The Food Site

Chicken Recipes Series

Putting apples and chicken may seem a tad weird but I have good reason to use apples. For one thing, apples are healthy and they are one of the fat burning foods you should have in your diet. For another thing, do you know that apples could act as a natural tenderizer for meat? It is true. Especially if you use green apples where the acid content is higher. Apple juice has been used to season meat overnight for really tender meat so I figured, using fresh apples to bake it with chicken should do the trick too.

Earlier, I’ve posted a recipe for some warming, comforting baked chicken breast recipes under this chicken recipes series, now, it is what I would call a refreshing baked chicken breast recipes with apples. So, in all manner of the ways, this recipe is as healthy as it can be!

The best part about this healthy baked chicken recipe is that it requires very minimal preparations. Meaning, you only need a few minutes to prepare it and then it is all up to the oven to do the rest of the work! You can count on Foong for simple and easy to prepare recipes since I am always short of time when it comes to cooking, especially on evenings after rushing back from work.

Here it is:

Baked Chicken Breast Recipes with Apples

Ingredients

250g chicken breast meat, cut into strips for easy cooking.

2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

4 tbsp fresh mixed herbs, chopped finely

4 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Rub the chicken pieces with garlic powder and sea salt, then place it on a casserole dish.

2. Place the apples and mixed herbs on top of the chicken

3. Bake the whole dish in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes then turn over the pieces and bake for another 15 minutes. (the baking time really depends on your oven’s wattage so you will need to check on the chicken. It is cooked when it has turned white and the juice runs clear)

4. And you have your simple baked chicken breast with apples! No sweat.

And by the way, the gravy is also really good as it has the sweetish sourish tang of the apples mixed with the juices from the baked chicken. So, still think combining chicken and apples as weird? Try it and you won’t think its that weird after all.

I have other chicken recipes  and baked chicken recipes coming up soon.

Chicken Recipes: Chicken Breast Recipes

Sometimes, I’m too lazy to cook but I do not want to eat out so, I’d make my lazy baked chicken breast meal. I’d have to say it is probably one of my ‘dump everything into the dish and bake’ sort of meal. Simple. Easy. And you get a wholesome baked chicken breast meal within 30 minutes or so.

The best part about this chicken recipes is that it can also be the base for a chicken pie if you slap on a pre-made pastry dough on top and baked it together with the chicken. Since I’m in lazy mode and I don’t have packaged, ready made pastry dough with me, I didn’t bother. In the end, this dish is the ultimate in comfort food especially if it’s a cold rainy day (or a snowy day, whichever part of the world you are in). Heck, it could even be hot and humid, and this would also be a great meal!

Okay, I know I am building up all the hype but not showing anything for it…so, this is the end result:

Baked chicken breast

The chicken breast is succulent and juicy and pack full of flavours while the gravy is absolutely amazing! You can serve it as it is or as a side dish to rice or as the main dish with salad and potatoes. I just ate it as it is and it is SO good, we finished the whole casserole dish of baked chicken breast within a day!

Alright, let’s get to the making of this easy and yet delicious recipe:

Baked Chicken Breast Recipes

Ingredients

2 large pieces of chicken breast meat, cut into several thick pieces / quarter chicken chopped into small pieces

3 brown mushrooms, quartered

1 large carrot, cut into chunks

1 tbsp mixed beans, soaked

3 onions, peeled and quartered

5 cherry tomatoes (halved) / 1 large tomato, sliced thinly

2 hard boiled eggs, sliced thinly

2 large potatoes, sliced thinly (optional, I didn’t put in any as I don’t happen to have any potatoes on hand)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

2 sausages, sliced

Seasoning

3 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce (optional)

3 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp black pepper

1/2 cup unsweetened soya milk

2 tbsp chicken stock powder / 1/2 cup chicken broth

Instructions

1. Season the chicken breast meat/ chicken pieces with the dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic powder and black pepper.

2. Place the chicken into a casserole dish and arrange the rest of the ingredients on top of it. Like this:

3. In a bowl, dissolve the chicken stock powder (if using this instead of chicken broth) with some warm water. Then add the chicken stock and the soya milk to the dish.

This is what it will look like before you slid the dish into the oven to bake

4. Bake the dish, covered in foil, for about 30 minutes at 250C or until the chicken is cooked through.If you use chicken pieces, then it is best that you bake for 15 minutes, turn the chicken and then continue baking. It is easier if it is boneless chicken breast meat. I have a mixture of both so in between, I did take it out to turn the chicken before I continue baking it.

This is what the baked chicken breast looks like after it is cooked

The gravy is really good. The soya milk is actually a replacement for cream to give the gravy a richer texture. Since this dish is supposed to be healthy and wholesome, I used soya milk and it is just as good. If you like a thicker gravy, just add some cornstarch or flour to the sauces before baking.

Baked chicken breast

Do check back often for more chicken recipes, especially chicken breast recipes.