How do I pound chicken (or other meat) without making a mess?

Clingwrap works fine for me -- but I don't use a meat tenderizer -- I just use a small but fairly heavy pan (but not my cast iron, as it's not smooth on the bottom).

When I was in college, I tried a few things. I can get pretty decent results just hitting it with my cutting board. (with it between saran wrap).

Part of it might be technique -- if I'm doing chicken breast I first slice is sort of following the taper of the breast, so it's neither with or across the grain, but kinda of diagonal. You also don't want to hit straight down -- you want to angle the blows, so you're actually pushing the meat out, and not just trying to force it through the counter.

And I should mention that I've only ever pounded out poultry and pork -- I assume beef would be the same, but I have no experience to confirm or deny it.

I always stick the chicken in a zip lock bag and pound it that way.

And I use a flat meat tenderizer which doesn't rip the bag.

I use my cutting board and place a layer of plastic film ("saran wrap") over it. It can still result in somewhat of a mess, so a zip lock bag may work better albeit more expensively.

I use a very long piece of clingwrap, place the meat about 1 quarter of the way along and fold it over. Because of air isn't trapped it doesn't rip. In then bang away with a rolling pin. Doesn't seem to get too messy (maybe I don't hit it hard enough!)

I've skimmed the other answers and I'm not seeing what I think is one of the most important tips for trying to pound out chicken breasts: temperature.

Cold chicken simply refuses to play nice.

Seriously. The difference between pounding out breasts fresh from the fridge and working with chicken that has been allowed to come up to temperature is night and day. Be sure to start with completely thawed chicken.

You obviously don't want to leave raw chicken sitting on your counter for an extended period of time, so consider food safety best practices but you have a little wiggle room during which you can let your chicken sit in the danger zone. Set a timer if you are worried you may forget about it.

For many applications I will halve chicken breasts into thinner cutlets. If you make a lengthwise cut down the middle mass of the breast you end up with two smaller, thinner breast pieces. These can be pounded out easily and thrown on the grill or in a pan.

For a quick and easy pan fried chicken I like to use tenderloins. When they've warmed up a little from the fridge you can actually smash them out with the palm of your hand. I usually do this while I am breading them. Great for an easy chicken parm. You don't even need to fuss with any sort of mallet.

Add a little water with the meat in the ziplock bag (1/2 tsp or so), and moisten the outside of the bag as well. The water on the outside allows the mallet to slide easier so the bad doesn't rip, and the water on the inside keeps the meat from adhering to the plastic.

Use a gallon size ziplock for a chicken breast, and don't seal the bag.

Put the chicken between 2 sheets of wax paper or cling wrap, then roll over it firmly with a rolling pin or an unopened can (like a can of soup or veggies). The lack of violent impact reduces the mess.

YMMV, but here's what I do:

1. Find a flat, sturdy surface large enough to hold all the meat with room to spare. You can use a cutting board for this if you want, but you don't have to - you're pounding, not cutting. Plus, if you have a lot of meat you don't need to work in batches or find a huge cutting board.

2. Lay down a layer or two of newspaper. It's cheap and you're just going to throw it away.

3. Lay down a layer of waxed paper. Don't go all the way to the edge of the newspaper, just room enough to work. It'll slide nicely and help reduce sticking / tearing.

4. Lay down your meat, arranged with room for flattening.

5. Lay down another layer of waxed paper.

6. Finish up with another layer of newspaper.

7. Grab a rubber mallet and pound to desired thickness. I sometimes use a sledgehammer, but the mallet is gentler and more precise. Go by feel, not by appearance - the newspaper should help with this...

8. Lift off the top paper and discard.

9. Move your meat to a plate.

10. Discard bottom papers and wipe up any blood that escaped.

For just tenderizing, I actually prefer the "fork" method for steaks. So, to convert this to a less laborious, use a product with many sharp prongs. No splatter, and an arguably more desirable net effect. Then, the actual flattening for fried steak or whatever will be a lot easier/quicker, thereby causing less mess.

Use this type of device on on a surface that's expendable, but porous.. it can leads to damage to stone, etc.. or to the tips of the prongs. An older plastic cutting board works well, and can be fairly small as long as it fits the cut of meat you're working with.

Goes without saying, that you do need to be careful not to hurt yourself.. the Quake automatic "NIN" nailgun comes to mind :)

A 4 inch thick glass ash tray works well, and makes it useful if you don't smoke. Use the zip lock, put it on a cutting board, and mash it with the edge of the ash tray.

I use two inexpensive paper plates on on top of each other, works great

When I have to pound chicken I lay out plastic wrap, place the breast(s) on the wrap with space between each breast and the edges of the wrap. Then pound lightly on the chicken, do not hit them too hard-I'd rather hit them 3 or 4 times than overhit and splatter stuff everywhere. Then if you aren't using the chicken right away you can wrap the chicken up in the plastic wrap until needed. Use a wooden mallet, it works best and you can see and control what you are doing. I reread my answer, oops, please remember to cover the breasts with more plastic wrap before pounding.

Plastic bags from cereal boxes work well; they do not shred even with a mallet.

I use 2 very thin plastic cutting sheets with the Chicken in between them , this works great ! No mess.

All you have to do is

Put Saran Rap on the cutting board

Put meat on Saran Rap

Add any seizings or whatever you need

Fold over Saran Rap and begging to pound the meat with a mallet

Open up Saran Rap and remove tenderized meat

Throw away Saran Rap when finish

Now you are done tenderizing the meat and your mallet or whatever you used to pound the meat is cleaned.

That Simple