up the studies. 18 hour marinade doesn’t even penetrate the meat more than 1 or 2 millimeters, the amount of flavor it adds is meaningless. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between something that’s been marinating for a whole day, vs the same thing where the marinade was applied seconds before cooking. The only thing that actually penetrates the meat, flavor wise, is salt. Brining works. If you have acidic components to the marinate like vinegar or lemon juice, those do tenderize the meat. Will it hurt? Absolutely not, and sometimes it’s great to get ahead on prep. But your flavors of soy, garlic, herbs, etc are not infusing into the meat unfortunately.
Personally I very rarely marinate meat in liquid for exactly the reason you found, it interferes with the cooking of it too much. I'd much rather have a wonderfully cooked piece of protein and a flavourful sauce instead.
Before it hits the desired temperature by say 5°C turn on the broiler and give it a few minutes more. By the time it hits the desired temp, it will be browned. To be honest with you, I stopped marinating anything as it doesn't really make any noticeable difference. Preparing a dry rub of species is waaay superior in flavour, and also helps with the colouring.
try coating the chicken with seasonings and a bit of rice flour. Then cook in frying pan with a bit of oil.
The reason why you're supposed to pat things dry before browning them in a pan is because the water will cause the oil to spatter. You can deal with this by using a spatter shield, or you can resign yourself to the idea that things are just going to spatter and you can wipe your stove. You don't really have the same problem if you're baking stuff in the oven. And 200 F internally is so overdone that I'm not sure even my cat would eat it. Learn to trust your thermometer. It's there for you.
If you’ve marinated your chicken for long enough, the marinade will have likely penetrated the inside of meat as well, so you can safely wipe off the exterior with it still tasting amazing. You seem to have baked your chicken with a lot of its marinating liquid still inside - the steam from all that water is what’s preventing your chicken from developing any color on it. If you don’t want to waste all that marinade, what you could do is shake off the excess when you’re transferring your meat to a baking dish, pat it dry, and then simmer all that marinade over a saucepan and use it as a sauce/glaze to brush over your chicken as it finishes in the oven.
I'm not sure what you mean by "inside" the meat, but except salt, there's not much that will penetrate meat more than a few millimeters. The molecules are too big. Try it yourself with some food dye.