Balsamic caprese chicken
Juicy golden chicken under melty mozzarella, sweet tomatoes and basil, in a glossy balsamic pan sauce.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.95 a serving
- 450 calories
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ lb chicken breasts, 2 large breasts
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced
- ¼ cup fresh basil, torn
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp italian seasoning
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
Each serving has about 450 calories, 49 g protein, 12 g carbs and 22 g fat, and costs about $3.95 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No honey? Maple syrup works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
each chicken breast through the side, like opening a book, into 2 thin cutlets. Season all over with the salt, pepper and Italian .
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Dolly’s tip: Press your palm flat on top and cut slowly, keeping the knife level with the board.Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high heat until it . Add the chicken and cook without moving it for 4 minutes, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min
Flip and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, until 165°F in the thickest part. Move to a plate.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Food safety: Chicken is done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Turn the heat to medium, add the garlic and for 30 seconds, .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Pour in the balsamic, broth and honey to , . Let it bubble for 3 to 4 minutes, until and syrupy.
Deglaze. Deglazing means pouring a splash of broth, wine or water into a hot pan to loosen the browned bits on the bottom. Those bits are full of flavor, and this turns them into the start of a sauce.
How you’ll know: It hisses and steams, and the bits lift easily when you scrape with a wooden spoon.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Reduce. Reducing means simmering a liquid with the lid off so some of the water steams away. The sauce gets thicker and its flavor gets stronger.
How you’ll know: The level drops in the pan, and the sauce coats the back of a spoon instead of running off.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: It thickens more as it cools. Stop when it coats a spoon, before it turns sticky like tar.Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute to warm them.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Return the chicken to the pan, lay the mozzarella on top, cover and cook on low for 2 to 3 minutes, until the cheese .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Low heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: No lid? A sheet pan laid on top works just as well.Spoon the tomatoes and sauce over the chicken and scatter the basil on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
