Tag: Chicken

Chicken Gravy & Dumplings

We make this meal without dumplings a lot, because it’s easy, we always have the ingredients in our house, and it’s a nice, warm, mild meal that’s easy on an upset stomach. It’s kind of our go-to, served on rice, if someone’s having stomach issues.

Also, the dumplings are surprisingly simple and delicious. You wouldn’t think canned biscuits would make very good dumplings or that they would taste artificial or something, but they’re wonderful. FYI, they do tend to soak up a lot of gravy while cooking, so you may want to add an extra can of soup. And sometimes when you microwave the dumplings as a leftover, they can get a little hard.

If you’re making this gluten free, make sure to swap out the regular cream of chicken soup for the gluten free kind and of course leave out the dumplings.

Make it a meal with:

  • Rice, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Potatoes, or Noodles
  • Green Beans
  • Fresh Fruit or Jell-O

Chicken Gravy & Dumplings

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: easy
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Easy, mild, and comforting for a quick dinner or for upset stomachs.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 lb. Chicken breasts, cubed
  • 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup (or gluten free cream of chicken)
  • Morton Season All Seasoned Salt
  • 1 can Milk
  • Optional: 1 can Biscuits

Directions

In a deep pan on the stove or a large electric skillet, brown cubed chicken and sprinkle seasoned salt all over top. Add the soup to the chicken, then pour milk in the soup cans and swirl around to get out as much as possible, then pour in with the chicken. Mix and heat until smooth. For optional dumplings, turn down the heat to low and place the biscuits on top of the chicken and gravy, then cover with a lid and barely simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the dumplings are no longer doughy inside. Serve on top of rice, potatoes, or noodles.


Chicken Linguine

Once again, this recipe comes from the time when I lived with Grandpa and he was trying to eat lower-sodium meals. It was originally a side dish on Mrs. Dash’s website, but I updated it with chicken and a few other ingredients, and eventually added more salt after the low-sodium diet was over.

The house smells so amazing and full of spices when this meal is cooking, and it makes nice leftovers. I generally serve it using tongs because the noodles are long and the chicken is hard to grab with a pasta server. But you can use any pasta with this recipe, really. And you might need to add a lot of extra Mrs. Dash, just according to your taste preference.

If you’re making this gluten free, just make sure to use gluten free pasta. Everything else is gluten free naturally–just make sure your cheese hasn’t been contaminated.

Make it a meal with:

Chicken Linguine

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Healthier, but very aromatic and delicious.

Ingredients

  • 1 box uncooked Fettuccine or Linguine (or gluten free pasta)
  • 2-4 Chicken Breasts, cubed
  • 2 ½ Tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 2 Tbsp.+ Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning, to taste
  • 1 Red Pepper, sliced
  • 1 Yellow pepper, sliced
  • 2 c. chopped Broccoli or Asparagus
  • ¼ c. Lemon Juice
  • ¾ c. Shredded Provolone/Mozzarella Blend
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare pasta according to package directions, and cook chicken. Place chicken in bowl, then heat olive oil in pan. Add vegetables and Mrs. Dash Seasoning. Cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Toss together with pasta, chicken, vegetables, and lemon juice. Mix in cheese and stir until melted, then add salt and pepper to taste.


Chicken Noodle Soup

This soup tastes so wonderfully of childhood, I make it even in the summer. I love how the whole house fills with the warm aroma of cooking chicken and a light oniony broth. Haha, when I worked at Harmons, we had a meeting every week and started off by saying the best thing we ate the last week–I said so often that my favorite thing was homemade chicken noodle soup, that my coworkers started to request that I bring it in one day, since it was apparently so delicious. I never actually did, though. I did make it for a district meeting on my mission once, though. Haha, except it sat on the stove the whole meeting and the bottom burned, and the noodles turned to mush. It still tasted pretty good, though.

In all fairness, I don’t know that it’s such an amazingly stellar recipe so much as it reminds me of warm, comforting days with my mom. Of sneaking pieces of chicken, and one time being bold enough to ask my mom if I could eat one of the wings. She kindly obliged, smiled, put some salt on the wing, and handed it to me, letting me enjoy the whole thing.

