Make Dinner a Breeze Cooking With This Family-Friendly Recipe
Balsamic chicken is a delicious dish that's adult enough to please your taste buds and sweet enough that your kids will eat it too. Though it doesn't take too long to make, the balsamic reduction can be messy. To keep cleanup easy, use your Crock-Pot to make this family-friendly meal. The added bonus is that dinner is ready as soon as you get home. This recipe uses honey for a little extra sweetness. If you're out of honey, brown sugar also works.
Total time: 4 to 5 hours | Prep Time: 20 minutes | Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 4 medium carrots, cut into semicircles
- 2 cups of red potatoes cut into quarters
- 4 boneless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
- In a 6- to 8-quart Crock-Pot, place your carrots, potatoes and chicken.
- In a medium bowl, mix together vinegar, broth, honey, oil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the chicken and vegetables.
- Cover the Crock-Pot, and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours. Chicken should be tender and fall apart easily.
Tip
There's nothing wrong with using dried herbs, but you can easily substitute fresh herbs for the dried in this recipe. But because dried herbs are more concentrated in flavor, you'll need to up the measurement. The usual ratio is 1 teaspoon of dried for 1 tablespoon of fresh. So, in this recipe use 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme, rosemary and oregano instead of 2 teaspoons of the dried.
When you're thinking about making a chicken dish, you may automatically think chicken breast works best. But you might want to give chicken thighs a chance, especially in this balsamic chicken dish. The thigh has a little more fat than the breast, 9 grams versus 3 grams in a 3-ounce portion, which means it has more flavor and is more tender than the breast. But the extra fat also comes with extra calories, 170 calories versus 142 in the same portion. To cut back on calories when using chicken thighs, consider using cubed rutabagas instead of potatoes.
Warning
After the timer on your Crock-Pot has gone off and before you serve the balsamic chicken, take its temperature with a meat thermometer. The internal temperature should read 165F. If your chicken falls under this number, continue cooking for another 30 minutes and recheck.
References
Writer Bio
Jill Corleone is a registered dietitian and health coach who has been writing and lecturing on diet and health for more than 15 years. Her work has been featured on the Huffington Post, Diabetes Self-Management and in the book "Noninvasive Mechanical Ventilation," edited by John R. Bach, M.D. Corleone holds a Bachelor of Science in nutrition.