Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chicken Breasts

Fancy, complicated recipes are fun, but sometimes you need something simple yet delicious.  Something that takes almost no thought, little preparation, and no specialty ingredients.  Something that can be tweaked to suit what you have in your pantry.  And something that never fails to taste delicious.

This chicken recipe sounded like it would do just that.

Recipe: (via Pinterest from food.com)
4 chicken breasts
1 cup mayonnaise (I subbed plain Greek yogurt)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Variations: Based on reviews of this recipe, I made a few changes.  I cut down on the salt to only 1 teaspoon, added a teaspoon of parsley for some additional flavor, and cut down on the cooking time to 35 minutes.  Many reviewers said that this reheats well, so I used the mixture to coat 6 chicken breast (giving us dinner for two nights).  I did not need to increase the topping mixture in order to do this.   In fact, I probably could have used the mixture on up to 8 chicken breasts. 

Mix mayonnaise/yogurt, cheese, and seasonings.

Spread mixture over chicken breasts and place in baking dish.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. (I set my timer for 35 minutes, checked the chicken - thought that it was probably done, but added another 5 minutes to be safe, then turned the oven to broil for 4-5 minutes.)

Verdict:
One of the great parts about this recipe is its flexibility.  You can add just about any seasoning that you like / have on hand.  Some options that I'll consider in the future are Greek seasoning, onion powder, smoked paprika (oh my, yes!), cayenne pepper.... Pretty much anything your family enjoys!  You can also change up the cheese.  The possibilities are endless.  Since the main dish is so simple and basic, you can use pretty much whatever you have on hand for side dishes.  In our case, some leftover balsamic and parmesan roasted cauliflower and some quickly steamed carrots.

I am glad that I reduced the salt and in the future would probably reduce it further to a 1/2 teaspoon.  I wouldn't say that it was 'too salty;' it just  tasted like it didn't need quite that much.

It's not actually a twenty minute meal, but the actual hands-on prep time is so minimal that it still makes a great option for busy nights - provided you aren't so hungry you need food right.now.

It did reheat fairly well for dinner the next day and even lunch the day after that.  Definitely drier than it was the first night we ate it, but when is reheated chicken not dry?

In line with most of the reviewers, I would concur that this is not a 'pretty' meal and not really 'company worthy' but great to have on hand for regular weeknight family dinners.

And just about everything in this recipe is a kitchen staple.  (Well, except maybe the plain Greek yogurt, but I do tend to have that on hand a lot, and you can always use the originally intended mayonnaise if you aren't a Greek yogurt fan.)  Definitely a great "uh, what's for dinner...?" go-to option!