Baked Chicken Recipes

Quick appetizers are always a Godsend on busy days.  These two recipes are quick and easy and loved by children of all ages.  We’ve all heard of chicken fingers.  That’s probably one of the top choices of kids when they go out to eat with Mom and Dad.  Rachel Ray came up with another cute recipe for kids called “Chicken Toes“.  I’ll include both here so you can choose which you think your guests would like best.

photo credit: Marshall Astor – Food Pornographer

Do you like Reuben sandwiches?  I sure do, but when I first ran across Reuben Chicken in my boneless chicken recipes, I was a bit skeptical.  However, it is really, really good stuff … and it is really, really easy to make!

Although I am making this as a chicken gourmet sandwich, the original recipe was, and usually still is, made with turkey slices.  This recipe was invented by a chef at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky about 80 years ago.  The Brown Hotel was a popular spot each evening for dinner and dancing.  The band would play on and on and over 1200 people would dance the night away.  Around midnight, the band would take a break and the patrons would be wanting something to snack on.  One evening, Chef Schmidt surprised everyone with his new invention – the Kentucky Hot Brown and it was an instant hit.

A while back I posted a recipe for Green Chile Enchiladas.  At that time I mentioned that perhaps my best chicken recipe is Enchiladas Suisas and that I would post that in the future.  Both recipes are delicious.  I posted the Green Chile Enchiladas first because it is an easier recipe and I wanted you to try it.

I consider it my best chicken recipe because I have people from all over call me or email me for the recipe.  We used to have a traditional New Year’s brunch at our neighbors house every year, and I had better be walking in with my Enchiladas Suisas or I would hear about it!

photo credit: roybenjamin79

I have a favorite easy chicken recipe that uses Hoisin sauce.  Have you ever tasted the wonderful Asian Hoisin sauce?  Well, if you have tasted Peking Duck or Mu Shu Pork or spring rolls, you have probably tasted hoisin sauce.  The word “Hoisin” is derived from the Chinese word for “seafood” – but it does not contain any seafood.  Used primarily in Cantonese cooking, this sauce is thick and sweet and a bit pungent.

I love to watch Robert Irvine on his show “Dinner: Impossible“.  He always gets so frenetic and there is always a mishap or two along the way.  I think his Creole Baked Chicken  is quite a healthy chicken recipe.  It has lots of fresh vegetables and it doesn’t take long to prepare.

Take 8 chicken pieces of your choosing – bone in.  Squeeze the juice of a fresh lemon over all the pieces.  Mix together 2 tablespoons of onion powder, 2 teaspoons of dried thyme, 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary ground down, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.  Sprinkle this all over the chicken, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.  Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to brown the pieces.  Remove from the oven and let rest for ten minutes.

photo credit: stevendepolo

Well here it is March already and Spring will be here before we know it!  Years ago I saw Ming Tsai make a really nice whole chicken recipe for Spring.  I have made some changes to it, but I don’t have kept the main trend of his recipe.  This makes for a real nice presentation, since you cook all of your vegetables and put them on a platter.  On top of that you put two golden brown chickens and serve the whole thing family style.

This is one of those oven chicken recipes that I attempted when I was first getting serious about cooking.  It is an exotic  phyllo pastry pie that envelopes almonds, eggs and cooked chicken that is seasoned with cinnamon and saffron and it is dusted with confectioner’s sugar and more cinnamon.  I was so intrigued and I just had to try it.  I must have had almost every pot and pan I owned needing a washing by the time I was done making this.  I had a very complicated recipe.

photo credit: digitalprimate

I throw down the gauntlet to anyone who can come up with a whole chicken recipe that produces a moister, more delicious bird than Beer Can Chicken.  No one seems to know how or when this got started, but I’m sure there must be a fraternity or a campsite involved and I’m sure the can of beer used for the chicken was not the only one open at the time!

photo credit: secretlondon123

One doesn’t normally think of Chimichangas as a healthy chicken recipe, but when it is baked instead of fried and brushed with olive oil while baking – it certainly has become a whole lot healthier than the traditional method.

There are many different versions of the story of the chimichanga.  Apparently, a female chef accidentally dropped a burrito into hot oil.  Since children were within ear shot, she didn’t want to swear, so she just used the Spanish word for “thingamagig” – CHIMICHANGA!  Tucson, Arozona seems to make the strongest case for being the birthplace of the chimichanga, and it is proud to call itself the Mexican Food Capital of the United States.