Chicken Ideas

I put a bit of hummus on top and oven bake - makes it nice and juicy

What does or doesn't your teen like?

Mango chutney or a gochujang based sauce are probably my favorites (especially mango chutney but that's a bit seasonal). I generally prefer to eat my chicken in the context of other things that it's cooked in, so something like the Chickpea Tagine With Chicken and Apricots from the NY Times or chicken curry of any kind.

Honey mustard is delicious! Very easy too.

After cooking the chicken (thighs are my favorite), sautée 50 g diced onions in the same pan. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth to deglaze the pan and get all the brown bits off the bottom. Then add 1/3 cup of honey, 1/2 cup Dijon mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper, and heat while stirring (til reduced). At the end, you can add a few tablespoons of milk and some butter to make it more fatty and delicious 😎

Here are a couple of recipes that are hits in my house:

Easy Rosemary Chicken and Gravy

1 tbsp butter
4 pieces of boneless chicken (eg - breasts, thighs, etc; I use breast, but should work with any)
8 oz bone broth/chicken stock
1 tbsp arrowroot powder or thickener of choice
onion powder
ground rosemary
salt
white pepper (black pepper works, too, but white pepper's better, IMO)

Melt butter in chicken fryer on medium to medium-high heat.

Place chicken pieces in, sprinkle rosemary and onion powder so they each form a thin layer on everything, salt and pepper to taste (white pepper is milder and so can take more). Don't be afraid to be heavy-handed with the seasonings, as any that comes off the chicken will be in the gravy.

Let the chicken sear for about a minute, then flip and season other side. Allow to sear.

Pour stock into fryer. Flip chicken so stock can get underneath, too.

Cover and reduce heat to about medium or just above. Allow to cook for about 30 minutes or until done. Stock should simmer gently, but not boil.

While chicken is cooking, prepare thickener. When chicken is cooked, mix the stock and thickener to make the gravy. Serve gravy over chicken.

(I don't have exact numbers, but this should be a fairly low-calorie dish, especially if you do chicken breast and low-fat stock. For those that want more calories, oven-baked fries are great in the gravy. So is broccoli.)

One-Pan Chicken With Garlic Parmesan Sauce

4 tbsp butter, divided
4 pieces of boneless chicken
6 oz milk
2 oz cream cheese
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated is fine, but shredded should work, too)
2 tbsp Italian seasoning (or to taste)
salt
pepper

Melt half the butter in a chicken fryer on medium-high heat.

Add chicken. Salt and pepper each side to taste. Cover and let cook.

When chicken is cooked, remove it from pan, keep the rest in.

Add the rest of the butter, then add garlic and saute until lightly browned and aromatic.

Reduce heat to medium and add milk and cream cheese. Whisk to deglaze pan and keep milk from sticking. It will be pretty thin at this stage.

Once cream cheese is melted, stir in parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Continue to stir and let cook for a couple of minutes until parmesan is fully incorporated and melty (or about as melty as parmesan can be). This will thicken it up almost immediately.

Cut chicken up and top with sauce to serve. Keep extra sauce on warm to keep it from solidifying.

(This one's higher in calories than the above, given the sauce -- coming in around 500 calories per piece + 1/4 of the sauce as written -- though you can trade the milk for a lower calorie option and swap the cream cheese for something like neufchatel and may even be able to omit it entirely. The sauce recipes I'd seen called for cream, which I didn't have at the time, hence the milk+cheese combo. You might also be able to stretch the sauce to 6 or 8 pieces of chicken, use less butter, etc to bring down the calories, since a quarter of that sauce is quite a generous amount and that's where most of the calories are.)

Parmesan Chicken Nuggets

2 boneless, skinless chicken pieces (for the more authentic chicken nugget taste/texture, breast is ideal, but thigh meat should work too)
2 cups grated parmesan cheese
3 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
4 tbsp Italian seasoning
1-2 tsp white pepper
1-2 eggs

Cut chicken into pieces roughly the size of a 1-inch cube. It doesn't have to be exact, but try to get them uniform in size and about 1-2 bite-size.

Mix parmesan, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper together. Pour some into a lipped plate or shallow bowl.

In another shallow(ish) bowl, beat egg(s).

Dredge chicken in egg, then in cheese mixture. Don't be afraid to make the breading thick.

Fry breaded chicken in a deep fryer, shallow fryer (they'll likely need flipped), or air fryer (maybe? I haven't tried this method as I don't have one) until breading is crispy and chicken is cooked through. Baking may also be an option, but I haven't tried it.

Allow to drain on a paper towel lined plate. Serve once cool enough to handle and eat.

(This is an in-between one, calorie-wise. Breading and frying in oil increases the calories some (grated parmesan is roughly equal in calories to breadcrumbs), but they're small enough that they're pretty easy to control and fine-tune portion size. Number of eggs used is going to depend on the size of the eggs and the chicken pieces in question. You may also have extra breading mix, which is why I recommend mixing in one bowl and breading in another, so you can save any leftover. Also, the amounts for the breading mix are approximate. I usually just throw stuff in and go with what looks right, so feel free to adjust to taste. This recipe is also a fair bit more involved, but the results are awesome, making it a nice treat occasionally.)