Chicken Recipes Your Family Will Love
Can you use some new chicken recipes? Do you ever stand in your kitchen and think to yourself, “What should I fix for dinner tonight?” I love having some chicken breasts or thighs in the freezer ready to prepare a meal.
I can sleep at night knowing my pantry is stocked and my freezer has items I can use to prepare almost any meal. It’s so exciting to see pictures on Facebook or Pinterest where people raise their own chickens for eggs and meat. When you live in a complex with a Home Owner’s Association, or HOA, as I do, that’s not going to work, at least not in my HOA.
I love to dream about raising chickens or beef, but it’s not going to happen. So I pick up meat when it’s on sale. I’m not sure I could slaughter them anyway. I’m hoping these chicken recipes give you some ideas of how to cook with very few ingredients, in other words, on a shoestring. Please print them out because you may need them sooner than later. My goal is to teach the world to use their pantry and cook from scratch. Let’s do it!
Tips On Chicken
- Buy a Rotisserie chicken and debone it, freeze it in meal-size bags.
- Buy Rotisserie chicken at Costco, the cheapest and biggest chicken at $4.99.
- Purchase the Costco Rotisserie chicken that’s already deboned and divide the pieces into meal-size bags and freeze them for later.
- Cook chicken breasts ahead of time, shred with your Kitchen Aid mixer and divide them into meal-size bags and freeze them.
- Thaw a bag the night before in the refrigerator for dinner the next day.
Chicken Recipes
Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad
This salad can be cut down, but just so you know, it’s good the next day too! This is a favorite salad for family reunions, church parties, and neighbor get-togethers. Have the recipe ready because people will ask you for it!
- 4-6 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
- 2 16-ounce boxes of pasta, cooked (I use Mini Farfalle)
- 1-2 bunches of green onions, sliced
- 3 Bell peppers, red, green, and yellow, chopped
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds (fry with 2-3 tablespoons sugar)
- 1-16 ounce bag of baby spinach
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
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Combine ingredients in a blender and mix thoroughly.
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Combine ingredients in a large bowl and pour the dressing over the salad. Serve immediately.
Easy Barbecued Chicken
Once you try this easy marinade you will be making barbecue chicken all the time. It literally makes the chicken so juicy and tender, it’s unreal!
- 2 cups 7-Up or Sprite
- 1 cup Soy Sauce
- 1 cup oil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 6-8 raw chicken breasts
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Combine the lemon-lime drink with soy sauce, oil, and garlic powder. Marinade the mixture over the chicken breasts in the refrigerator at least 12 hours. Barbecue the chicken breasts until fully cooked. These are so tender and juicy.
Apricot Chicken
I have made this recipe for over 50 years and I still love the taste and how easy it is to make at the last minute. It’s perfect to put in the oven when you head off to church. Dinner is ready when you get home. Gotta love it!
- 4-6 raw chicken breasts
- 1 cup Catalina or Russian salad dressing
- 1 cup apricot jam
- 1 package dry onion soup mix
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 by 13-inch baking pan and place the chicken breasts in the bottom. Combine the salad dressing, apricot jam, and dry onion soup mix. Spread the mixture over the chicken. Cover and bake for one hour. Serve over rice.
How To Cook White Rice
- 2 cups white rice
- 3 cups water
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I typically use 2 cups of dry rice to 3 cups of water. You can rinse your rice, if desired, and use a saucepan, rice cooker or pressure cooker. If you boil the rice, bring the water and rice to a boil. Cook with a lid on for 17 minutes. I like using my rice cooker because I just throw all the ingredients in the pan, put the lid on and push the button to turn it on. Then I go about doing my daily activities and serve it when the yellow light comes on. It keeps it warm, and that works for me.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
I have made this recipe for years and I’ve been wanting to share it with you. This is perfect for Sunday dinner with freshly mashed potatoes.
- 4 chicken breasts
- 4 slices ham
- 4 slices Swiss cheese
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups breadcrumbs
- 2-3 beaten eggs
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup white cooking wine
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese to grate over the chicken breasts when serving them.
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Butterfly the chicken and flatten the pieces between plastic wrap. Lay one slice of ham and Swiss cheese on each chicken breast. Roll up and secure with a toothpick. Dip the chicken in flour, then beaten eggs, then in the breadcrumbs. Place the chicken rolls in a greased glass baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Top with the Alfredo Sauce.
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Combine the butter, onion, wine, and cream in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour the sauce in equal amounts over each serving of Chicken Cordon Bleu. Grate fresh Parmesan over each serving.
Final Word
I hope you try some of my chicken recipes soon, let me know when you do! I love hearing from you. Thanks again for being prepared for the unexpected. May God bless this world. Linda
You might want to think about canning the chicken you bought on sale. In a power outage you won’t lose it and it is precooked and ready to use. Home canned meats make fast and easy meal prep.
Hi Liz, I totally agree with you on canning chicken!! Great comment! Linda
Many of your recipes seem to be laden with calories such as cream, butter etc. Do you have low calorie recipes that do not use soup mixes and pre packaged foods. Total from scratch cooking?
Hi Marilyn, I have over 3000 recipes so they will vary greatly. Most of my recipes are totally from scratch with the exception of cream of chicken soup and a few other prepackaged foods. I have yet to find a chicken soup recipe from scratch that I like. I work really hard to find a balance for everyone. Linda