Outside of our bodies, however, these enzymes have the ability to tenderize animal proteins by breaking down connective tissues (and there are plenty of studies out there that’ll send you down a rabbit hole or two if you’re curious about how exactly it works). In his video, Elliott uses a cut-up chicken breast because he “wanted the marinade to really tenderize every piece,” he told BuzzFeed. I ended up using thin-sliced chicken breast pieces for simplicity’s sake, and they also seemed to take the marinade nicely, so use what you have available. Just keep your chicken pieces on the smaller or thinner side so they can reach maximum tenderness.