I also remember my mom, at my request, teaching us for a Young Women’s activity about how to make a meal when our mom was sick. So she taught us how to make chicken noodle soup and blueberry muffins. Some girls didn’t want to get their hands goopy in breaking down the chicken, but I never minded. Plus, you get to sneak lots of pieces of chicken yourself. I’ve made this soup so many times in my life, and I look forward to making it with my girls.

If you’re making this gluten free, make sure to use Members Mark Chicken Base from Sam’s Club or Better Than Bouillon instead of bouillon cubes. And I generally cook the noodles separately and add them in after because gluten free noodles tend to fall apart in soup. So the smallest amount of time the noodles can be in the soup, the better.

Make it a meal with:

  • Muffins or Rolls
  • Fresh Fruit

Chicken Noodle Soup

  • Servings: 8?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Warm and comforting, but it takes tons of time to make.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole Chicken, washed and cleaned out
  • Water to cover chicken
  • 4-5 Chicken Bouillon Cubes (or 4-5 tsp. Members Mark Chicken Base)
  • 2 Bay Leaves
  • 2 Carrots
  • 1 Onion, chopped
  • Optional: 2 whole stalks Celery
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • ½ bag Egg Noodles (or 1/2 box gluten free rotini)
  • ~½ c. frozen Peas
  • ~½ c. frozen Corn

Directions

In large pot, cover chicken with water. Place bouillon cubes, bay leaves, carrots, and onion in water. Optional: Add 2 whole stalks of celery for flavor. Boil for 1 hour, occasionally skimming off foam on top. Remove bay leaves and celery, then remove celery stalks and chicken from water and let cool in a pan for about 20 minutes. (Cools faster if you use a spoon to separate off large chunks while hot.) Once cool, pull chicken off bone and place bite-size chunks in broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Soup always needs lots of salt and sometimes another bouillon cube or two for flavor. Add egg noodles and boil for 8 minutes, then remove from heat and add peas and corn–or cook the gluten free noodles separately and add them to each person’s bowl individually before adding broth.


Chicken Grape Cashew Salad

If you’re making a salad that will be eaten in one sitting, you can mix the mayo right in with everything. But generally we can’t finish the whole salad in one meal and need to make containers of leftovers, so I almost always leave out the mayo and mix it separately per serving. If you mix the mayo with the whole salad and then make leftovers after, it does tend to get slimy fairly quickly, FYI.

If you’re making this gluten free, it’s naturally gluten free as long as you use a new jar of mayo or one that’s dedicated gluten free (so you don’t get crumbs from previous sandwich making).

Make it a meal with:

Chicken Grape Cashew Salad

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: easy
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Light and easy, but it does take a little time to cut and assemble everything.

Ingredients

  • 3 lb. Chicken Breasts, cubed and cooked (or 1 rotisserie chicken, pulled)
  • 1 bag Salad or Spinach
  • 1 bunch washed Grapes
  • 1-2 c. Cashews
  • 1-2 stalks fine-cut Celery
  • 2 sliced Green Onions
  • Mayonnaise (or new jar/dedicated gluten free jar)
  • Salt to taste

Directions

Cook cubed chicken, adding salt and pepper to taste. Combine rest of ingredients except mayonnaise in a bowl, generally keeping everything on top of the lettuce because everything will fall to the bottom otherwise. Add mayo separately per portion and mix in, to keep leftovers from getting slimy.


Chicken Enchiladas

Haha, these enchiladas are certainly not authentic–Wait, Mexican cooks don’t use Cream of Chicken soup?–but they are delicious, and you likely have all the ingredients on hand all the time. And one pan makes quite a few leftovers if you want easy lunches for the week.

I’m still working on a gluten free version of this that tastes good. For a while I wasn’t able to handle dairy, so I tried vegan sour cream and GF Mission tortillas, and it was terrible. And the tortillas turned to mush. When I was able to handle dairy again, I tried it with corn tortillas, but then it tasted very much of oil from the tortillas. I think maybe I’ll try making my own gluten free flour tortillas before I attempt this again.

