This post is by contributing writer, Bethany Wright of WoodhavenPl.com. Find her KS posts here.
I’ve always been someone who wants to have a signature dish. You know, the kind you become famous for – and maybe even have people beg you to make it for them.
My mom has several signature dishes (oriental lemon chicken being among them). And while they taste DELICIOUS, they are also a labor of love to make.
When my homesteading friend shared this recipe idea with me, I knew I had finally found one of my signature dishes. It was juicy. It was yummy. And the best part — it was ridiculously easy to make and EVERYONE loved it.
I’m a big fan of sharing food with others. In fact, my very first post for Kitchen Stewardship was all about sharing food with your neighbors. I love that this Garlic Maple Chicken is something that is so fast to make, you can quickly make it for others (without killing yourself). AND it’s easy to adapt for food allergies!
Bonus: You can also assemble the recipe and freeze it. When you’re ready for dinner, just thaw and cook! Instant meal!
Garlic Maple Chicken
Begin by placing chicken breast, tenders, or thighs (your choice) in a large pan. I’m using foil pans here because I’m making these meals to give away. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder over the chicken.
UPDATE: We had one reader in the comments feel that this dish was too bland. If you’re a flavor-lover (like myself), don’t be shy on the garlic powder or pepper. Personally, we find the dish plenty flavorful as-is. So maybe experiment half-and-half with your baking pan. This is a WONDERFULLY adjustable recipe.
Put pats of butter on each chicken breast — or 8-10 pats if using thighs or tenders. This is a GREAT activity to have your kids help you with. They can use a dull butter knife to slice off wedges of butter. (Just don’t do what I did and wait until your kid is in first grade before you ever let them use a butter knife, mmmkay?) If you need to be dairy-free, coconut oil can work.
Lastly, lightly drizzle maple syrup. Mmmmmmmmmmm. The sweetness of the maple syrup gives this recipe a delightful finish.
That’s it. Simple and delicious.
Most importantly, don’t discard the juice left in the pan!!!!! Be sure to ladle it over the chicken — it is soooooo delicious.
- 1-1.5 lbs. chicken (breasts, tenders, or thighs)
- ¼ - ½ tsp. garlic powder (to taste)
- ⅛ tsp. salt (to taste)
- 8-10 pats of butter
- ⅛ - ¼ c. maple syrup (to taste; less is fine)
- Place chicken in a baking dish.
- Sprinkle on garlic powder, as well as salt and pepper to taste.
- Top the chicken with pats of butter. If using breasts, put one pat per breast.
- Drizzle maple syrup lightly across the top.
- Bake uncovered at 375F for 20-25 minutes until internal temperature reaches 160F.
- Serve chicken and ladle juice across.
2 Tools for Real Food Success:
It’s never easy to keep up with real food goals! If my meal isn’t planned ahead and/or I don’t have the right food on hand, it’s SO tempting to give up and grab convenience food!
I have to almost trick myself into getting it right sometimes…like this:
Butcher Box
I love my raw milk farm, and they usually have beef for me too – but not all the cuts. And chicken is hard to come by. And pork is hit or miss.
I’m sure you’ve experienced the same sourcing frustrations!
That’s why I’m always grateful that there’s an online source of incredibly high quality meat that I can always count on. A box from Butcher Box is guaranteed to be grassfed/organic/pastured/free range = all the labels important to your family’s health!
If you live in an area (like my mom) where organic local farms are nowhere to be found or have trouble sourcing certain meats or cuts, Butcher Box has you covered.
(free shipping too!)
Real Plans
But if I forget to plan ahead, all that amazing meat just sits in the freezer! Enter Real Plans, an online meal planning software that is probably smarter than I am.
I can enter that cut of meat along with my food restrictions and find the perfect meal, then generate a shopping list, multiply it by 4 if we have company, and enter my own fav recipes too.
Real Plans takes the stress out of meal planning and puts the nourishing food BACK on your table. There’s a plan for every diet type:
As I mentioned before, we took this meal to some friends of ours, pairing it with a salad, fresh raspberries, and roasted potatoes. They loved and raved about it — and I’m glad it was a huge hit!
Helpful Hospitality Tip #1:
If you’re making this meal to give away, cover your pan with foil and write the cooking instructions ON THE FOIL COVER with a sharpie. Don’t verbally give cooking instructions. I guarantee they will be forgotten!
Helpful Hospitality Tip #2:
Since the oven will be on to bake the meat, this meal pairs easily with roasted potatoes (cubed potatoes + olive oil + salt and pepper + rosemary). I also wrote instructions on the potato pan: Uncover and bake at 375F for 45 minutes. And I added a note to add the chicken pan at the last twenty minutes of cooking.
Winners!
The three winners of last week’s Redmond Trading giveaway are:
- Karie W.
- Meg F.
- Melissa C.
Winners have been emailed with redemption instructions. Didn’t win? You can still get 15% off your entire purchase at Redmond with coupon code Kitchenstew. Enjoy!
