Basic Chicken Breasts W/ 4 Variation Toppers

Submitted by Renee Redman

"Don't know where I found this one... but I love the idea of changing it up with just a few different ingredients-- besides it inspires you to think of even more ways to try it!"

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 24
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• BASIC CHICKEN BREASTS

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil

• MUSTARD-CAPER TOPPER

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3⁄4 cup red onion, sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon capers

• MUSHROOM-WINE TOPPER

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cups fresh mushrooms
• 1⁄3 cup chicken broth
• 1⁄2 cup dry white wine
• 1⁄2 teaspoon rosemary

• CARIBBEAN TOPPER

• 6 ounces pineapple chunks in juice
• 1⁄2 cup apricot preserves
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

• TOMATO-ARTICHOKE TOPPER

• 1 (8 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes
• 1 (4 ounce) can artichoke hearts, quartered
• 1⁄4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1⁄2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

directions

1. Mix flour, salt & pepper in large baggie. Add chicken and shake to coat.
2. Heat oil in skillet- cook chicken 8 minutes turning once and remove the chicken from the skillet. Then using same skillet make one of the variations of toppers.
3. For Mustard-Caper Topper: Saute the red onion in butter. Add the chicken broth, dijon mustard and capers. Cook for 4 minutes. Spoon over chicken.
4. For Mushroom-Wine Topper: Saute mushrooms in butter. Add wine, chicken broth and rosemary. Simmer for 4 minutes. Spoon over chicken.
5. For Carribean Topper: Heat pineapple and apricot preserves with jalepeno. Cook 4 minutes, remove from heat and add lime juice and cilantro. Spoon over chicken.
6. For Tomato- Artichoke Topper: Heat tomatoes, artichokes and balsalmic vinegar. Cook 4 minutes. Spoon over chicken and sprinkle with mozzerella cheese.

Reviews

[Chocolatl]

Well, I have to comment first of all on some other reviews. The flour is not there to keep the chicken moist. It helps with browning and thickening the sauce. I made the mushroom-wine sauce. This does not make much sauce, so there is no reason to cut back. In fact, if you were serving this with rice or pasta or mashed potatoes, I'd recommend doubling or tripling the sauce. The amounts of liquid listed are not soupy at all--there is very little liquid in the finished dish. The recipe is excellent; I'd like to try some of the other variations. Thanks for posting!

 

[DuChick]

Winner winner chicken dinner! This is fancy enough to serve guests and easy enough to devote your time to other side dishes. I made the mushroom/wine topper and the only thing I'd do differently is add some cornstarch, like another reviewer, to thicken the sauce. I also let the chicken keep cooking on low heat while the topping prepared. My chicken was thick and I didn't want to take the chance of having it not be done completely.

 

[Debbwl]

A very nice basic way to prepare chicken with some nice topping options! I did take a little liberty with the recipe to fit our preferences. The first liberty was not to dreg the chicken in flour, yes the flour does help keep the chicken moist but so does proper searing and cooking (DH and I don't need the extra calories). The second liberty I took was to leave out the chicken stock and cut the wine down to 1/3 cup as we love sauteed mushrooms over meat but do not like a lot of broth or grave and could tell reading this would have been too soup for our preferences, last I did not measure the rosemary just snipped one nice size sprig up and added to the mushrooms. Bottom line we enjoyed and would like to try the Carabbean topping next time. Thanks for the post.

 

[loof751]

We loved this great chicken! The cooking method and time was perfect, nice and crispy outside and very tender. I made the Caribbean topping with a minor change: I used fresh pineapple and jarred jalapenos with some of their juice. This made for a wonderful fresh sweet and spicy sauce that we really enjoyed - thanks for sharing the recipe! Made for the "Variety is the Spice of Life" event 2012

 

[BLUE ROSE]

Thanks to Variety is the Spice of Life Event I picked this recipe to try.<br/><br/>For my choice I chose to mix it up. I use the following in our recipe<br/><br/>Chicken Broth, Butter, Onion, Pineapple, Rosemary and apricot preserves . <br/><br/>This dish turned out to be such a fantastic recipe. The flavor was amazing.<br/><br/>Looking forward to making this dish again.