Make it a meal with:

Chicken Enchiladas

  • Servings: 9?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Mild, delicious, and makes lots of leftovers.

Ingredients

  • About 3 lb. Chicken Breasts, cubed
  • 1 Onion, minced
  • 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
  • 1/3 can Water (or chicken broth)
  • 1-2 c. Sour cream
  • Flour Tortillas (about 6)
  • Grated Cheddar Cheese

Directions

Cook cubed chicken. Add onion and cook until translucent. Mix in soup and water until bubbly and well mixed. Add sour cream to the sauce/gravy last. To assemble, spoon a little sauce and chicken in bottom of greased 9×13 pan. Then cover with a layer of 2 tortillas. Then spoon on a layer of sauce and chicken. Then a layer of 2 tortillas. Then a layer of sauce and chicken. Then 2 tortillas (for three layers of tortillas total). Finally, a thick layer of cheese on top. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes till cheese is melted and slightly brown. Optional: Top with salsa for extra flavor.


BBQ Chicken

For juicier chicken, you may want to use chicken with bones. Plus, they’re cheaper than boneless skinless chicken breasts anyway. We usually have BBQ drumsticks every New Year’s Eve, and it makes the house smell amazing.

As long as you get a gluten free sauce (which most are), this one is naturally gluten free.

Make it a meal with:

  • Baked Potatoes, Potato Salad, or Rice
  • Green Beans or Corn
  • Fresh Fruit

BBQ Chicken

  • Servings: varies
  • Difficulty: easy
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Easy weeknight dinner or New Year’s Eve party food.

Ingredients

  • Chicken (breasts, legs, quarters, etc.)
  • Garlic Powder
  • Onion Powder
  • Italian Seasoning
  • BBQ Sauce (or gluten free sauce)

Directions

On a greased cookie sheet covered in foil, sprinkle chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, and then Italian seasoning. If boneless, cook for 30 minutes at 375°. For chicken with bones, cook for at least 45 minutes. With 15 minutes of cook time remaining, remove from oven, brush with BBQ sauce, and bake the remaining 15 minutes.


Baked Chicken

We used to have baked chicken all the time because it was very simple and only required Italian dressing.

And this one is naturally gluten free.

Make it a meal with:

Baked Chicken

  • Servings: varies
  • Difficulty: easy
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An exceptionally easy chicken dish that’s quick to throw in the oven.

Ingredients

  • Chicken Breasts
  • Italian Dressing

Directions

(For more flavorful chicken, marinate in Italian dressing for at least half an hour.) On a greased cookie sheet, cover each chicken with Italian dressing. If boneless, cook for 30 minutes at 375° or until temperature reaches 160°. For chicken with bones, cook for at least 45 minutes.


Apricot Chicken

When I was living with my grandpa in my mid-twenties and his doctor told him to go on a low-sodium diet, I was looking for main dishes that my grandpa might enjoy. I knew he liked Olive Garden’s Apricot Chicken, and I found a recipe that was supposed to be a copycat. Over the years I’ve updated and improved it so the chicken has more flavor and the sauce isn’t as runny.

If you’re making this gluten free, this is naturally gluten free–just make sure to use a new jar of jam or one dedicated gluten free so there aren’t any crumbs from previous sandwiches.

Make it a meal with:

Apricot Chicken

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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In a real hurry, skip the sauce and just spread jam over the chicken, letting it melt slightly.

Ingredients

  • 4 Chicken Breasts
  • Onion Powder
  • Garlic Powder
  • Italian Seasoning
  • 1 tsp. Members Mark Chicken Base
  • ½ c. Pineapple Apricot Jam
  • Salt to taste

Directions

Sprinkle chicken with onion powder and garlic powder, then Italian seasoning on top and bake for 30 minutes at 375° or until the chicken’s internal temperature reaches 165°. In a pan on medium heat on the stove, heat the chicken base mixed in the jam. Boil until sauce thickens. Salt to taste. Spoon over baked chicken.