Diane says
The Garlic Maple Chicken sounds delicious.
Do a little research, though, about cooking in aluminum. There is evidence that aluminum leaches into the food & has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease & other brain damage. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjd5sWpgrfNAhUNRlIKHW1RDtMQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Farticles.mercola.com%2Fsites%2Farticles%2Farchive%2F2014%2F03%2F22%2Faluminum-toxicity-alzheimers.aspx&usg=AFQjCNHkqt2C7swTBk7ScgbjyFa3RGvIpQ&bvm=bv.124817099,d.aXo
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjd5sWpgrfNAhUNRlIKHW1RDtMQFgg7MAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arltma.com%2FArticles%2FAlumToxDoc.htm&usg=AFQjCNFa4epYY98IHDJM9J7fASjQTC-zAQ&bvm=bv.124817099,d.aXo
Bethany Wright (Contributing Writer) says
Hello, Diane!
You are right. Aluminum is one of those suspect cooking materials. Kitchen Stewardship has a whole baby step dedicated to being mindful of your cookware, which you can find here: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/08/17/monday-mission-analyzing-aluminum-cookware-and-bakeware/
As I mentioned in the article, I made this meal in aluminum because I was giving it away to a family. What they needed most was a home-cooked meal… not a collection of glass dishes that they needed to return to me. I’ve found that when my friends need a meal, it’s generally because their life is in crisis. So this becomes one of those gray areas: is it more loving to give them a meal with a bunch of dishes they have to remember to wash and return to me? Or to give them a meal in aluminum, which may NOT be the best cooking material, but is certainly better than them going to McDonald’s because there was no ability to cook anything else. Add to the puzzle — the family you’re giving the meal to may not personally care about avoiding aluminum.
It’s one of those tricky balances. I talk about that “what does love look like when you share food” in this post here: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2014/04/15/sharing-food-when-youre-a-real-foodie-guest-post/
I appreciate you taking the time to dig out some research to share on the aluminum. Happy cooking!
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Thank you, Bethany, for teaching us all about BALANCE! It’s true, we can’t live perfectly all the time, and serving your friends with what THEY needed instead of what you would choose in a perfect world was definitely the right choice here. Sometimes #nodishes is the only real way to help someone in crisis. 🙂 Katie
Kristen says
I was excited about how simple this dish was so I made it for dinner tonight exactly as the recipe directed. My husband & I were extremely underwhelmed by the blandness of the dish. 🙁 I don’t plan on repeating this for us or anyone else
Bethany Wright (Contributing Writer) says
Kristen – OH NO!!!!!! This makes me so sick to my stomach! One of the worst things I can hear is that food is BLAND! AHHHHHHHH! I personally love extremely flavorful food (though I have some family members who require much more bland food, such as I describe in my journey here http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2016/04/11/why-mama-became-a-short-order-cook/).
You can certainly increase the volume of garlic powder, which will increase the flavorful ‘punch’ of this recipe. And increase the maple syrup to impact sweetness. If you’re really wanting more flavor, a sprinkle of paprika will really bring a depth of flavor. But I’m so sorry that was your experience. 🙁 That makes me feel terrible. I hope you will be able to give it a second chance!
Chris says
This is WAY better than what I take. I’m trying this. Usually I just bring homemade bread.
Bethany Wright (Contributing Writer) says
Chris — Aw, thanks for the compliment. And I bet your homemade bread is yummy, too. 😉
D says
Do you know if honey could be substituted for Maple syrup? We have a peanut allergy and sometimes peanut oil is used to make it. I have yet to find a Maple syrup that guarantees no peanut oil.
Bethany Wright (Contributing Writer) says
D — using peanut oil to make maple syrup? Yikes! I’ve never heard of that. I live in Maple Syrup Country, so we buy our maple syrup from a local farmer (and we know how it is made). You could easily substitute honey OR you can make your own maple-syrupy-tasting concoction by using sucanat (it’s a little richer of a taste than brown sugar) and water and boiling it down.
Erin says
Bethany your kindness in sharing food with others is evident. We like to take a meal to others in need too, and do it often. Your perspective on priorities when sharing a meal is right on. Thanks for the recipe idea and the encouragement.
Bethany Wright (Contributing Writer) says
Thank you for your kind encouragement, Erin!
Charity says
Made this last night for dinner and this was delicious! I served it with your recipe for roasted potatoes, green beans, salad, and cantaloupe. My husband told me how much he enjoyed it and it was very kid friendly as well for the littles. =) I’m pregnant and close to my due date and found this is a super quick meal to get in the oven. Yay for quick recipes! =) Thanks for sharing!! This would be super easy to take to someone in need.
Bethany Wright (Contributing Writer) says
Charity, awwwww – thanks for the kind compliment. I love how kid-friendly this meal is, too. 🙂 And glad you were able to find another pregnancy-friendly meal that is quick to make!!